In Rittenhouse case, Americans see what they want to see

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — From the moment Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people on the streets of Kenosha during protests over the police shooting of a Black man, he’s been the personification of America’s polarization. The teenager who carried an AR-style rifle was cheered by Americans who despised the Black Lives Matter movement and the sometimes destructive protests that followed George Floyd’s death. Others saw Rittenhouse as the most worrisome example yet of vigilante citizens taking to the streets with guns. Many also saw racism, as an armed white teen was welcomed by police to a city where activists were rallying against a white officer’s shooting of a Black man. That extreme division is likely to be on display in the trial that starts Monday.