Today’s guilty verdicts were accountability, not justice. Justice is impossible in this case, because the only ‘just’ outcome would have been if Ahmaud Arbery were still alive.
Conversation
Every day in this country, Black people are killed for living their lives. For playing music while Black, for driving while Black, for sitting at home while Black, for walking home with Skittles while Black, and in Ahmaud Arbery’s case, for jogging while Black.
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Too often, the murder of Black people isn’t deemed criminal. And even when it is, too often the criminal justice system fails to secure a guilty verdict for that crime. This time, it succeeded.
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While I, along with so many activists, are relieved to see a guilty verdict in this case, we should all take a moment to think today about the mass organizing, and the mass consumption of viral Black suffering, that it took to get that bare minimum of accountability today.
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These three men nearly escaped being charged at all because a former prosecutor shielded them from facing any consequences of their actions. Despite their racist crime being caught on camera, it took 74 days — and nationwide protests — for charges to be brought.
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We have to ask why it took the activism of Black communities, Black pastors, and their allies across the country to finally shame and embarrass the justice system into upholding anything that bears even a remote semblance to equal justice under the law.
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I’d like to thank the activists and organizers who fought for accountability in this case. I’d also like to thank Chicago’s own for lending his voice & leadership to this cause. Today, I am holding Ahmaud’s family in my heart. Our fight for justice continues.