Leadership at the University of Michigan Medical School sent an email to students claiming that Kyle Rittenhouse may have been convicted of homicide if he was not white.
Medical students at the University of Michigan received the email on Nov. 22 after university leadership concluded that students were “finding it hard to process and understand the verdict that Rittenhouse received.” The email, reviewed by the Daily Caller, claimed that “judicial outcomes in violent crimes have been inconsistent,” and attributed the inconsistencies to race.
“Some may question whether or not the jury would have reached a different outcome if the defendant had been a person of color,” the email reads. “As a community, we understand the grace, opportunity for rehabilitation, and leniency are needed in our criminal justice system but there is no role for inconsistency or outcomes that differ based on racial or ethnic bias.”
The email also mentioned the ongoing Ahaud Arbery trial and said that “questionable gestures by the defense” may “increase frustration, anxiety, and trauma in our community.” The email did not mention a less publicized self-defense case in Florida where a black man, Andrew Coffee IV, was acquitted after shooting police. (RELATED: University Forced To Apologize After Telling Students Jacob Blake Died, Continues To Offer Safe Spaces To ‘Process Rittenhouse Verdict’)
The Daily Caller asked the university whether it stood by its statement that race played a role in the Rittenhouse trial, despite the Coffee trial verdict, which seemingly contradicts the university’s claims. The University of Michigan’s Medical School said it has “nothing else to add.”
The email also stated that with the assistance of the university’s Anti-Racism Oversight Committee, Michigan Medicine leadership “has unequivocally recognized racism as a public health crisis.”
In light of the Rittenhouse verdict and the university’s declaration, students were invited to partake in a “community conversation” on Nov. 23 as a way to “provide support and a venue for further dialogue.”