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.
Due to the fuss this case is getting, I'm going to guess that the average white Georgian jury member is going to vote "not guilty" if there's even a plausible argument to be made that McMichaels shot in self-defense against a criminal who was trying to seize his gun.
And then the race-baiters will get the incident they want, leading into November.
If I was the defense lawyer, I would try to stall the case past the election, in the hope that the "black lives" mob will lose interest once it no longer is useful to them.
Since he's dead we'll never know.
They don’t know whether the guy died by his own gun or a police gun?
I suspect they know but aren't saying.
And that train of thought would demonstrate a very low IQ.
Somebody who already had decided he was going to kill you, would have blown you away before you had a chance to get close enough to grab for his gun.
I found the photos that you referenced. The guy in the October photos does not look like Arbery, but the photos are dark and grainy and perhaps it is him. Inconclusive at best. The homeowner should have called LEO. Since Arbery was known to local police, they could have easily tracked him down and given him an appearance ticket for trespass and perhaps criminal mischief, which are violations — not felonies or even misdemeanors — and certainly not worthy of a death sentence.
First of all, they weren't police. If you see somebody in front of you with a shotgun you may not just want to put up your hands like they are legitimate authorities. You may not want to give them the legitimacy that they don't have and don't deserve.
Secondly, he may not have "wanted the shotgun." He just didn't want the other guy to be able to use it on him. The idea that the killer was afraid for his life misses the point that the killed man was that much more in fear of his life and had more reason to feel that way.
What the victim did wasn't wise, but people don't always react in wise ways when under stress. Plus, if you've been running for a while you're apt to have more hormonal energy than brain sense.
Before we draw comparisons between what happened in Georgia and what happened in Delaware take into account that this is some months after the Georgia incident happened. It wasn't this big a story when it actually happened as it is now, and the Georgia authorities probably didn't say more or move faster in the beginning than the Delaware authorities are now.
Because they want to nudge people into believing that this shooting was a tragedy. It's propaganda. That's why they do it.
It's signalling their position which they are trying to get you to agree with.
Hence my reference to missing words.
The public has a right to know this story. Something wrong here.
I'm done discussing.
Yea but he wasn’t jogging down the street he was running from a place he had just trespassed (Misdemeanor) on and by Georgia Law possibly committed a burglary (Felony) by entering the house. This wasn’t two fat rednecks but individuals in the neighborhood trying to stop a possible burglary suspect who wasn’t jogging, he was fleeing from a crime he committed.
What’s thats got to do with it? Are we having some sort national discussion on violent black crime?
The only people that think charging a shotgun is a good idea are fools who have no idea that this is a death sentence.
I guess there are a lot of ignorant people out there who thinks attacking a man with a shotgun is survivable.
His choices were to stop running toward the truck. Interpose the truck between himself and the man with the shotgun, and then run back around the houses where that fat bastard wouldn't be able to keep up with him, or attack the man holding the shotgun.
He made the worst possible choice.
I will always and forever think grabbing a shotgun, without knowing it is loaded but the thing was pointed so odds are...I will always think that a stupid thing to do.
It does seem like this guy was...well I dunno, I kinda think he was snooping around that house under construction for no good reason but I ain’t the cops but I got a right to my thoughts.
But he didn’t have a gun and what the hell those yahoos with a loaded shotgun were doing out and about defies reason. Were they planning on shooting someone?
But he grabs a loaded gun already pointed at him and it goes off and now he’s dead. I’d like to say I would have put up my hands or begged for time and explanation but like you say, adrenaline sometimes is in control.
I am not convinced this guy was oh so innocent but he didn’t deserve to be shot and those who shot him should be punished.
I’m done discussing.
But he grabs a loaded gun already pointed at him and it goes off and now he’s dead. I’d like to say I would have put up my hands or begged for time and explanation but like you say, adrenaline sometimes is in control.
It's real. He was arrested in 2013 (I think) for bringing a .380 to a high school basketball game. He was arrested again later for shoplifting. I've read from other freepers that the reason he was so frantic is a third strike would send him to prison for parole violation or some such.
I've also read that his brother is a piece of sh*t criminal with a long record.
You are mistaken. He was killed by the third shot from the shotgun.
The article still comes up short. There needs to be discussion of black on black murder - being way, way higher than white on black. One must include black on white murder too. No, the continual, racist slant of the media and social justice warriors needs to be addressed. But then, media/democrats need a racism rift to maintain parts of their voter base.
I have read from other freepers that the October video of him in that house shows some of his tattoos and so he has been positively identified as the guy going into that house in October of 2019.
According to the comments in Townhall.com he wasn’t jogging and he wore regular pants, not jogging clothes.
And why is it acceptable for some to use the disparaging word "redneck" for the white people involved, who would likely be absolutely outraged by the use of the "n-word" or "ghetto thug" in reference to the black person involved?
And of course you think you need to drop the hammer to have your hands free for the attack, because what good would a hammer do against a shotgun when you can just use your hands?
Also, the idea of running back to the guy in the car videoing everything simply didn't occur to him. He probably figured that guy would be okay with watching someone murder a black guy by shooting him in the back in broad daylight and in front of witnesses with the cops even then speeding towards the scene.
Those racist rednecks would have no problems at all with a black guy who had been shot in the back. No siree, the cops would have just covered it up or something.
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