The Shooting of Ahmaud Arbery

by: Johnny H. & Luke Quanbeck



The concept of Racism first appeared in the 1600s, and have since then become a very controversial topic. It doesn’t have a pretty history and often involved violence, disputes, and a source for feud between friends, families, and cultures. Since the start of racism, many have seen it to be capable of causing negative impacts to the world as a whole, and therefore tried to stop it from continuing. One famous example, which we discussed in our background guide, is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech; the speech is entirely dedicated to evoking equality and the end of racism against Blacks in the US. The famous speech was delivered in 1963 in front of hundreds of thousands of people, but was heard around the country and the world. Acts like this help us “segregate” out our difference, so that we may unite as a whole-- but does Racism still exist today?


February 23rd was not remembered as a day of celebration for famous comedians like Aziz Ismail this year, but rather a much more tragic event which involved the murder of an innocent person: Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery can be considered, in many ways, a successful 25 years old: pursuing his dream as an electrician and being a well acclaimed football player in high school. According to this article, Arbery also had many friends and family members who actually “knew” and cared about him, and he himself never did any wrongful to anyone-- except for being who he is, a black man.


The 23rd was a pretty normal sunny day, and Arbery was just doing his normal Jogging in a south Georgia neighborhood in Brunswick. During his run, Arbery was also seen at a construction site according to this video footage. Arbery enters the construction site out of curiosity, and “ doesn’t take anything” at all from the site. The one thing that could get him in trouble is trespassing, though it does not classify as a felony. It would not justify his or anyone’s arrest, and definitely not a death penalty-- or does it? That afternoon, Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, were also in the neighborhood of Brunswick, trying to “investigate” “a series of recent break-ins in the area” according to the CNN. Gregory 64, was a former police officer, said that he saw Arbery running in the neighborhood that day, and thought he “looked like a...suspect.” He then “chased [Arbery] down” with his son. After chasing him down in his white truck, Gregory armed himself with a .357 revolver and his son a shotgun, and “stopped in the right lane with its driver’s door open” according to the US news. When Arbery was just crossing from the back of the truck, a shot was fired. Arbery then was seen struggling with Travis, who’s holding the shotgun, before 2 more shots were fired and Arbery was seen falling to the ground. The wound Arbery received was fatal.





Source: Shows the confrontation between Arbery and Travis, who had the shotgun




Gregory McMichael claims that “Arbery began to ‘violently attack’ his son, fighting him for the shotgun,” which is why his son was prompted and did fire the gun. Prosecutors also argued that there weren’t any probable causes for the arrest of the McMichaels, and that “they were legally carrying firearms, had a right to pursue a burglary suspect and use deadly force to protect themselves.” (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler). Many others, such as Arbery’s family attorney S.Lee Merritt, however, says that “the McMichaels saw a black man jogging through their neighborhood, assumed the worst and tracked him down and killed him,” according to the CNN. Gregory McMichael ‘declined'' any comment about the incident when questioned on the week of May 8th, saying that he was “busy.” There weren’t any true motives behind the suspicion and killing of Arbery, except for their racism against blacks. According to Fox News, right after Gregory saw Arbery jogging, he dialed 911 and reported “a black man running down the street.” It “was a hate crime” says Jasmine Arbery, Ahmaud Arbery’s sister. “Arbery was black and the men involved in the shooting incident are white” is not a mere coincidence, but a cruelty-planned racist murder.


Arbery’s family, friends, and the whole community is understandable infuriated at this seemingly forbidden offence, especially because of the fact that “it took 74 days” for the McMichaels to be found guilty and arrested. 

Source: Arbery family attorney says on Twitter



-- According to this article, many people have been trying to pay respect to Arbery, as well as to raise “concerns about what it’s calling social injustice in the case.” People of “all colors, ages, women and men” have participated in the lamentable tragedy that befell Ahmaud Arbery, as well as to celebrate the justice for the arrest of the McMichaels. Arbery’s Sister says to CNN that “her family hasn’t had time to grieve. On Friday, they will honor her brother and his birthday by going to Brunswick and releasing balloons.”

Arbery family attorney Benjamin Crump also raises the question of how well the law is actually performing in the contemporary world. He argues that “ ‘guns create a dangerous situation and avail themselves of stand your ground or self defence. That’s just not how the law’s designed to work.’” From what happened in Arbery’s case, it definitely shows the law to be poorly designed and can give rise to adverse incidents like that of Arbery’s. Arbery had done nothing wrong on that day, yet someone was able to come up with a feasible reason for shooting and killing him. The shooter/shooters were also able to justify what they’ve done with the simple reason of “self defence” and actually get away with it, at least for a while. “His parents are denied the simple joy of celebrating with their son” on Arbery’s birthday, which is on Friday the 8th, says Crump.


After the district attorney “insistently” insisted that “he thought the McMichaels had used their citizen’s arrest rights,” which upholds their early actions towards Arbery, the community was not happy. According to the CNN, Tom Durden of the atlantic Judicial Circuit said that “he would present the evidence to a grand jury,” in confidence that he can vindicate the McMichaels. Later, however, he requested the agency to take over instead. On Tuesday May 5th, demonstrators gathered on the Satilla Shores neighborhood where Arbery was killed and stated that:


“‘You want to chase somebody down? We got over 100 bodies out here. Chase us down,’ said a man leading the demonstration. ‘We're a community. We're not going to keep allowing this to go on in Glynn County.’" (Source: CNN)


These demonstrations of hundreds of people conveys the course theme of “ Is history shaped more by individual people or by systemic forces beyond any one person’s influences.” Though all this demonstration and questioning of the integrity of our Laws all sparked from the murder of one person, Ahmaud Arbery, in order to achieve real “history,” a systemic force is required. “There is always strength in numbers” once said Mark Shields, and that’s exactly what would be needed in order for changes to happen, even small ones. Intuitively, it’s pretty clear that reforms which would satiate many’s wishes would be better focused on, as opposed to only one person’s, by the government. In this case, it not only somewhat influenced the deeper look into Arbery’s case, but also raised awareness regarding the decency of the law to both the citizens and the government.


Discussion Question:


Why do you think Racism still exists to this day? No one really benefits from it, right?

Would you consider what the McMichaels have done to be self defence?

Do you think whether or not chasing down a random person and pointing a gun at them just because they look “suspicious” is rational?



Sources:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CDT5o8dOfP7AxnQGx_jSoexplbtAakwSXZRMKXTeF88/edit

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-05-07/georgia-father-son-arrested-on-murder-charges-in-shooting-of-unarmed-black-man

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/us/ahmaud-arbery-arrests-mcmichaels/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/10/ahmaud-arbery-surveillance-video-construction-savidge-vpx.

Cnn

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/opinion/ahmaud-arbery-justice.html

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/05/10/group-drives-from-savannah-to-brunswick-to-pay-respects-to-ahmaud-arbery/

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/08/852719660/more-arrests-possible-in-the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-state-investigators-say

https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1258555465732104196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1258555465732104196&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2020%2F05%2F08%2F852719660%2Fmore-arrests-possible-in-the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-state-investigators-say

"Mark Shields Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2020. 11 May 2020. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mark_shields_226003