On Sunday afternoon, February 23, 2020, three White men using two pick-up trucks tracked down a young Black man out for an afternoon exercise run. They suspected him, without cause or evidence, of thievery in their neighborhood. After clumsily cornering him between the trucks, they confronted him with a loaded rifle, intending to make a citizen’s arrest (they said later, to my great skepticism). He feared for his life, grabbed the rifle in what must have been a desperate act of self-defense. The armed vigilante pulled the trigger…three times … and killed Ahmaud Arbery.
A week later, not yet knowing the fuse had been lit, I inaugurated a local radio show on two Rejoice Radio channels, FM-97.5 in Brunswick and FM-94.7 on St. Simons Island, both on the southeast coast of Georgia—the Golden Isles, I often call it in The Meetinghouse.
It was weeks before we knew about the killing, as prosecutors and police neglected to take any action. That dereliction of duty would, nine months later, cost the district attorney her job at the polls; and another nine months would bring her arrest on charges of negligence. She is free on bond of $10,000 awaiting trial.
Ten days after I launched my radio show and before the killing of Ahmaud Arbery became a regular conversation on the broadcast, police in Louisville busted into the home of Breonna Taylor, thinking it was linked in some way to the drug culture. In the confrontation, Breonna was killed. No arrests have been made, but the deadly encounter ignited on-going protests throughout Louisville.
Two months later, a video of the Ahmaud Arbery murder was released to the public, generating outrage throughout Glynn County and the nation. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation and, in short order, arrested all three men. They were charged with, among other things, murder; later they were charged with federal crimes.
Days later, in Central Park of New York City, the White woman Amy Cooper called police on the Black man Christian Cooper for doing, well, nothing. He was birdwatching, but that irritated her in some way, and she reported him for being, well, Black and also for requesting that she leash her dog (in obedience to local ordinance). As it turned out, she was the one arrested—at a later date—and charged with filing a false police report.
That same day, May 25, 2020, George Floyd was placed under arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was handled in such a way that he died, all the while protesting, “I Can’t Breathe.” That three-word sentence became the watchword of a global movement protesting the treatment of Black people by the public and the police. The policemen that “arrested” Floyd were themselves dismissed from the police force, arrested, and charged with crimes. One has been found guilty of murder and three others are in jail awaiting trial, now scheduled for March of 2022.
This series of events—from February to May of 2020—ignited a massive, world-wide protest: a demand that law enforcement address the mistreatment of Black people.
The spark that lit the fuse was the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia. That spark smoldered for three months before the flickering was noticed, before attention was drawn to the deadly event and its official cover-up.
Now, the three White men accused of conspiring to kidnap, confront, and kill Ahmaud Arbery are on trial in the courthouse of Glynn County, Georgia.
I stood outside the courthouse last Thursday and hosted my weekly broadcast known as The Meetinghouse. I spoke into my Samsung phone camera affixed atop a plastic tripod. Around me were the high-class professional equipment of journalists from around the country. I counted no fewer than 20 media trucks arrayed to the west of the courthouse. I sat down on white folding chairs to talk with others: from New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Savannah, and Jacksonville.
No wonder it was news.
Two thousand people (including my wife Jan) were summoned to jury duty in this town of 16,000 that is 60% Black and this county of 68,000 that is 26% Black. The jury was seated the day of my broadcast: one lone Black man—a jury 8% Black. Even the judge from the bench complained about the discrimination, bemoaning the legal means the lawyers employed to create a jury so unrepresentative of the community. No wonder it was news.
My two guests in The Meetinghouse last week were Rabbi Rachael Bregman and Reverend John Perry, both leaders of the local ministerial alliance that played a key role in keeping the people engaged and the protests peaceful. You can listen and/or watch the broadcast here.
They say the trial will be over in another ten days. Will a largely White jury in southern Georgia convict three White men of killing a Black man?
Perhaps, and only perhaps.
There are federal charges to address and even a civil trial to watch. Plus, maybe, sentencing.
Who knows what will happen if those charged are not found guilty?
Who knows what will be the long-term impact of this drama on either criminal justice or community life in Glynn County, Georgia?
For 21 months it has been a topic of conversation in The Meetinghouse, and I suspect, it will be for at least another 21 months. Stay tuned.
(November 2021)
