Atlanta, GA - On Thursday, October 24, in Brunswick, Georgia, dozens of family, friends and community members gathered at Glynn County Courthouse as the defense counsel for the three men who have been imprisoned for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery pled their case for a retrial.

Background to a Georgia lynching

Ahmaud Arbery was a 25-year-old Black man who was jogging in his Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores on February 23, 2020, when three white me – Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan – killed him. The McMichaels were in one vehicle, armed, while Bryan was in another vehicle. The men used the two vehicles to block Arbery in. Bryan stayed in his vehicle while recording on his cell phone. Travis McMichael exited his vehicle and stood on the driver’s side holding a shotgun while Gregory McMichael stood in the bed of their truck holding a handgun.

As Arbery approached their truck from the back, he attempted to run past their vehicle while avoiding Travis by running on the passenger side. Travis advanced around the front of the vehicle toward Arbery. Ahmaud Arbery attempted to defend himself before being fatally shot three times by Travis McMichael as they struggled over the shotgun.

This murder case brought national headlines for two main reasons: the public release of the video that Bryan took on his cell phone and the racial motivation of the crime that came out clearly during investigation. 911 dispatch recordings show that two 911 calls were made on Arbery that day. The first was a neighbor complaining that he had stopped jogging to examine a construction site. The second was Gregory McMichael who said, ”I'm out here at Satilla Shores...There's a black male running down the street.“ In statements to the police, Gregory McMichael explained that he and his son were attempting to perform a citizen’s arrest on Arbery for thefts in the neighborhood.

Initially, the Waycross Judicial Circuit district attorney did not intend to arrest or charge any of the three men involved in Arbery’s murder, saying that his death was a “justifiable homicide” based on Gregory and Travis McMichael’s claims that Arbery initiated the physical altercation.

It wasn’t until the release of the video on May 5 to a local news station and the subsequent uploading of video clips online that public outcry forced the state to press charges on the McMichaels, and both father and son were arrested on May 7. On May 8, Roddie Bryan sought legal counsel and was interviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) on May 11 and 13. Two weeks later, Bryan was also charged and arrested.

Bryan’s statements to police included the fact that Travis McMichael had called Arbery a “fucking n***er” while standing over his dying body.

18 months later, each of the three men was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment. The McMichaels were sentenced to life without parole and Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

In addition to these state-level convictions, the three men were also convicted of a federal hate crimes charge in 2022. This past March, the 11th Circuit heard their appeal of that hate crime conviction, but it has yet to issue a decision.

Throughout 2020 during the George Floyd Rebellion, Ahmaud Arbery’s name was chanted alongside George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless other names by millions of people in the streets demanding an end to racist violence. In Georgia, Arbery’s death led to the creation of a state Hate Crimes law which remains on the books today.

Killers pushing for retrial

This week, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan appeared in court while their attorneys used increasingly outlandish tactics to get a retrial. The younger McMichael’s attorney, Pete Donaldson, headed up most of the day’s proceedings for the defense.

As he repeated himself at length, Donaldson’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-worthy performance drew laughs of disbelief from the gallery and led a nearby reporter to write “filibuster??” on his notepad.

In the case of all three men, their argument hinges on the assertion that members of the jury received “extraneous information” about the case that clouded their ability to carry out their duties without prejudice against the McMichaels and Bryan. To prove this, Donaldson called Juror 380 (jurors were only referred to by number to protect their anonymity) to the stand.

This was a controversial move among the gathered crowd as Juror 380 was the only Black person on the jury.

Donaldson’s questioning of Juror 380 went from strange and confusing to bizarre and groan-inducing over the course of the 45-minute exchange. Highlights included more than 50 individual uses of the phrase “hot dog” and asking Juror 380 to recount conversations in prayer with “the Lord.”

Juror 380 lives just a few short blocks from the courthouse where rallies took place in support of the Arbery family before and during the trial. Donaldson’s questions were intended to accuse Juror 380 of an inability to be impartial because, first, Juror 380 walked past a rally to order a hot dog at a local stand, and second, Juror 380 is a deeply religious person who prayed to “the Lord” about their role as a juror and admitted to feeling sorry for the Arbery family, imagining what could happen to their own children.

Bizarre arguments to get racist murderers off the hook

William Bryan’s attorney, Rodney Zell, took it a step farther and attempted to make a few additional arguments. Zell called Bryan’s original trial attorney, Kevin Gough, to the stand. During this exchange, the arguments by Bryan’s attorney centered on three major themes.

First, Zell attempted to paint a picture of improper communication between attorney Gough and law enforcement and/or prosecution by rehashing a timeline of events leading up to Bryan's eventual arrest.

Second, he attempted to establish the lack of mental fortitude of his client. During this section of examination, Gough used “stupid” and “lil dummy” in reference to Bryan, claiming that if Bryan had better verbal skills, he would not have made such incriminating statements to the police that led to his conviction. Incredibly, Gough said, “it’s not like he’s retarded,” but still had “very little” comprehension and was a shy man who was more likely to have just been going along with the stronger personality of Gregory McMichaels.

Finally, appealing attorney Zell revealed, through his examination of attorney Gough, that the latter had intended to make a ‘mistake of fact’ defense in the original trial and simply forgot to do so in his closing arguments. Under oath, Gough claimed that he “bungled it” and that clearly the new attorney intended to try to make a similar argument for retrial.

“Mistake of fact” is a legal defense when a defendant's mistaken belief negates the mental state required to commit a crime. The example Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski used to illustrate this defense was if Person A gave Person B’s credit card to her, and told her that Person B said it was okay for her to put a charge on the card, that she could then use a mistake of fact defense if she was later charged with theft.

Throughout the questioning and the rest of the court appearance, however, it was never made clear what “mistake of fact” Bryan might have been operating under during the murder that would then negate his guilt. The judge clarified for the court that assumptions cannot be used as basis for mistake of fact. Thus, Bryan’s assumption that Arbery was guilty of robbery or Bryan’s assumption that the McMichaels were not armed would not negate his guilt.

The day ended when the defense attorneys agreed to submit written briefs for the rest of their arguments. No date for continuing the hearing was scheduled.

Family and community react

Ahmaud Arbery’s father and aunt - Marcus Arbery and Diane Jackson - were among the gathered friends, family and community in attendance at the hearing on Thursday. The general attitude was that this hearing was cruel to the family and a waste of everyone’s time.

“They can tell they ain’t got nothing to stand on,” said Diane Jackson, referring to the defense attorneys, “but all they doing is opening wounds for the family. We tired of this...leave us alone, that’s all we ask.”

Many in the crowd shook their heads with disgusted dismay, lamenting that Juror 380 was singled out because of their status as the only Black juror. “If that don’t show you that racism is still strong!” Jackson declared, “It’s wrong.”

Laith Abdel Hader, an organizer with the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, left Atlanta at 4 a.m. to make the five-hour journey to Brunswick. They were joined by a dozen other concerned community members from the Atlanta Alliance and Black Lives Matter Grassroots Atlanta. Abdel Hader shared that their attendance at the rally was to support the Arbery family and ensure that the “white supremacist killers stay in prison where they should be.”

#AtlantaGA #JusticeforAhmaud #AhmaudArbery #AtlantaAlliance #BLM #Feature

Brunswick, GA – Around 1000 people took to the streets of Brunswick, Georgia, May 16, to demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery, the young African American man murdered in late February by the racist vigilantes Gregory and Travis McMichael. Organized by a coalition of many organizations, protesters also demanded the resignation of State Attorneys Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill, both prosecutors who originally declined to press charges against the McMichaels for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

#BrunswickGA #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #AhmaudArbery #GregoryAndTravisMcMichael #racistVigilante

Jacksonville, FL – A crowd of more than 200 people, practicing social distancing and mostly wearing face masks, gathered in front of the Duval County courthouse, May 8, in response to the brutal murder of Ahmaud Arbery in nearby Brunswick, Georgia. The Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), Northside Coalition, and the New Florida Majority put the demonstration of solidarity together; UNF Students for A Democratic Society (SDS) was represented as well. Even community members from Brunswick, where Arbery was killed, drove down to attend the demonstration.

Several speakers shared their thoughts, reiterating the fact that there must be a complete overhaul of the system that protects white racist vigilante terrorists such as Gregory and Travis McMichael. Signs were held that read “Justice for Ahmaud,” “Stop killing us” and “Murdered for the crime of being Black.”

Throughout the streets of downtown Jacksonville, you could hear the crowd chanting, “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” It would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday that day.

Throughout the rally, speakers connected Arbery’s case to those of so many other Black men who have lost their life due to racist vigilantism and police violence. Some signs included the names of Jamee Johnson, Kwamae Jones, Jalen Mays, Vernell Bing and other victims of local police killings. In 2020 alone, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has shot eight people so far. However, body cam footage has been released for any shooting.

“We will continue to call for justice for Ahmaud and the conviction of his murderers,” said Rachel Duff of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “We continue to call for release of the body cam footage for every victim of police brutality in Jacksonville, and we continue to fight for community control of the police.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #JCAC #AhmaudArbery

Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), along with members of the community, parked outside the Sam M. Gibbons Federal Courthouse to participate in the socially-distanced protest. After the protesters were forced to leave by the building’s security, the rally continued in the form of a car caravan which circled the building.

Though Arbery was murdered in February, the culprits were not apprehended for nearly two months, despite being caught on video. Just a day before the scheduled protest, Gregory and Travis McMichael were finally arrested and charged with murder, thanks to the work of Arbery’s family as well as activists nationwide.

However, Tampa Bay SDS continues to emphasize the necessity of a conviction in order for justice to be served. David Jones of Tampa Bay SDS states, “Being in Florida we’ve seen the results of an indictment without conviction in the murder of Trayvon Martin. We must hold these racist vigilantes accountable and continue to fight for and struggle alongside Black communities if we want to see progressive change.”

#TampaFL #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #TampaBaySDS #carCaravan #AhmaudArbery

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the brutal murder Ahmaud Arbery, a young African American man in southern Georgia, who was killed by racist vigilantes on February 23.

Similar to the Trayvon Martin murder at the hands of racist vigilante George Zimmerman in 2012, this horrific murder highlights the savage and vicious nature of white supremacy in the Black Belt South, home to the African American nation and the majority of African Americans living in the United States. Brunswick, Georgia near where Ahmaud was murdered, is located on the southeastern edge of the Black Belt; it is a city of around 15,000 and majority African American. However, the Glynn County police department is known for its brutality towards the African American community and corruption, with even the police chief being indicted this year.

Just like the racist vigilante murders of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Markeis McGlockton , the racist laws of Stand Your Ground and citizen’s arrest statutes only serve to show that national oppression is alive and well. In the Black nation the police and the state attorneys act as the day-to-day enforcers of this system working hand in hand with white supremacists.

In Ahmaud Arbery’s case, it’s clear the local police and state attorneys actively worked with the racist vigilantes to cover the murder up and worked to hide the video of the lynching from the public. Due to widespread public pressure, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations as of Thursday evening, May 7, brought forth charges of murder against the McDaniels, with them being apprehended and booked in the Glynn County jail. Unfortunately, similar to the case with racist vigilante George Zimmerman being put on trial for murdering Trayvon Martin and being exonerated, an arrest doesn’t necessarily mean a conviction within the racist injustice system.

Racist murders and violence by vigilantes and police serve to reinforce the social, economic and political inequality that Blacks face in the African American nation. This inequality can be seen in the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In counties in the Black Belt South in southeastern Georgia, people are dying at rates like New York City. Poverty, lack of medical care and wretched health conditions are the pre-existing conditions killing people in the Black nation, just as it is in Black communities across the country.

Our experience has shown us that justice won’t come unless we demand it. The fight for justice for Ahmaud and other victims of state sanctioned, white supremacist vigilante terror will only advance when the masses of show their power through fighting back. The way to get justice for Ahmaud Arbery lies through struggle. The people, not the police, are the makers of history and they will make their justice in the streets.

Justice for Ahmaud and all victims of racist terror!

Full equality for African Americans and self-determination and freedom for the African American nation!

Michael Sampson is a member of the Joint Nationalities Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO)

#UnitedStates #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Antiracism #FRSOJointNationalitiesCommission #AhmaudArbery

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

This past Thursday, May 7th, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, a father and son lynch crew, were arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man on the eve of his 26th birthday. We’ve all seen the video of this racist, lynch-style murder that went public more than two months ago.

A Black man is hunted and gunned down and it takes two months before an arrest. Two months after seeing the video before the District Attorney, George Barnhill, files charges. The mass media has it wrong. The release of the video of this lynching is not what moved the D.A. to press charges (he had the video for 75 days). In fact, there would have been no arrests in the absence of public outrage and Ahmaud Arbery’s family demanding justice.

We have seen this travesty of justice shown before; we saw it here in Chicago when killer cop Jason Van Dyke murdered Laquan McDonald. In that case, too, Laquan was called the aggressor, even though he was the prey. In that case, too, they said it was self-defense, even though they attacked him. In that case, too, the police and D.A. viewed the video and said there was no reason to press charges. In that case, too, it took the video to be leaked and the public to cry out for justice before anything happened. That is why we must all support the demands of Arbery’s family.

The lynching of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragic phenomenon we have been seeing repeated throughout the land since Travon Martin was stalked and murdered by the vigilante, George Zimmerman. These white supremacists — both police and vigilantes — have been allowed to murder unarmed Black people with impunity.

Before, during and after this pandemic they will continue to lynch us until we stop them. It’s not enough to be outraged. We need to demand that the D.A. be fired, that a special prosecutor (vetted by the community) be appointed, and that the murderers be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

But already this is another lynching with impunity! It was two months before the known killers were arrested. THAT'S IMPUNITY! Whose fault is this? When the victim was hunted down and murdered whose fault was it that no one was arrested for over two months? It’s law enforcement that criminalizes us but does nothing about the criminals that prey upon us. It’s their fault! We know who’s responsible and it’s our responsibility to hold them accountable. No worries, there will be a reckoning if you don’t arrest, convict and send these racist killers to jail.

We stand united with the Black people of Brunswick, Georgia and NAACP Vice President, Gerald Griggs, who said: “We will not allow African Americans to be killed in this state with impunity. We will demand punishment with the fullest extent of the law.”

Yours in united struggle,

Frank Chapman, Executive Director, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #NAARPR #AhmaudArbery