Last year was eventful for Kyle Rittenhouse, the former Antioch resident who killed two men and wounded another while acting as a one-man army in 2020. It appears 2024 may be lively as well.
Currently, he isn’t receiving a cordial welcome from many students at East Tennessee State University, where he is to be a guest speaker on Thursday. He was invited to his first appearance before a college audience by a conservative campus group, Turning Point USA, according to the CBS/ABC affiliate in Johnson City, Tenn., WJHL-TV.
Folks may recall Rittenhouse also didn’t receive much hospitality from students at Arizona State University when he tried to enroll as a nursing student at the Tempe school. They protested his daring to be a member of Sun Devil Nation.
That was after a Kenosha County jury found him not guilty in 2021 of first-degree homicide after the deadly gunplay during civil rights protests in August 2020 which turned violent. Rural Tennessee is a ways from the gritty southeast Wisconsin city along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Since then, the dropout from Lakes High School in Lake Villa has been the target of wrongful-death civil lawsuits from family members of those he killed and wounded with his military-style assault rifle; learned about $250,000 has been raised for his defense; written a book, apparently with ghostwriters; been a frequent guest with conservative media commentators supporting gun rights; and got a service dog, Milo, to deal with what he describes as a post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his vigilante patrol which began in downtown Kenosha when he was 17 years old. He has more than a million followers on social media.
Unlike most 20-year-olds, he’s shoehorned a lifetime’s worth of journeys since that fateful night. He’s also allegedly nearly destitute, it was reported last year on Court TV by one of his many attorneys.
At East Tennessee, another group at the school of some 10,500 students, Young Democrat Socialists in America — indeed, they still exist — petitioned officials demanding the university in far northeastern Tennessee renounce Rittenhouse’s visit. College officials told the TV station since the event is not sponsored by the university, canceling the event would be a violation of the promoters’ First Amendment rights.
This is the reason Turning Point USA students say they invited Rittenhouse to speak. As of last week, 600 tickets were spoken for, the station reported, and the site of his appearance was being moved to a larger venue.
One of the event organizers, Lakie Derrick, told WJHL the group welcomes people who agree and disagree with Rittenhouse to attend the event, which will include a question-and-answer segment. Of course, there’s a bit of politicking behind this speechifying.
“We want to educate students, as well as empower students,” Derrick told the station, “We want to show that the soft-on-crime Democrat policies that a lot of states have are not good for the welfare of people; and the BLM movement that is claiming to care about Black lives is the same movement that is burning down Kenosha.”
I don’t see students at Carthage College or University of Wisconsin-Parkside, both in Kenosha County, inviting young Kyle to address them, however.
Yet one student said Rittenhouse speaking on the East Tennessee campus, “makes me feel on edge.” If only someone in Kenosha would have said the same when he was strolling down the street with his weapon at the ready.
News of Rittenhouse’s on-campus visit in Johnson City vied with a local man’s arrest on charges of possession of a still, and manufacturing and storage of alcoholic beverages. The station said 81 Mason jar quarts of legendary moonshine were seized. Ironically, Johnson City was known as “Little Chicago” during Prohibition, as bootleggers allegedly used moonshiners in the region to supply their liquor stocks.
Surely, copies of Rittenhouse’s book, “Acquitted,” ($9.99 for a Kindle copy) will be hyped at the East Tennessee auditorium where he’ll take the dais. He has said the 241-page book is a “story of survival, resilience, and justice”.
One of the blurbs from the tome of his story published in late November, the second anniversary of his acquittal: “My name is Kyle Rittenhouse. I was attacked. I defended myself. I was prosecuted. I was acquitted.”
That has always been his defense: Despite walking around with a loaded semi-automatic assault rifle, he wasn’t to blame. He had to defend himself. With deadly results.
Although he did not live in Kenosha, Rittenhouse has said he went from Lake County north over the border, “to help my community — not become a whipping boy in the national debate … in less than three minutes, the direction of my life was horribly altered.”
As have been the families of those killed.
He also contends his court case, “split the nation into opposing sides fueled by emotions, politics, and misconceptions driven by media and political figures.” At least he’s law-abiding.
Rittenhouse may have more college campus visits lined up in his future. Hope he doesn’t expect open arms on upcoming dates.
Outside of that, his future remains uncertain. Perhaps a post in the next administration of Donald Trump, if the former president is elected come this November?
He can only dream. We can only be apprehensive.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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