These rulings represent a real strike against systemic racism in our criminal justice system. The judge allows the defense
juror husband with 11 Whites and only one Black member knowing exactly why the defenders did what they did. The defense has removed every nasty, disgusting racial component to turn 25-year-old Arbery into the villain, even acting as if
Black Pastor sitting silently in the courtroom represents a kind of lynch crowd. The defendants did what so many like them have done before: claim that they gave chase and one of them shot an unarmed Black man simply because they feared for his life. themselves, just because they were forced to do so while trying to protect their community from harm. . They claimed that the Black man was an alleged criminal. That black man was definitely not an angel, one of their lawyers made it clear. He has filthy long toenails, she
say no shame. No doubt he’s not the real victim, they want us all to know.
The defense did it all in the heart of the Deep South in front of an almost all-white jury. On Wednesday, nearly all of the white jurors in a case presided over by a white judge found three white men guilty of the same murders we all know long before hammer is first hit. The fact that the jury was almost entirely white shamed the defense, who believed that fighting black racism would help secure an acquittal. It is the kind of decision we should want to be replicated throughout our system, the kind that we want to be declared and celebrated, the kind that we must hope to set a precedent for. If so, Black juries would not be subjected to ongoing discrimination in the jury selection process. If that were to happen, racist white men would have to think twice before solving their own problems the way so many racist white mobs did during the height of the century. former secessionist. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t feel the need to jog alone, even in mostly white neighborhoods.
We will not be able to convince every racist man that he has no right to act because racism runs through his veins. But we can make many of them think twice before choosing a weapon to do so, at least in the most obviously serious cases like this one. That’s the world we should want to create, a world we should hope that Georgia’s nearly all-white jury helped make more of a reality. There has never been a time in this country that should have been untrue.
I want to celebrate what feels like a step forward, if only a small step. But I was too afraid that it was a single time in the way Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the killing of George Floyd to feel like a one and only time throughout the months that followed. That ruling doesn’t bring us any closer to real policy reform, as so many of us hope it will. It was the culmination of a year of protests that since then flared up only to be replaced by an overzealous focus on trying to make sure little white kids were never upset in the classroom when things got worse. this happens.
the country’s racist history To be. That momentum has been replaced by
Republican politicians weaponize white fear to boost votes and so-called centrists and moderation help them – even as it becomes increasingly clear that fear of whites is being used to promote anti-democratic measures that threaten to destroy half of the population. century of racial and democratic progress. It has been replaced by one of our political parties
justifies the violent attack on the US Capitol built on January 6 and what that fateful day in American history means for our future.
And make no mistake, in our system you are still more likely to be declared not guilty in self-defense cases if you are white and your victim is black than vice versa. ,
according to FBI data analyzed by Project Marshall. A good ruling cannot undo systemic problems that span decades. It will take thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of cases like the one that just ended in Georgia to show real change. But how likely is it?
Judgment in this case is possible only after a prosecutor friendly with McMichaels
have been contacted and because Bryan inexplicably recorded part of the incident and hoped it would
bringing “justice to the family and peace to the family.” All of that should not be taken to be convicted for such an apparently brazen murder. Regardless, I’m happy to be with Arbery’s family and other loved ones and everyone heaved a sigh of relief today. It’s been a tough few months. As a nation, we need this regret. But if we pretend that all is well, then we will definitely come back here again.
