Ahmaud Arbery, 25, left for a jog on February 23, 2020, and never came home.
He died of a shotgun blast on a Brunswick, Georgia street.
As I understand the story, two men saw him running, thought that he was responsible for a series of break-ins in the neighborhood, pursued him, and shot him when he wouldn't stop.
Arbery is black. The alleged shooters are white.
As of the time I'm writing this, May 7, 2020, 2:37 p.m., no charges have been filed.
And the only reason I know about this case is because of media coverage of a video that was just released a few days ago.
I have not watched the video. I cannot bring myself to do so. But this CNN article gives the details. The video clip is 36 seconds long, and I don't know who made the video.
According to CNN, the video shows Arbery jogging down the middle of the street and veering around a truck blocking his path. He then tussles with 34-year-old Travis McMichael over a shotgun McMichael was holding. A shot goes off. 64-year-old Greg McMichael, Travis' father, pulls out a handgun but doesn't shoot.
Arbery and Travis McMichael disappear briefly off screen, then come back into view. Both are clutching the shotgun when a third shot goes off. Arbery drops to the street. Travis McMichael walks away, holding the shotgun.
The McMichaels claim self-defense. A prosecutor who's since stepped down said that the McMichaels "engaged in hot pursuit and had solid first-hand probable cause as civilians to detain Arbery." He stated, "It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia law, this is perfectly legal." Georgia does allow for a citizen's arrest if they "have immediate knowledge of an offense or if a perpetrator is trying to flee after committing a felony."
My first reaction, after hearing of this shooting, was, "This is Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman all over again. Black man shot by white man because white man thought black man was a criminal."
My second reaction was, "If these two people thought he'd broken into a house someplace, why in the world did they not let the police handle it?" (Someone did make a 911 call; CNN did not release the caller's identity.)
My third reaction is heartsickness, again, for my African-American brothers and sisters who, again, have to deal with a white-on-black shooting. One of my Facebook friends, who is African-American and who attends my church, said today that he jogs, and now he's afraid to because someone might decide to shoot him simply because of the color of his skin.
Others of my African-American friends say that they have had to have "the talk" with their sons. It is "the talk" about how the police may treat you if you are black, about how you have to be careful, about how you have to behave . . . it is a talk I will never have to have with my son, solely because I am white and he is white.
Today, Ahmaud Arbery's picture has shown up on Facebook multiple times, including in my son's Facebook feed. Today, I had to explain to him that two men shot another man because they thought he'd been a burglar when he wasn't. My son has autism. I kept race out of it because I know of no way to explain to him that yes, there are white people out there who hate people who are not white. They hate people like the man who leads our college ministry. Like a favorite usher of my son's. Like a former minister at my church who now preaches in Tennessee. Like a young lady who is also part of our college/young adult ministry. Like three elders at my church and their wives and their children.
Yesterday, finally, a district attorney has decided to take the case to a grand jury.
I pray that justice will be done and that truth prevails.
How much longer must we see crimes, shootings, anger, prejudice, bigotry?
How long, O Lord?
I definitely feel like being snarky on this particular entry:
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine!
Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.
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