Posted on 05/12/2020 4:21:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
The tragic back road shooting of an unarmed black man by a former white police officer and his shotgun-wielding son in Brunswick, Georgia, has given the left a narrative they’re all too happy to run with, especially since blatant examples have been few and far between of late. Indeed, comparisons to Trayvon Martin abounded on Twitter by people ironically ignoring the fact that their “proof” that America is some sort of Klan-infested racist hotbed full of bigots just waiting to gun down hapless runners for the “crime” of “jogging while black” happened over eight years ago, in 2012, and was “justified,” according to one juror.
This story, however, seems on the surface to be an entirely different thing. I’m not going to speculate too much this early in the process, but I will say that it’s hard to imagine any reasonable person taking weapons and following anyone of any color down the street, much less blocking a road and trying to initiate a “citizens arrest.” It was dumb, it was unjustified, and Greg and Travis McMichael should feel the full weight of the law.
But there’s a difference between stupidly gunning-up and taking matters into your own hands because you believe a person may be a criminal, thus ending up in a deadly scuffle of your own making, and gunning-up to hunt down and murder a black man simply for being black. Both will land you in prison, of course, but with different sentences—sentences a jury will decide.
Meanwhile, however, the ‘jury’ of American public opinion seems to be leaning heavily in favor of the version that puts America firmly in an era where lynchings were the norm and these men as no different from those evil vigilantes of old or even the racist scumbags who drug James Byrd to his grisly death in 1998.
While plenty of people on both sides rightly called for justice for Ahmaud Arbery for weeks, especially in light of the fact that the shooting happened in February and there were odd conflicts of interest at play in the local district attorney’s office, a good percentage of comments bordered on inflammatory, if not patently absurd.
“We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!” NBA legend LeBron James tweeted from the comfortable quarantine of his luxurious mansion while being adored by literally every man, woman, and child in America. “Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!?”
“This young man was jogging, and was hunted down and killed for absolutely no reason other than the color of his skin,” wrote a smugly certain Ellen DeGeneres.
Kentucky State Rep. Charles Booker demanded “hate crime legislation,” while attorney and former Obama-era official Walter Scaub called the shooting a “lynching.” CNN host Don Lemon said that “communities of color feel like we are under siege.” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms even tried to tie the shooting to President Trump.
The irresponsible comparisons weren’t limited to the left. Conservative writer David French wrote, “While we don’t yet know the full details about the McMichaels’ motives, their actions speak loudly enough. When white men grab guns and mount up to pursue and seize an unarmed black man in the street, they stand in the shoes of lynch mobs past.” And Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is now virtue-signaling his willingness to sign hate crimes legislation in the state.
Meanwhile, as conservative activist Candace Owens noted over the weekend, the narrative around Arbery’s actions has quietly gone from “just a jogger” to “just a trespasser.” That’s because Daily Mail published a previously unreleased surveillance video of a khaki-short-clad Arbery spending almost five minutes “appearing to loiter” inside an under-construction home. Obviously, loitering at a construction zone isn’t worthy of being shot or even confronted by weapon-wielding citizens, but it’s also hardly racist to be suspicious of a stranger in one’s neighborhood poking around where they aren’t supposed to be. Add Arbery’s own 2013 indictment for allegedly bringing a weapon to a high school basketball game and a 2018 arrest for shoplifting to the mix, and the caricature of ‘just a jogger’ is called into question.
Are black people being routinely gunned down in America for the “crime” of being black? Hardly. Such a dire pattern would doubtless dominate the news cycle daily, as this solitary case has and will continue to do for the foreseeable future. In fact, far more whites are actually killed and violently victimized by blacks than the other way around, and in higher percentages related to the overall population groups. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2018, of the 563,940 violent incidents against blacks committed that year, only 10.6% (or ~60,000) were committed by whites. On the other hand, 15.3% (or ~548,000) of the 3,581,360 crimes committed against whites were perpetrated by black offenders. Further, according to BLS, “The offender-to-victim ratio shows that the percentage of violent incidents involving black offenders (22%) was twice the percentage of incidents committed against black victims (11%).” Blacks even comprise 24% of hate crime offenders, almost twice their representation among the population.
None of this should justify any sort of racism, nor should it imply that most blacks are criminals. In fact, the vast majority of people of all races are law-abiding. However, these facts definitely do a lot of damage to a certain preferred leftist narrative, which is one reason why you might not have ever heard them.
Back to the Arbery shooting, Candace Owens nailed what the topic of discussion should be centered around right now in an America less hyper-focused on racial politics: “The national debate SHOULD have been about the legitimacy of citizen’s arrests in light of a tragic outcome,” she wrote. “Instead, we went with BLACKS ARE LITERALLY BEING HUNTED WHEN THEY STEP OUT OF THEIR HOMES FOR NO REASON. Race-baiting ALWAYS leaves us looking emotional & foolish.”
No matter how you slice it, a man is dead who should be alive right now. But ironically, decades-removed from an era when alleged black offenders would rarely get a fair trial, the McMichaels’ chances, no matter what the facts turn out to be, of any outcome short of life without parole or even the death penalty in this highly politicized and racially charged case is next to nil.
Heheh. A grammatical tranny.
Had the dead guy ever been arrested? If so,I didn’t know that.Is that photo on the right real or is it just photoshopped?
That plan didn't work out for him, obviously. According to details that I've read - I could be mistaken about this but this is what I've read here at FR on the threads on this subject - he lost his hand to the shotgun while he was grappling around with Junior and then Daddy shot him twice with his .357, then afterwards rolled his dead body over to check him for weapons.
Why shoot him with a .357, twice, if he's already had his hand blown off by a shotgun?
Again, this is just my understanding from what I've read here. Could be incorrect, or not.
If we learned anything from the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, it should be avoiding a rush to judgment. We can’t convict people based on a 90 second news story being presented by a biased media with an obsessive political agenda. Justice must involve a cautious, deliberative process that has proved it is capable of ferreting out the truth. If it’s permitted to do so.
Final sentence is not true (as well as almost being unreadable):
‘But ironically, decades-removed from an era when alleged black offenders would rarely get a fair trial, the McMichaels’ chances, no matter what the facts turn out to be, of any outcome short of life without parole or even the death penalty in this highly politicized and racially charged case is next to nil.’
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Based on previous cases, it’s very likely that they will get a fair trial. George Zimmerman was acquited and Darren Wilson, the cop who shoot Michael Brown, was not even indicted.
I'm willing to believe he was a delinquent sort of character who once carried a weapon into basketball games while underage, and who possibly was involved in a rash of burglaries. Unfortunately we'll never get the answer to the latter now that he's dead, nor will he have the opportunity to pay his debt to society, get a real job and make a decent citizen of himself.
We get to have all the opinions we want about all parties in the situation. We just don't have the right or the authority to DO anything about our opinions, like for instance chase someone down in a pickup and aggressively confront them with drawn weapons, especially, by Georgia law, if we didn't PERSONALLY know of them do something illegal. That would cross a legal line and get us sent to jail in Georgia.
In my state, just the act of chasing after someone and pulling a gun on them, for any reason, would constitute aggravated assault and make you culpable if anyone got hurt or killed.
When he was in high school, Arbery was sentenced to five years probation as a first offender on charges of carrying a weapon on campus and several counts of obstructing a law enforcement officer. He was convicted of probation violation in 2018 after he was charged with shoplifting, court documents show.
I'm pretty sure Arbery didn't do that.
“Video shows him roaming the house under construction at night.”
Have you personally seen the video? If so, then please provide a link.
How many do you want.
The Gateway Pundit published still photos from the homeowner’s security camera video that clearly show Arbery in the house at night in October. It should be noted that the homeowner’s across the street neighbor was called 911 on the date of the shooting and referenced “multiple” burglaries at that property. BTW, Arbery is wearing the same CLOTHING in the October video that he is wearing when he got shot.
If I am jogging down the street and two fat rednecks in a pickup truck chase me down and confront me with a shotgun. I am thinking, "If I run they will shoot me in the back and kill me; if I put my hands up and surrender, they will shoot me in the chest and kill me; but if I fight back, then I might survive the situation."
Based on what has been shown as evidence so far (the videos, the police report, and the DA's statement), and ignoring the spin, it looks to me that the defense will have the better case at showing reasonable doubt that a murder occurred than the prosecution will have proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a murder occurred.
Thank you for the link.
I detect a hint of sarcasm in your reply.
I read all of the articles at your link. I already knew all of it. The elderly couples’ names, their son’s name, when they died, the name of the shooter, the fact that somehow the shooter ended up dead.
What I’d like to know is WHY did this guy shoot those two people? When and how did the state police get involved? They don’t know whether the guy died by his own gun or a police gun?
Yeah, I’d like these questions answered.
Because did this guy shoot these poor people because they were white?
Those are the words I’d like to see since the shots were fired and I could hear the damn things.
Hmmmm.
Well I ain’t buying it.
Your mileage may vary.
Was it Trespassing or was it Burglary?
If you walk across my property I would consider that Trespassing. Misdemeanor here in Texas unless that person has a firearm, then it’s turned into a felony.
Walk across my property and go into one of my buildings and I’m calling it burglary. Felony here in Texas and GA.
Not directed at you but others here have made the comment about walking into construction sites and looking at the work being done. Why some people think it’s not just acceptable but common for people to trespass on another’s property is beyond me. I’m pretty protective of my property.
The fool got justice, and quickly too. Charging a man with a shotgun is usually a fatal mistake.
We get to have all the opinions we want about all parties in the situation. We just don’t have the right or the authority to DO anything about our opinions, like for instance chase someone down in a pickup and aggressively confront them with drawn weapons, especially, by Georgia law, if we didn’t PERSONALLY know of them do something illegal. That would cross a legal line and get us sent to jail in Georgia.
____________________________________________________
1) The defendants did NOT chase the suspect. The suspect ran down a dead-end peninsula. They parked the truck and “cut him off at the pass” because they knew that was the only way out of their neighborhood.
2) You don’t have to have DNA evidence and sworn affidavits to effectuate a citizens arrest. You need PROBABLE CAUSE to believe ANY crime has been committed in your “presence” or “within your immediate knowledge.” In other words, you don’t have to see the crime to have probable cause.
3) In this case, the father personally saw the suspect sprinting from the house. He was also aware that this SAME SUSPECT had burgled the house before and was a suspect in multiple thefts in the neighborhood. The very fact that the suspect is SPRINTING full speed from a house that he previously burgled is more than enough PC to effectuate an arrest.
4) The father did not draw a gun until after the suspect was trying to disarm and kill his son.
50 The only reason the son grabbed a shotgun is because Arbery had STOLEN his handgun out of his truck 3 weeks before this incident. BTW, it is perfectly legal to hold a shotgun in a public space in Georgia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.