It was February. A 25 year old man named Ahmaud Arbery was jogging down the street in Brunswick, Georgia, USA.
He wasn’t bothering anyone. He jogged regularly. Trying to stay in shape. Minding his own business.
The McMichael boys thought he looked suspicious. Gregory McMichael thought the man looked like a burglar. There had been burglaries in the area and this guy might be the guy who was doing it. That is why he was jogging in broad daylight . Where anyone could easily identify him.
Gregory is 64. His son, Travis, is 34. They didn’t call the police. They decided that with their shotgun and hand gun they could solve the problem themselves.
So, they go in their truck and tracked down the suspicious jogger. The truck that displayed the famous “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. True patriots. The jogger who was running on a public street. In the middle of the day. The jogger who just might be a burglar. Might be. You never know.
So the McMichael’s (and maybe an unidentified 3rd person) got in their pickup. And chased down the jogger. They stopped their truck in the middle of the street and waited for him. They confronted him. They pointed a shotgun at him.
He tried to take the shotgun away. Something happened. He was shot. Twice. He died.
Gregory McMichael told the police what happened. The jogger was suspicious. Maybe he was a burglar. We told him to stop and he wouldn’t stop.
Gregory McMichael is a retired police officer. His son, Travis , had a 9 mm pistol stolen on January 1. The gun was left sitting in his truck . He parked it on the street and forgot to lock it. Someone took it. No one knew who. That was the only burglary reported in the area in January or February.
The jogger, a 25 year old former high school football player, was seen jogging. In the middle of the day. On a public street. The McMichael’s decided he may have been the burglar. They decided it was their right to pull weapons on him and stop him. A citizen’s arrest.
No charges were filed against the former police officer or his son. No charges. They had acted reasonably. They had the right to pull weapons on a citizen jogging down the street. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery was justified.
The prosecutor in the case, a family friend who recused himself wrote that the murder was justified. George Barnhill, was ok with the killing. ……“It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia Law, this is perfectly legal,” Barnhill wrote of the McMichaels.
The unarmed jogger who was murdered, it might be noted, was black. And he had been arrested once, as a 19 year old, for possession of a weapon. But the McMichael’s would not have known that. End of story. JWB. Jogging While Black. Add that to DWB (Driving While Black), BMWB (Being Male While Black) and EWB (Existing While Black). All crimes which justify civilian executions.
Not the end of the story. Months after the cold blooded murder of a black man by the son of a white police officer a video surfaced. Three months after the murder. A video even Georgia justice could not ignore.
So, now people in Georgia are demanding justice. A grand jury is finally being impaneled. A new prosecutor has the case. But only after three months. And after the tape of the murder somehow emerged. We shall see. Don’t get your hopes up. Remember Trayvon, the boy who was murdered in Florida? If you are a betting man, don’t bet on justice.
If you are a black man, don’t bet your life. Not in the south. Not if you are black. Stay home. Your life is in danger. Not because of the corona virus, but just because you are black.
JWB.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/05/ahmaud-arbery-killing/
The Old Liberal 