Thread by @l78lancer

How many more times will I have to go to bed battling myself on multiple fronts; the heartache and heartbreak of yet another young life snuffed out; the anger and rage at the callousness of the death; the fear for my own family, and; the need to remain cool and show leadership.

Ahmaud Arbery's murders have finally been arrested. The arrest is late, but better than never. There never a for a grand jury to charge them so the court closure due to the pandemic was just a stall. Generally I don't favor capital punishment, but this has to stop.

Yes, I am pissed off all over again, and I am every time this happens for good reason.

This is precisely the reason that people talk about #BlackLivesMatters, and why people have taken a knee. If you don't know by now, you're not trying to understand.

It’s a senseless death that says that there's no value placed on black lives. It says that blacks really aren’t people. It demonstrates living under a state of terrorism. And the initial handling says black people aren't entitled to nor should they even expect justice. Why not?

I personally and deeply appreciate all of the support for #BLM. Empathy and understanding are good, nice, and necessary, but the reality is I want - NEED - it to stop. It is an existential threat to me and mine, and all of the empathy in the world doesn't change that reality.

That young man could just have easily been one of my sons out on a jog. And now he's dead. FOR WHAT? I’d hat to speculate because of the possibility of convoluting the issue, but it hard to not wonder if it’s happened before in this jurisdiction.

And what possible reasonable, rational, legal explanation could the local police and prosecutors have had for justifying covering up this murder other than one of the killers used to be one of their good ole boys?

Yet law enforcement more often than not seem to find mitigating circumstances and rationalizations when the shooters are white and won't even change the conviction decisions when the judgment and evidence against blacks are proved wrong.

And if Georgia could execute Troy Davis who was innocent, they can execute these two murders caught on video in broad daylight.

So just so there's no confusion, let me say it now, don't come at me withstand your ground, citizen’s arrest, innocent until proven guilty, economic anxiety or any other BS, lame excuse. I'm not trying to hear it. The murders committed a premeditated execution.

They never intended to let that young man live. They were the judge, jury and executioners. Their judgement was summary with no appeal. They did it because they thought they could.

They did it with the expectation that the system wouldn't hold them to account or perhaps even reward them somehow.

That's why the racist, white supremacist-based law enforcement and criminal justice system in Georgia - and other places across the nation - must be disincentivized from allowing the arbitrary killings of black people from being viewed as collateral damage.

I don't care about their good family backgrounds, law enforcement background, mental health history, Christian values or how well they were liked by neighbors and friends.

A lot of black people have histories just like that, too, and they still wind up dead. The killers were simply predators that day. I am also not interested in the character assassination of the dead young man who doesn't deserve to be posthumously torn apart in attempt...

...to save criminals. Because black murder victims' lives are invariably scrutinized under a microscope in every possible way to vilify the victim in efforts to bestow sainthood on their murders. Yet nothing in the victims past justifies the killers' actions. Why is that allowed?

Let’s be clear, this killing is every bit as heinous as the massacre in the north Charleston Church because there was a self-righteous, racist entitlement that proceeded it and apparently an expectation of exoneration after it occurred. That is what systemic racism looks like.

But because Georgia's law is what it is, and they should be subjected to capital
punishment, too. What's good for the goose...

We’ll get a chance to see if just is really blind or preferentially cheating by peeping out from behind the blindfold.

In the meantime, I would be remiss if I don’t send my condolences and prayers for comfort to the family of Ahmaud Arbery.

While no words will make them whole or restore their family, they should be permitted the respect and dignity to mourn and grieve in peace, as well as receive the support from the community and nation at large to obtain the justice to which they are entitled.

@threadreaderapp unroll...