Bad Will Hunting
The killing of Ahmaud Arbery and the rituals of white supremacy
I wrote this piece shortly after the vigilante killing of Ahmaud Arbery — an exploration of the relevant issues especially relevant as the trial of his killers winds down (Tim Wise, 11/18/21)
Gregory and Travis McMichael insist they merely wanted to ask Ahmaud Arbery a question.
But this is a lie.
After all, “Whatcha’ doin’ ‘round here, boy?” — which is the most generous interpretation of what such a question might have sounded like — is not an authentic inquiry in search of truth. It is an accusation in search of guilt.
The McMichaels were not, as they pursued Arbery upon seeing him jogging in the neighborhood, looking to engage in a Socratic process of call and response. Instead, they were performing a ritual rooted in far less intellectual soil, watered by generations of suspicion and contempt for Black bodies in spaces deemed white.
Shorter version: when you bring a shotgun to a friendly interrogation, it ceases to be innocent, assuming it had ever been so.
The McMichaels were not looking to elicit answers but to assert authority, not to solve a mystery but to instill fear. And when Arbery failed to respond with the requisite level of obeisance, they…
