The trial of the killers of Ahmaud Arbery

I don’t think they’ll skate free.

What they did is pretty damn clear.

They hunted down a black man and killed him.

The defense attorney was despicable at the least!

I didn't even know this trial was going on. That is so fucked up! it should have the same press as that POS kid Rittenhouse!

The killers had no evidence or a crime being committed.

The old law allows citizens arrest IF a crime is witnessed.

The killers actually took the time to get guns and hunt him down —-BEFORE the police were event called.

They hit him with their truck,

Had a physical fight with them,

And then shot him.

Yes. Arbery wasn’t even committing criminal trespass, much less burglary or any other crime. Even the property owner himself said people wandering through the interior of the unfinished house was common. “Children and curious neighbors also have gone onto the property and walked around inside the house.”

Maybe if he had bothered to fence in his property that has been sitting unfinished for several years and posted a No Trespassing sign, it would have prevented the tragedy. More importantly, maybe if these states that still have their slavery-based laws had repealed them a long time ago, some of their “good ol’ boys” would have thought twice about murdering innocents.

As a white kid in the 70s and 80s, I wandered through unfinished houses in our neighborhood with my friends all the time. No one ever said a word to us, much less chased us down and shot us.

The problem we have here and in the Rittenhouse case in my opinion is that in both cases, white men felt entitled to deputize themselves to “deal with” a black man or “black sympathizers” (I won’t use the even more offensive pejorative that was thrown around when I was a kid, and I’m sure is still in use by certain people today).

Vigilantism should not be acceptable in any instance. No one should get to just decide that the punishment for a property crime - if one was committed - is immediate death.

In my opinion, where laws exist that protect that sort of behavior, they need to be examined and either thrown out or re-written in such a way that you can’t insert yourself and a weapon into a volatile situation and claim self defense. Laws that protect armed vigilantes are not just.

Amazed that 3 adult men could not physically hold Artery down for the police. No, the macho men had to use their big guns!

Gough said Thursday he had "nothing personally against" Sharpton, adding, "We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here or other Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim's family trying to influence a jury in this case."

“We don't want any more Black pastors coming in here”.
That statement is inflammatory at best but I’d say it’s racist. Now I’m no where near an Al Sharpton fan in any way, but the family invited him there to support them. Sharpton sat there completely respectfully, quietly, as any one in court should. He supported the family as he was asked to do. Sharpton has every right to be there as a member of the public but even more so at the invitation of the victims family. The things said by the attorney about him are simply bigoted racist crap. He didn’t even bother to correctly identify whoever was there before Al Sharpton.

The attorney tried to walk back his language today but IMO he still made an ass of himself - racist asshole to be exact. If the family wants someone there to support them then they can have someone. The lawyer seems to be implying that simply because they are known black pastors their very presence will be intimidating to the court. Which is a load of racist bullshit.

And yet that same defense used their challenges to strike down the last of 11 black jurors.

The judge even stated himself tgat the defenses jury selected appeared to be “intentionally discriminatory “.

This is what the defense has said about jury selection:

“We are very pleased that we have been able to select now 16 members of this community," Sheffield said as he exited the courthouse. "Where this community can now decide the pending issues of this indictment, and we truly believe that they will do so fairly and in keeping with what we all understand justice to be about."

Read that again—“WHAT WE ALL UNDERSTAND JUSTICE TO BE ABOUT”

He is purposely choosing jurors who he thinks will vote their feelings of how it should be, void of what the murderers did.

And…

“Not enough 'Bubba' men, defense attorney said

Defense attorneys previously expressed concern over not only how many people didn't show, but also who was missing among those who did.

"It would appear that White males born in the South, over 40 years of age, without four-year college degrees, sometimes euphemistically known as 'Bubba' or 'Joe Six Pack,' seem to be significantly underrepresented," defense attorney Kevin Gough, who represents Bryan, told the court Friday.

"Without meaning to be stereotypical in any way, I do think there is a real question in this case whether that demographic is underrepresented in this jury pool," Gough added. "And if it is, then we have a problem with that."

Sheffield, the attorney for Travis McMichael, brought up demographics again this week, stressing that the low turnout of people during the jury selection process meant the pool didn't "fairly reflect the accused in this case, where the accused can't look across the courtroom and see persons that are similarly situated.”

Imagine if they extended the same jury selection thinking when a black man is on trial…

@zingermack
IF only people would pay attention to this week of all weeks!!

A long time ago, the rich white men of American put enmity between black Americans and poor white Americans (the old divide-and-conquer routine).

As I look around I see how many times the poor white Americans and black Americans could have made common cause to create a more just and equitable America. But that enmity was well-placed and fed by centuries of propaganda. All the rich white "owner class" had to do was convince the poor white Americans that "at least we won't treat you THIS badly" while they pointed to instances of truly degrading behavior toward black Americans.

Now, finally, poor white Americans and black Americans may figure out just how much they have in common. And maybe do something with that knowledge.

I know in my industry, all of the reach out and equity issues are primarily geared toward the "urban poor" and "rural" America.

Amazing how both groups have suffered needlessly for a century and more because they couldn't figure out they have much more in common (including enemies) than they have differences.

Oh so it was Arbrey's fault because he crossed in front of the truck at the very end?

My comment was just what the defense lawyer had just stated to defend McMichael.

just a comment that the defense lawyer had just said. That is was Arbrey's fault he got shot.

Sorry.