The vice president has spoken.
On Nov. 24, 2021, Kamala Harris released a statement regarding the guilty verdicts of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan in the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
Arbery was a 25-year-old Black man going for a run in Brunswick, Georgia, when the McMichaels and Bryan chased him down and recorded his fatal shooting.
“Still, we feel the weight of grief,” Harris’ statement read. “Ahmaud Arbery should be alive, and nothing can take away the pain that his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, his father Marcus Arbery, and the entire Arbery family and community feel today. I share in that pain.”
Harris then mentioned the defense team asking the judge to bar Black pastors from the courtroom. After the request was denied, pastor Jamal Bryant brought hundreds of Black pastors to Brunswick for a mass prayer outside the courthouse.
After the mass prayer, the defense lawyers then asked for there not to be large groups of people surrounding the courthouse as they felt it was an attempt to influence the jury. The second request was, once again, denied.
“These verdicts send an important message, but the fact remains that we still have work to do,” Harris’ statement read. “The defense counsel chose to set a tone that cast the attendance of ministers at the trial as intimidation and dehumanized a young Black man with racist tropes. The jury arrived at its verdicts despite these tactics.”
Harris ended the statement by humanizing Arbery, a former high school athlete who enjoyed running.
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