Jacob Blake, who was shot by a police officer in Kenosha on Sunday, grew up in Evanston as part of a family with deep ties to local community activism.
A video of the shooting appears to show an officer firing several shots as Blake, 29, is turned away. The shooting has touched off protests and unrest in the town not far from the Wisconsin-Illinois border.
In footage captured on cellphone video from across the street, Blake walks from the sidewalk to the front of his SUV to the driver-side door as shouting officers follow him with their guns pointed at him. Blake then opens the door and leans into the SUV, at which time an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire.
Seven shots can be heard, though it isn’t clear how many struck Blake or how many of the officers fired.
Jacob Blake is in and out of consciousness and appears to be paralyzed from the waist down, Justin Blake said Tuesday morning. However, that paralysis could be temporary as he continues to recover.
“After some of the swelling goes down, anything could happen,” Justin Blake said. “He’s a young dude. They heal a lot faster than us old timers.”
Blake’s family has been active in and around Evanston for generations, said his uncle, Justin Blake, while en route to he hospital where Jacob Blake is being treated.
“He’s a lively young man. He’s like his father, my brother,” Justin Blake said. “He’s got a hell of a personality and he loves people.”
He moved to the Kenosha-Racine area a few years ago for a job and his family, his uncle said.
“It was a safer location. He could work and try to save and build a better life,” Justin Blake said.
Jacob Blake played football and basketball at Evanston Township High School, his uncle said. He loves sports, music and architecture.
But Jacob Blake didn’t forget his roots, and returned often to volunteer with his uncle at Black Urban Recycling in Chicago, an organization that collects aluminum cans from seniors centers, veterans groups and elsewhere to recycle them and raise money for a community center in the Englewood neighborhood, Justin Blake said.
“The veterans love when he comes around because he’s always polite and perky,” his uncle said.
Jacob Blake’s grandfather, also named Jacob Blake, served as pastor of Ebenezer AME Church in Evanston and was a local leader in the civil rights movement, according to Chicago Tribune archives.
After the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, the Rev. Jacob Blake helped organize and spoke to a crowd of about 3,000 Evanston residents who marched in support of a local comprehensive housing law.
Blake’s grandfather, who died in 1976, later led his congregation in constructing the Ebenezer Primm Towers, according to a Tribune obituary.
The Rev. Jacob Blake, who became pastor of the church in 1967, noticed a need for low-income housing for community members when they reached their retirement years, according to a June 16, 1974, Tribune article on the development’s opening.
Land for the development at Emerson Street and Maple Avenue was purchased for $75,000 from Northwestern University after pressure from students, according to reporting at the time. The building was described as possibly the first Black-sponsored and Black-managed development subsidized by the federal “236 program,” which was created to provide housing to low- and moderate-income individuals.
After his death, the nearby Jacob Blake Manor, which also provided affordable housing to seniors, was named after him.
Court records show Blake has a pending criminal case that started last month. Online court records indicate Kenosha County prosecutors charged Blake on July 6 with third-degree sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse. An arrest warrant was issued for Blake the following day.
The records contain no further details and do not list an attorney for Blake.
Jae Rice, 29, said she’s a family friend and former high school classmate of Blake’s. She remembers Blake as always being supportive of her music career at their high school.
“It hits a little differently when it’s someone you know and especially someone that you care about,” Rice said. “Especially when it’s coming from Evanston where we have kind of like a safety net around us. … It’s hard when these things hit us.”
Rice said she saw the video of an officer shooting Blake on Facebook and she wants people understand that no one deserves to be shot in that way, no matter if they have a criminal record.
“It’s always sort of like a, ‘Oh let’s understand why this person got in this predicament,'” Rice said. “When I heard that, I just got sick to my stomach, because I was just wondering, ‘What does any of that, what does any of that have to do with the video we just saw?'”
As of Monday afternoon, authorities have not disclosed the identities of the officers involved nor have they said whether they believed Blake was armed.
Kori Rumore and Kelli Smith contributed.
gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com
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