“Change Y’all Lives Out There”: Watch Jacob Blake’s Powerful Message From His Hospital Bed

Blake was shot in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer two weeks ago.

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

It’s been two weeks since Jacob Blake was shot in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer Rusten Sheskey, reinvigorating an uprising against police brutality and racism that has swept the country since the death of George Floyd in early summer. On Saturday, Blake spoke about the fragility of life from the hospital bed where he remains paralyzed from the waist down.

“I just want to say, man, to all the young cats out there and even the older ones, older than me, there’s a lot more life to live,” he said in a video posted on Twitter by his lawyer, Ben Crump. “Your life and not only just your life, your legs—something that you need to move around and move forward in life—can be taken from you like this,” he snapped his fingers. 

Blake described the pain he now experiences every time he breathes, sleeps, eats, and moves around. “Twenty-four hours, every 24 hours, it’s pain,” he said. But he ended his message with a call for change and action. “Please, I’m telling you, change y’all lives out there. We can stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people because there’s so much time that’s been wasted.”

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate