It has been a hard week in this country.
And I am tired.
All week I have been seeing posts about a movie, "Plandemic" which claimed -- among other things -- that the COVID-19 virus was allegedly, according to CBS News, engineered to increase vaccination rates, and that wearing face masks is harmful.
I don't have the mental energy to go chasing rabbits down that particular rabbit hole. What has truly annoyed me is the screams of "Censorship!" because both Facebook and YouTube have removed the video (multiple times, in the case of Facebook) from their platforms. I think the video is currently available on Vimeo. I am not going to go looking for it, nor am I going to provide a link to it. I don't do conspiracy theories. (Oswald acted alone. Deal with it.)
And, this week, another video surfaced, that of the shooting of an unarmed black man, Ahmaud Arbery, who was followed and shot by two white men who claimed that he had burglarized houses in the area. (Georgia does have a citizen's arrest law, saying that a private citizen can lawfully detain someone who has committed a crime in the presence of another person, or the person must have "immediate knowledge" of a crime committed by the perpetrator.
As I understand it, these men thought Arbery had committed a crime, and they allegedly went after him to detain him until the police arrived, according to a statement by George Barnhill, the Ware County, GA District Attorney.
The rest of the story is told in the 36-second video: Arbery being blocked by the truck, trying to go around it, then grappling with Travis McMichael's shotgun; three shotgun blasts, then Arbery dead in the street.
One of the questions I was asking myself yesterday was, why did Arbery go for the gun? Didn't he realize that that was probably going to get him shot?
It finally occurred to this very foolish white woman that my question begs the question: Why in the world was Travis McMichael even pointing a shotgun at Ahmaud Arbery to begin with? If he hadn't been confronted with a shotgun in the first place, there would have been no reason for him to grapple with Travis McMichael!
This week also, screenshots of a Facebook group, "Justice for Gregory and Travis McMichael" came up in my FB feed. The description of the group reads as follows: "These two God-fearing men were only trying to protect their neighborhood. This area has had a string of break-ins and this man fit the description and did not comply with simple commands."
If I were jogging, and two men pulled up to block me and demanded that I stop, that they "just wanted to talk with me", and I saw that they were armed, I would probably do one of two things: stop with my hands up, or run as fast as I could in the opposite direction while screaming. I would not feel the obligation to "comply with simple commands". Rather, I would probably think, "Men. Guns. Threat," and respond accordingly. Had it been a police officer who demanded that I stop, I would stop, raise my hands, and show that I wasn't armed.
"Justice for Gregory and Travis McMichael" currently has 100.4K members. To be fair, this group was renamed from a previous group, Christians Against Google, and it may already have had a fair number of people in it rather than it being a group started from scratch. But I suspect that many more joined after the name change.
I am hearing all of this on top of handling a son who is going to school online, and also while gathering up the paperwork I need to apply for more services for him. And I have my day-to-day life I am trying to lead in this midst of this pandemic. This week, I saw in our church's email that our campus was closed "until further notice". I find that phrase very depressing to read, although I understand why it's necessary.
And I also hear the screams about "government overreach" when people are asked to wear masks when they go outside. I hear the screams about "open the economy or more people will die!" I've heard the word "doomed" applied to our country, and I want to say sarcastically in response, "We're doomed. Doomed, I tell you!"
I am going to use a bad word here. I am fed up, mentally fatigued and angry, and it seems the only word appropriate at the moment.
What in the hell is wrong with our country???
Snark is definitely appropriate today:
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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Showing posts with label Ahmaud Arbery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ahmaud Arbery. Show all posts
Saturday, May 9, 2020
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Tina's TEOTWAWKI Journal, Day 54-55
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.
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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