by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday, May 8th, friends of Ahmaud Marquez Arbery gathered in his hometown of Brunswick, Georgia, a picturesque seaside community, to celebrate his life on what would have been his twenty-sixth birthday. Ahmaud, whom his friends called "Maud," had been shot to death over two months earlier - on February 23rd - while jogging in a local neighborhood. He had been murdered by a pair of white vigilantes, a father and son, who said they believed that he had been the perpetrator of a string of local robberies, and they thought he was running from the scene of a crime when they confronted and killed him.
The two men who committed the heinous killing, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son Travis, had finally been arrested one day before the birthday celebration - or more than two months after the murder was committed. The long delay in arresting the duo came about because the prosecutor in the original jurisdiction recused herself and her office from the case four days after the shooting because, until his retirement the previous May, Gregory McMichael had worked as an investigator in her office for thirty years. Before that the elder McMichael had been a police officer in the county for seven years.
The case was then transferred to a second jurisdiction where the District Attorney declined to prosecute saying that he believed the father and son had acted in accordance with Georgia's "citizen arrest" and "self-defense" statutes. Public outrage led to that DA recusing himself and the case being transferred to a third jurisdiction.
The case appeared to be languishing in the third jurisdiction with the family and public unable to organize for protests due to social-distancing restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, but then earlier this week a cell phone video appeared and began making its way through social media. The video was of the shooting and seemed to demonstrate that the jogger had been deliberately killed by his attackers. Law enforcement and court agencies had been aware of the video, but its sudden availability to the general public caused the District Attorney in the third jurisdiction to punt the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
That agency, which was independent of local politics, arrested Gregory and Travis McMichael within two days after receiving the case. The pair are currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of felony murder. So far there has been no bail set in the case.
Yesterday in celebration of Ahmaud Arbery's birthday, friends jogged and walked 2.23 miles in acknowledgement of February 23rd, the date on which he had been gunned down by a pair of white vigilantes for jogging while black. Many carried signs and wore buttons which said "I Run with Maud," and the hashtag "#IRunWithMaud" was prominent on the internet all day.
This is the twenty-first century in the United States of America. We all need to be out running with Maud. It's time for everyone to feel safe as they go about their daily business - and not have to worry about becoming a victim of irrational racial hatred and bigotry. No, actually it's well past time.
Ahmaud Arbery's life mattered to his family and to his friends, and it should matter to all of us. Anything less disrespects the human race.
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday, May 8th, friends of Ahmaud Marquez Arbery gathered in his hometown of Brunswick, Georgia, a picturesque seaside community, to celebrate his life on what would have been his twenty-sixth birthday. Ahmaud, whom his friends called "Maud," had been shot to death over two months earlier - on February 23rd - while jogging in a local neighborhood. He had been murdered by a pair of white vigilantes, a father and son, who said they believed that he had been the perpetrator of a string of local robberies, and they thought he was running from the scene of a crime when they confronted and killed him.
The two men who committed the heinous killing, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son Travis, had finally been arrested one day before the birthday celebration - or more than two months after the murder was committed. The long delay in arresting the duo came about because the prosecutor in the original jurisdiction recused herself and her office from the case four days after the shooting because, until his retirement the previous May, Gregory McMichael had worked as an investigator in her office for thirty years. Before that the elder McMichael had been a police officer in the county for seven years.
The case was then transferred to a second jurisdiction where the District Attorney declined to prosecute saying that he believed the father and son had acted in accordance with Georgia's "citizen arrest" and "self-defense" statutes. Public outrage led to that DA recusing himself and the case being transferred to a third jurisdiction.
The case appeared to be languishing in the third jurisdiction with the family and public unable to organize for protests due to social-distancing restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, but then earlier this week a cell phone video appeared and began making its way through social media. The video was of the shooting and seemed to demonstrate that the jogger had been deliberately killed by his attackers. Law enforcement and court agencies had been aware of the video, but its sudden availability to the general public caused the District Attorney in the third jurisdiction to punt the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
That agency, which was independent of local politics, arrested Gregory and Travis McMichael within two days after receiving the case. The pair are currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of felony murder. So far there has been no bail set in the case.
Yesterday in celebration of Ahmaud Arbery's birthday, friends jogged and walked 2.23 miles in acknowledgement of February 23rd, the date on which he had been gunned down by a pair of white vigilantes for jogging while black. Many carried signs and wore buttons which said "I Run with Maud," and the hashtag "#IRunWithMaud" was prominent on the internet all day.
This is the twenty-first century in the United States of America. We all need to be out running with Maud. It's time for everyone to feel safe as they go about their daily business - and not have to worry about becoming a victim of irrational racial hatred and bigotry. No, actually it's well past time.
Ahmaud Arbery's life mattered to his family and to his friends, and it should matter to all of us. Anything less disrespects the human race.
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