Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers would be free if it wasn’t for Black Lives Matter protests

Published by the San Francisco Chronicle on November 24, 2021

Yay America. You got it right on Wednesday. An almost all-white jury told Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan that is not, in fact, self-defense to hunt, corner and execute Black people because you don’t want them breathing in your neighborhood.

All three of them, guilty for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

While we (well, a lot of we) are collectively exhaling, we (all of we) should be scratching our heads that it took a whole court, trial, judge and jury to tell these three (and certain parts of white America) that it is illegal in 2021 to kill Black people for sport.

I know. I know. Many of you wish I could just take the “W” (slang for win). I should just be happy and shut up. You’ll undoubtedly say as much in the comments and letters to the editor.

But I can’t.

While we should certainly celebrate that “justice” prevailed today (admittedly, the abolitionist in me remains conflicted), there are a few things we shouldn’t forget.

First, the “threat” these men claimed to be defending themselves from was literally just a Black man in their neighborhood. Jogging. Arbery’s mere presence was perceived as a criminal threat. Yes, he explored an unfinished and vacant home, but he neither stole nor threatened anyone.

The racial profiling of Arbery is not unique to him or this tragic incident. Across America, every day, white folks call the police on Black people or confront Black bodies for simply being in places white folks don’t think we belong. The consequences range from annoying to deadly. Before Arbery’s murder, Janelle Bynam, a Democratic politician in Oregon, had the police called on her while she was door knocking for re-election. Elijah McClain was buying iced tea in 2019 when police were called on him for looking “suspicious.” He was ultimately arrested and given a fatal dose of ketamine by responding paramedics. More recently, Salehe Bembury, who was vice president of sneakers and men’s footwear for Versace, was stopped and frisked by police on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and questioned about an expensive pair of shoes he himself designed.

Meanwhile, the defense made the assertion that if Arbery had just complied, he would still be alive. After all, that’s what Gregory McMichael, a former cop, had been trained to force “suspects” to do.

But Arbery wasn’t a suspect. And McMichael’s law enforcement background told him as much.

Since the time of chattel slavery white folks have thought Black people should submit to their demands and refusal to do so should be met with punishment. During slavery, defiance that could be as simple as not working as fast as your owner thought you should would be met with a whip.

Today, Black people not complying with the whims of white folks results in public outbursts of outrage now captured on social media, severe physical assaults, threats of or actual calls to police, and in the worst case scenario, murder.

Rise in power, Mr. Arbery.

There are large swaths of white America who believe these three murderers should have walked free. I’m pretty sure those folks would line up squarely with the 70 million people that voted to re-elect a racist to the White House just a little over a year ago. America is not a post-racial country. Plenty folks who say they’re not racist are. White supremacy is deadly and boy, do we have a long way to go.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, though, is a good thing. It’s the thing we should hold on to the tightest because it’s the only way we will ever build a world that works for all of us. And that is “organizing gets the goods.”

If it wasn’t for community organizing and pressure — the McMichaels and Bryan would almost certainly never have been charged — let alone convicted. For 10 weeks following the murder of Arbery, the police did nothing, the district attorney did nothing.

No one who was supposed to hold these men accountable did anything they were supposed to.

It was Arbery’s former football coach, Jason Vaughn, who began ringing the alarm bell that built a movement loud enough to push hard enough that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation stepped in and levied charges.

Brunswick County will never be the same.

The residents of Brunswick County not only organized their way to charges being brought against white vigilantes, they organized a national cry to demand justice for Arbery. They organized their district attorney out of office and organized themselves into a force for Black liberatory struggle. They ignited a local movement and inspired national outrage and support.

So I’ll take that “W” today as I continue to exhale with the rest of the Black folks in America — grateful our trauma wasn’t compounded by the not guilty verdict many of us thought was coming.

Stay tuned. Stay engaged. Stay organized.

When we organize, we win. Just ask Charlottesville.

We’ve got a long way to go America. But we’re going.

Cat Brooks is an award-winning actress, playwright, the executive director of the Justice Teams Network, the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and the co-host of “UpFront” on KPFA.