Ahmaud Arbery and Kyle Rittenhouse: two opposing sentences that speak of racism in the United States

February 2020. Ahmaud Arbery I did sports on the streets of Brunswick, Georgia, when three white men started chasing him in his truck. They cornered him and shot him for being African American and for, the perpetrators argued, mistaking him for a house robber.

This week, in an unexpected twist, a court made up of eleven white men – out of a total of twelve – found Gregory McMichael (64), his son Travis (34) and neighbor William Bryan guilty of murdering Arbery (26).

Even Arbery’s mother was not hopeful of such a verdict.

She stated: “Truthfully, I never expected to see a day like this in 2020. I never expected such a day, but God is good. Thanks to those who have spoken, who have prayed”.

Why was the verdict so surprising?

Two edges must be taken into consideration. The first is that, in USA, hate crimes -crimes from “of biases against individuals or groups with specific characteristics”- they are daily bread.

In a report from the FBI on this type of crime, it was read that in 2020 the “highest number of hate crimes“In twelve years,”driven by the increase in attacks against people of black and Asian origin”.

And not to mention the racial segregation and its aftermath. Hence, in recent years and despite the coronavirus pandemic, there have been marches and protests to denounce the murder of African Americans at the hands of white people and the policeman.

There they are, for example, Breonna Taylor or George Floyd.

The second thing to consider is the impunity.

Recently, Kyle Rittenhouse (18) was acquitted of the charges against him because he alleged self-defense. What happened?

Last year in Wisconsin, Rittenhouse grabbed a medicine cabinet and a semiautomatic rifle to defend his property from the protests that denounced the murder of the African American Jacob Blake at the hands of a white policeman

With that weapon he killed two people and wounded a third.

THE REPERCUSSIONS

The analyst Hernán Molina does not believe that the condemnation of the murderers of Ahmaud Arbery marks a turning point, but he is encouraged to put the magnifying glass on it because of the particular way in which it was configured.

“In a county where about 27% of the population is African-American, the judge allowed eleven of the twelve jurors to be white. And the tactics the defense attorneys used were, unheard of, racist to try to stigmatize the victims.”.

“With this verdict there is a sense of justice in the African American community, that this marks a before and after. But I would be quite cautious because this is just a case and see what happens in the future”.

Molina notes that the Arbery case is a good example of what is called systemic racism, this “racist heritage that has made white supremacy impregnated in the thinking and actions of justice”.

“The same that makes people who believe that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. It tells you a lot that a jury has acquitted an 18-year-old boy who carries a weapon of war and feels empowered to kill two people even when he is not in his state.”.

Racism also operates at the institutional level, specifically, at the hands of justice itself. In 2013, for example, African Americans – 12% of the United States population – constituted the “40% of the prison population”.

According to Univisión, in an article published in 2020, African Americans “and Hispanics are more than three times more likely to go to prison than whites in the US.”.

And, in Arbery’s case, the crime was covered up because the dad was a retired cop. The BBC recalls:

“Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, explained that the police told her that her son was involved in a robbery before the incident, to which the family responded that they did not believe that the enthusiastic runner had committed a crime and that he was also disarmed.”.

“At the suggestion that her son may have been involved in a robbery, [Marcus] Arbery said that was simply ‘a lie and a hoax’ “.

Molina comments: “And the prosecutor in charge of the case is from another county because the local authorities excused themselves for having a relationship with the murderers. That makes you think that justice would not have come if it had been delivered locally”.

“But do not forget that there are still pending federal lawsuits”.

In this regard, CNN notes that it has not yet noticed “a sentencing date”, That there are still appeals, and recalled that, in April, the three men were accused of “separate federal hate crime charges, including interference with rights and attempted kidnapping”.

Meanwhile, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, stated:

“We must recommit ourselves to building a future of unity and shared strength, where no one fears violence because of the color of their skin.”.

“Mr. Arbery should be here today, celebrating the holidays [de Acción de Gracias] with his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones and his father, Marcus Arbery”.

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