After nearly three months of inaction on the part of local authorities, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over this infamous case so very reminiscent of the Trayvon Martin murder.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were finally arrested Thursday night, May 7, 2020. The McMichaels were both charged with murder and aggravated assault.
On Feb. 23, 2020, Arbery, 25, was killed while jogging a few miles from his home in Brunswick, Georgia, after he passed the predominately White neighborhood of Satilla Shores.
Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are White, stalked Arbery as if he were prey, claiming that he looked like someone who had been breaking into homes in the neighborhood. Arbery, who was unarmed, was shot and killed after he was confronted by the McMichaels. However, until today neither had been charged with a crime.
A video of the fatal encounter was released earlier this week, sparking national outrage and protests. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is serving as the lawyer for Arbery‘s family, appeared Thursday morning on the “rolling out AM Wake-Up Call,” and that video can be viewed here.
“Arbery’s father [Marcus Arbery] reached out to me and asked that I represent the family due to my work on the Trayvon Martin case,” Crump said.
The newly released video footage clearly disproves the McMichaels’ version of what happened, Crump said. “We now know from the video that was a lie. They should have been arrested on the spot,” he said. “If this were someone Black who had chased a White person in a pickup truck and gunned down an unarmed White male while jogging, they would have been arrested on the spot.
“It was a modern-day lynching,” he said during his interview with rolling out. “Greg McMichaels bragged that it was his son who killed Ahmaud. When it comes to lynching, they wanted to celebrate in the killings of Black people. They wanted to document the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.”
“All we’re asking for is equal justice. These men should not enjoy another day of freedom. People in our community are arrested with less probable cause. The McMichaels should be arrested today.” And every so often our demands for justice find the way into reality as hours later they were arrested and charged.
