UCLA Professor Who Said Rittenhouse Shot 'Black' Men Slammed After Admitting Got 'Tiny Detail' Wrong

On November 19, Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts by a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after fatally shooting two individuals and injuring another during the 2020 summer protests, capping an extensive trial regarding the tragic riots in that city.

Kara Cooney, a professor and novelist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), received some heavy criticism on Wednesday over a chapter in her new book "The Good Kings" that erroneously alleges Kyle Rittenhouse shot two Black males.

"Consider 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who used his semi-automatic weapon to kill two Black men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while waging a glorious race war on behalf of his inherited White power," Cooney wrote in the book, per Fox News.

But Rittenhouse in fact wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, in the riots following the police shooting of a 29-year-old Black man, Jacob Blake, and his lawyer maintained that the then-17-year-old was acting in self-defense after being attacked from behind. Rittenhouse did not shoot any Black men at all.

And having met a lot of backlash and reasonable questions about the quality of fact-checking that went into her book before publication, Cooney decided to apologize for the mistake, while in subsequent posts she, nevertheless, pointed out that delving into such "tiny details" is an attempt to turn away attention from the "massive" problems raised in the book, be it white supremacy or misogyny.

On p. 341 of THE GOOD KINGS I state that Kyle Rittenhouse shot two Black men when instead he shot two white men. That was my mistake, and I apologize. The response has been a hateful stew of ridicule and denial that America has a race problem at all.

— Kara Cooney (@KaraCooney) January 5, 2022

"If one mistake in a little-known book about ancient Egypt elicits this much howling, it is to avoid discussing our larger problem, to avoid seeing our deep-seeded obsession with patriarchal power," Cooney added. "So yeah, tiny detail of the book with a big mistake about a massive American issue. And that’s on me. But the white supremacy is still a problem. And the misogyny is still a problem."

Such an apology, especially from a professor of history and the author of the book, evoked a strong negative public reaction under the posts.

Exactly.
And how much can you really claim to care about this issue when you got such an obvious detail wrong? Did you not watch the case at all? The footage? How can you reconcile your alleged understanding of this problem with your ignorance about such a simple fact?

— Professor Important (@ProfImportant) January 5, 2022

The demand for racism is much larger than the supply, as you have clearly illustrated.

— Veterans for Liberty (@Vets4AP) January 5, 2022

One user recalled another high-profile case, a contrived racially motivated assault on actor Jussie Smollett that ended last month with Smollett's conviction for carrying out a hoax.

Jussie Syndrome, perfectly illustrated

— C to the D (@Christo72307959) January 5, 2022

"I completely made up facts to support my fragile and fictitious worldview BUT YOUR REACTION TO THAT LIE IS THE REAL PROBLEM HERE!!!!"

— Joey S (@JoeySFromCO) January 5, 2022

It's pretty careless mistake. We've known that since it happened. It just seems like you want more racial division... a Freudian slip, if you will.

— Dusty Bottoms (@dmall3) January 5, 2022

Some have suggested that since the book is already in print, Rittenhouse has every opportunity to sue the author for libel.

It's libel since it's in print.

— AC (@AWCReap) January 5, 2022

But mostly, people were amazed at how the professor could have missed such an obvious error, and asked as to what kind of fact-checking the editors of the book did before publication.

I was held to a higher standard than this for papers I wrote in high school. You aren't a victim here

— 🅓🅞🅒🏴 (@HocDolliday) January 5, 2022

I'm wondering exactly how this got through the editing process? How did nobody catch this basic error and how many more basic errors were not caught?

— Jay (@Greywind1988) January 5, 2022

"Sorry.... Not sorry." is never a good approach.

And, as someone almost assuredly going to be sued for libel, it may be time to stop tweeting on this subject.

— A Fateful Haven (@FatefulHaven) January 5, 2022

Meanwhile, the journalists who got the copy of the book also pointed to another factual error made by the writer and professor. While explaining the case of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who notably rose to national prominence for her protest on a public bus, Cooney committed yet another historical blunder.

Cooney wrote, "when [Rosa Parks] took a seat in the White section of a public bus and started the Montgomery bus boycott." However, Parks did not in fact board the bus in the white section. According to the generally accepted canon, after the white area at the front had filled up, she famously refused to give up her place to a white passenger.