Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, No to Reshuffling the Law
How a defense team wants three alleged murderers to walk free
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, was pursued while jogging near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, United States.
Unbelievable how these three white men, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan, surrounded, attacked, and murdered one innocent unarmed Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, as he jogged alone down a street that they didn’t feel he should jog on.
They murdered Arbery because he was Black. Of course, as the norm in this society, they tried to blame the dead man for his own death like he had done something wrong by entering briefly a building under construction briefly which was the norm for many passersbys/joggers according to the owner of the property.
Since this line of defense hasn’t worked for them, unimaginable these three who committed this heinous act of murder are attempting to invoke a Civil War-era law as their defense.
The mere fact that these three have even considered the possibility of using the Civil War-era law bespeaks much racism and hatred for people of color. It also confirms their mentality while taking an innocent unarmed Black man’s life. Arbery was not their problem, racism was their problem as they felt they had some citizen’s right to take the life of an innocent man and think it was okay.
In March 1861, the Confederate Constitution was adopted. This document placed strong emphasis on the rights of individual member states, and explicitly protected the institution of slavery. In February 1862, Constitution was adopted. This document placed strong emphasis on the rights of individual member states, and explicitly protected the institution of slavery.
February 2020, the media/news station shared with the world a video that captured how these three men savagely attack Arbery, and one of the perpetrators had the audacity to videotape the murder like it was fun. This type of behavior bespeaks the many atrocities before slavery, after slavery, and today just as ugly in the present day where killing people of color was treated like a spectator’s sport.
The viral video that captured the world’s attention showed how the three men hunted down and killed the 25-year-old unarmed Black man that resembled the days of the slave and the master as they treated them like property to be treated cruelly in any manner deemed.
These three white men’s actions are akin to slavery days when a Black person was seen walking anywhere was often accosted by a white person and punished, incarcerated and/or killed just for walking down a street, any street.
As Black people gained their freedom, southern lawmakers passed loitering laws to help the slave patrol to deny people of color human rights, and subsequently, police departments continued terrorizing Black people as the government allowed and looked the other way.
In addition to the 1861 law, there was another law in Georgia called the “citizen’s arrest” law of 1863 which permitted citizens the right to arrest anyone they believed committed a crime.
Ironically, the ones doing the arrest were often the ononesho had a hidden agenda for denying people of color their basic human and equal rights, regardless to the fact that this country was built on the back of these very same people of color.
According to this skewed law of 1863, Blacks were not considered citizens, and many armed racists after the loss of the Civil War took up arms and were granted permission to arrest Black people for being in the wrong neighborhood.
Fast forward from the 1800s to 2020, these three murderers are attempting to invoke as their defense the Civil War-era law via their defense team. Gregory McMichael , 67; his 35-year-old son, Travis McMichael ; and their neighbor William Bryan, 52, and their team are clearly racist as they try to get their clients off from murdering a man because he was black.
There is a saying that goes any excuse is better than no excuse at all. These men claimed that Arbery was committing a crime and that his murder was self-defense, regardless of the fact that Arbery was unarmed and the videotape showed Arbery running and clearly being attacked by these men.
Speaking of self-defense, one unarmed black man against three armed white men as they chased him down in their pickup trucks. If they thought he committed a crime which he did not, why not call the police beforehand.
Also, confirmation of the mentality of Travis McMichael, the man who shot Arbery, had a Confederate flag sticker on the toolbox of his truck, used racial slurs in text messages, and stated in an Instagram post that he wanted someone to have “blown that N-word’s head off.’ Not sure who he was referring to, but one can easily gain insight into his hatred for people of color.
Arbery’s death bespeaks of modern-day lynching and these three men and their defense team obviously want to invoke this law as a means of suppressing people of color. Not only are these men racist but the very idea that their defense team is trying to invoke this Civil War era-law says a lot about their mentality also. Racists stick with racists.
No one owns this country and equally no one own streets. Yes, there are private streets but this was not one of them. Thank goodness for the cellphone video taken by Bryan was leaked and went viral on social media, otherwise, these men would probably walk free with a smile on their faces and off to do the same to another person of color.
While these three racist men and their team are hoping to live or return much to the past regarding how to suppress people of color, this is a new day. Note, Gregory McMichael a retiree of the local law enforcement claims they did nothing wrong and they should be let go. Wow!!!!
The sad part about the above statement is that Gregory McMichael probalby believes his words and feels he has some right to take another’s life. As a retiree of law enforcement, you wonder if there are other people of color skeletons in his closet, literally.
On the police videotape footage, Gregory McMichael was heard saying he didn’t know whether Arbery had committed a crime. “He had a gut feeling that Mr. Arbery may have been responsible for thefts that were in the neighborhood previously,” according to the media.
Georogia along with a host of red states are all exhibiting such racist acts and deeds affecting people of color trying to eliminate much of their basic rights from voting and other facets of everyday life, politically and socially.
Like father like son and birds of a feather flock together. Unbelievable, the 157 years old law, “citizen’s arrest”, rooted in racism was repealed last year as it gave legal cover for vigilantes to act in the manner the McMichaels and Bryan are accused of doing.
Currently, some sheriffs, deputies, and government have become the modern-day confederate soldiers in disguise perpetuating racism against people of color in all facets of life. Take a look at how voting rights throughout all the red states have enacted laws making it difficult for people of color to vote with a goal for the GOP to determine who should be in governmental offices. This is the same mentality of the Civil War era-law. A duck is a duck no matter what happens to it, it will always be a duck.
In conclusion, the time has come for this country to do the right thing by all people of color and the government needs to govern for all the people and was voted in by the people to do a job and serve the people and not themselves. For additional reads:
