Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
He was a young man with a family, a future, loved by all those close to him. On May 8th, he would have celebrated his 26th birthday, a milestone that he will never reach. Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old man from Georgia, had his life brutally taken away from him while jogging in a Georgia suburb. Ahmaud Arbery is yet another life taken too soon on the basis of his skin color. Arbery’s senseless murder is not the first, but with the public outcry for justice strengthened, people are determined to make it the last.
On February 23rd, Ahmaud Arbery left his home to go jogging in a Georgia suburb. According to Arbery’s close friends, jogging had become a daily activity for the former high school football player. The neighborhood Arbery had been jogging in had recently seen a string of robberies, causing residents in the area to be on high alert in search of the culprit. It was this high alert that was enough for neighbors to assume that Arbery, an African American man, was the thief as he jogged down the street. According to CNN News, multiple neighbors called the police to inform them of the “neighborhood burglar” sighting. What was intended to be a simple workout was twisted into a supposed thief running from the authorities. Their only so-called proof? His skin color.
This ‘evidence’, more accurately described as racial profiling, was enough for father-son duo, Travis and Greg McMichael, to perform what they labeled as a “citizen’s arrest”. Video footage of the event proves that what happened that day was no act of justice, but murder. The McMichaels reportedly blocked off any routes for Arbery to escape, forcing him to face the two white men on a street where they had parked their vehicle. One of the men, armed with a shotgun, stood outside the vehicle. The incident escalated when Arbery attempted to get around the two men. The altercation allegedly turned into Arbery fighting for his life as he tried to seize the shotgun from the younger McMichael.
Two shots were fired, severely injuring Arbery. Arbery was unable to fight and pronounced dead at the scene when authorities arrived. The police discovered blood all over the young McMichael’s hands when they came on site. The McMicaels were arrested, but not charged for the murder until May 7th despite the murder having taken place over two months before.
Ahmaud Arbery was innocent and unarmed, losing his life simply because he was a young black man, fitting the description of the thief that his killers had in mind. Arbery’s family has been forced to deal with his tragic loss while his killers have walked free for over two months. Many attribute the McMichael’s freedom to the fact that the McMichael father has police connections, having served years as a police officer and investigator for the District Attorney’s office. Two of the prosecutors assigned to the case stated that they found no reason to press formal charges against the McMichaels, and it was not until May 5th, when the video footage of the murder emerged, that people sounded the alarm to ensure justice for Arbery. Social media is largely to thank for the formal arrest of the McMichaels, as the video sparked immediate outrage online.
It took over ten weeks and desperate calls for action on social media for Arbery’s family to finally receive justice for Ahmaud’s murder, despite all of the evidence proving Arbery innocent of committing any crime. For many, justice for Ahmaud’s killing is simply not enough. No amount of justice will bring back Auhmaud Arbery, and the hope of many is that this will no longer continue to happen in our society.