Rest in Peace, Ahmaud Arbery
Yesterday, May 6, 2020, I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline when I came across several consecutive tweets that mentioned the name Ahmaud Arbery. Since I didn’t recognize the name, and some of the tweets included a photo of a smiling young black man in a tuxedo, I knew right away. I knew that what I was about to see would quickly give me a sickeningly familiar feeling of nausea.
Ahmaud Arbery was a 25-year-old man from southern Georgia who was out for a jog in his hometown from which he would never return. I stared at a cell phone video recorded by someone in a car, following behind a pickup truck on a country road, and watched as an unarmed black American was murdered in cold blood with a gun fired by a white American.
My nauseous feeling was rapidly accompanied by disbelief and anger as I read further and discovered that this murder took place over two months before the video exploded onto the public consciousness. Ahmaud Arbery was executed on February 23. As I write this on May 7, his killers — a father and son named Greg and Travis McMichael — walk (and jog) freely, enjoying all the myriad privileges I do as a white man in America.
Over 70 days have passed since a family lost their son for no good reason. Meanwhile, the men who ended Ahmaud Arbery’s life have been enjoying meals together, spending valuable time together during a global pandemic, and sleeping comfortably in their own homes each night. We don’t know these people. Maybe the events of February 23 run through their minds as they lie in bed or do household chores. But if we can presume anything from the past 243 years in America, it’s that these men don’t feel an ounce of regret or sadness for ending an innocent person’s life and ruining those of his family forever.
Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers have not been arrested, despite calling 911 themselves after the killing and remaining on the scene, due to claiming “self-defense” because Ahmaud tried to wrestle their guns away. The fact that two men can cry self-defense — after chasing down a jogger in their truck and pulling two guns on him, with no provocation — would be laughable if it weren’t so terrifying.
As a result of the cell phone video belatedly going viral and nothing else, the district attorney has ordered that a grand jury review the case and determine whether the killers should go to trial. Due to COVID-19, grand juries in Georgia are suspended until June 12 at the earliest. That’s another 30 days and change that the killers can enjoy their lives unimpeded.
Why did it take over 70 days for the grand jury motion? Why was the general public unaware of this tragedy for so long? What would have happened had there not been a video of the murder? Even if this case ultimately goes to trial, what is the likelihood that the killers see a day of prison time? Every American knows the answers to these questions.
I write this today not because I have any solutions. I write this because I’m incredibly saddened about the loss of this young man, and angered by my lack of surprise as I learned of it. I write this because I am in a committed relationship with a black woman, a woman I love and a woman with whom I look forward to starting a family. I’m slowly coming to grips with the unavoidable fact that this may be our child lying on the street someday, killed by someone who didn’t put any value in our child’s life.
We live just 250 miles away from where Ahmaud Arbery was murdered. If I’m behind the wheel and the traffic on 75 is manageable, that’s less than a 4-hour drive. If that doesn’t hit close enough to home for me, I can simply recall the case of Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old black man who was murdered outside a convenience store by a white man over a dispute about a parking spot. Markeis died in Clearwater, Florida, a city in which I currently work and lived in for over 3 years.
When my wife-to-be and I start our family in the not-so-distant future, this will be our reality. I don’t expect to ever be ready to handle the fear of our child not coming home simply because of the color of their skin. What I will strive to achieve is educating our children about the world we live in. About the unconditional love we will show them. About the opportunities we will provide them, while giving them the freedom to pursue their interests. And when our children are ready, we will educate them about the cases of Ahmaud Arbery, Markeis McGlockton, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and countless other black Americans who were killed because of the color of their skin.
