Justice for Ahmaud Arbery demanded putting racism itself on trial

Outrage only grew after Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George E. Barnhill argued that there was not sufficient probable cause to arrest Arbery’s three pursuers — Gregory McMichael, now 66, a former Glynn County police officer and a former investigator in the local district attorney’s office; his son Travis McMichael, 36; and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — who suspected the 25-year-old Arbery of committing break-ins in their neighborhood.

The surfacing of a graphic video showing the shooting on a suburban road helped get the ball rolling toward a serious investigation, which led to the eventual arrest and state prosecution of the three men. In November 2021, all three were convicted of murder: The father and son were sentenced in state court to life without possibility of parole; Bryan was sentenced to life with possibility of parole.

But the pursuit of justice didn’t stop there. Nor should it have. The full dimension of their crimes — that their offenses were racially motivated — was never criminally adjudicated.

State conviction notwithstanding, the Justice Department obtained a federal grand jury indictment in the Southern District of Georgia charging the three men with federal hate crimes and attempted kidnapping in connection with Arbery’s death.

And on Feb. 22, almost two years after Arbery’s Feb. 23, 2020, murder, and following a two-week trial, a federal jury convicted the McMichaels and Bryan.

Some now argue that the state conviction should have been enough. That father, son and neighbor are going to pay for killing Arbery, so why pile on with federal hate-crime charges? It has even been suggested that President Biden’s Justice Department prosecuted hate crimes in Arbery’s case to score points with the Democratic Party’s Black base of supporters.

That the McMichaels and Bryan held racist beliefs causing them to treat Arbery in ways they would not have if he were White was brought out by evidence at trial.

The evidence, as described by the Justice Department, was found in Travis McMichael’s social media comments and text messages associating Black people with criminality. In his expressed desire to see Black people harmed or killed. In his support for vigilante efforts to catch or harm criminals.

Witnesses testified at trial as to Gregory McMichael’s deeply racist remarks — his ranting against Black Georgia civil rights leader Julian Bond and Black people, wishing Bond had “been put in the ground years ago. He was nothing but trouble. Those Blacks are nothing but trouble.” This from a former officer of the law.

Bryan’s text messages shed light on his racial animus. Learning a few days before Arbery’s shooting that the man dating his daughter was Black, Bryan referred to him as a “monkey” and used the n-word.

“When the police spoke to Bryan about Arbery’s death,” noted the Justice Department press statement, “he admitted that he had never seen or heard anything about Arbery before; he just saw a Black guy being chased and figured he must have done something wrong, and that his ‘instinct’ told him that Arbery must be a thief or that maybe [he] had shot someone.”

It was race that caused the three men to give chase. But for the color of Arbery’s skin, they would not have assumed, without evidence, that he was a criminal.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the Justice Department statement: “No one in this country should have to fear the threat of hate-fueled violence. No one should fear being attacked or threatened because of what they look like, where they are from, whom they love, or how they worship.” He added, “No one should fear that if they go out for a run, they will be targeted and killed because of the color of their skin.”

That, not craven politics, is why the federal government used every resource at its disposal to confront and hold accountable the three White Georgia men for their unlawful acts of hate. And that, alone, is enough.