After a year of the case being open, Ahmaud Arbery and his family received justice.
On Nov. 24, the selected jurors analyzed the video evidence and statements of Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan, the men who were involved with murdering Arbery. The evidence proved they were racially motivated to kill Arbery despite their statements of making a citizen's arrest. They all have been found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.
The jury agreed with the prosecutor’s arguments that Arbery posed no threat and the men went through extreme measures to justify their reasoning that he was the one committing the burglaries in their neighborhood.
Arbery was jogging in a neighborhood outside of Brunswick, Georgia, when he was approached and chased by the McMichaels. The white men suspected Arbery was responsible for the multiple break-ins in their neighborhood, despite no reported police calls of said burglaries.
Related: A jury has finally been selected in Ahmaud Arbery’s trial. It includes one black juror
While chasing Arbery, the McMichaels said, “Stop, stop, we want to talk.”
Gregory then said Arbery violently started attacking Travis. Travis and Ahmaud started fighting over the shotgun until Travis fired two shots. In several reports, Arbery was not armed.
The sentencing date hasn’t been set yet, but prosecutors have said the three men will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bernice King is the CEO of the King Center, a global influencer and an advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement. The King Center is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to nonviolent social change. King continues to be a voice and promotes peace within the Black community.
“If Ahmaud’s family had not pushed, if people had not protested, if the video had not been release this case wouldn’t have even gone to trial,” King said in a tweet. “But people cared. And people acted.”
Anticipating the results on the verdict left many Black Americans waiting on edge. Thinking back to the outcomes of previous cases where Black men such as Trayvon Martin and Kendrick Johnson, were killed by white men and their deaths were swept under the rug.
This verdict is a win for the Black community.
