As I watched Ahmaud Arbery stumble to the ground after being shot point-blank while struggling for his life, I nearly vomited. The overwhelming feeling of sickness was followed by an intense rage that slowly faded leaving only fear. That fear was not for my own safety, but a fear that the murder of Ahmaud Arbery would prove to be a case of “business as usual” for the American People.
It is not a lack of attention that I fear with this case. At the time of writing, names like Shaun King, Lebron James and Joe Biden have shared Ahmaud’s story, demanding justice and sparking public outcry. No, I am confident that Ahmaud’s story will get the attention it deserves, ripping open hundred-year wounds that have never been allowed to heal. What I do fear is that with millions of people weighing in and debating online, the fundamental issue with this heinous murder will be lost. Americans are already losing sight of the underlying problem and taking sides along predictable racial/socio-economic lines.
Ahmaud’s murder instantaneously reinvigorated America’s uncomfortable “Race Problem”, igniting discussions across the web with many self-proclaimed conservatives defending the system and individuals responsible for Ahmaud’s murder. Meanwhile, nearly every Black household in America is learning Ahmaud Arbery’s name and immediately connecting him to a tragic heritage of public slayings perpetrated by White vigilantes and officials.
If this all too familiar narrative is left to play out as usual, the consequences will be a widening of an already deep divide. As a generation of people, beaten over the head with the assurance of a “post-racial” society are continuously reminded of the imminent threat to their existence, the risk of violence will rise. I have already come across internet traffic encouraging “eye for an eye” retaliation and while that may seem extreme to the moderate, rational types, those who already have little to no security certainly have less to fear in terms of consequences.
America does not have to descend into violence and unrest however. The solution is rooted in the very core of American democracy – that is for all Americans to come together and condemn this crime, hold the murderers accountable, and send the message that vigilante killers will find no quarter under the U.S. Justice System. To do this, all Americans must share in the Black community’s outrage, regardless of race or political agenda. Those that have trouble understanding the injustice of Ahmaud’s murder will need help from those that do understand. Sympathies are not enough, protests from 12% of the population will not be enough, we need active engagement from the other 88% of country. Americans must prepare for difficult conversations with family members and friends. Strategy must be employed and empathy must prevail.
I expect that some Americans (those who see firearms and self-defense as inalienable rights tied to the core of American patriotism) will find themselves conflicted as sympathy for Ahmaud Arbery may appear as an indirect threat to their assumed narrative. I challenge those experiencing that cognitive dissonance to remain focused on the fundamental issue and question at hand:
The law permits citizens to make arrests only when they have witnessed a crime and it has been unanimously reported that Ahmaud Arbery was an alleged suspect. Thus, each of us must answer a fundamental question – Would it be acceptable for one of our friends, our children, our parents to be murdered in a confrontation, initiated by individuals acting outside the parameters of the law?
The answer was obvious to me because the question was all too personal.
“Same town, Same odds, Different Paths”
Part of the reason I am committed to justice for Ahmaud is because his justice may help to prevent future incidents of this kind. When I asked myself “what if it had been me or someone I knew”, the thought chilled me to the bone. In fact, I was reminded that I had first read the story of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder because the location had caught my eye – Brunswick GA.
When I saw Brunswick in the news, my attention was immediately grabbed because I personally knew another Black, standout athlete, who was known for running through his neighborhood in Brunswick – a close friend that I had served with in the U.S. Marine Corps. My friend played middle school and high school football alongside Ahmaud Arbery for 4 years, was a teammate of Ahmaud’s brother, Marcus Arbery, and graduated high school in 2011 with Ahmaud’s sister, Jasmine Arbery. From a societal point of view, my friend and Ahmaud were from the same town, had the same odds for success, and as suspects in a crime, they would have held the same label: young black male.
As I pictured my friend lying dead on the ground with a hole blown through his hand and shotgun blasts peppered throughout his body – I pictured his mother receiving the phone call that her son was gone- I heard the voices of Fox News commentators planting seeds of “mental instability” due to Combat stress or PTSD -I imagined the Black children around this country who would come to the realization that if a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps wasn’t safe, they would almost certainly be in imminent danger.
At that moment, I committed myself to the cause of justice for Ahmaud Arbery. We must not allow future generations to find themselves haunted by a subconscious fear of White people for the rest of their lives. People of Color have suffered racial profiling, violence, and terrorism for hundreds of years but that doesn’t make this a Colored People Problem exclusively- this is an American Problem and as a result, every American must demand justice!
At this point, we need more than angry reactions on Facebook and Tweets – we need YOU to engage with your apathetic friends and family and help make it real for them just as this story has hopefully made it real for you.
Please visit www.runwithmaud.com to sign the petition to demand Justice for Ahmaud Arbery!
As a personal protest, I will be running 25 miles every month that Ahmaud Arbery’s killers go unpunished – 1 mile to celebrate each year of Ahmaud’s life.
-The Hardest Sophist
The Rational Earthling 