n class="drop-cap">When I first watched the video of the confrontation that ended Ahmaud Arbery’s life, I did not simply see a homicide. Instead, I saw two white men hunting down and murdering a black man because they assumed he was guilty of something. The second 911 call reinforced this suspicion; the caller offered only this explanation to the police: “There is a black male running down the street.” The only fact that seemed relevant to the caller was the color of Arbery’s skin. After the incident finally went public, some attempted to explain away racial motives by citing Arbery’s prior arrests, or noting that he had walked around a construction site before the shooting. This suggested that many people would prefer not to deal with ongoing issues of racism and prejudice, a spiritual virus in this country. Then we saw Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin place his knee on George Floyd’s neck and keep it there despite Floyd’s gasps and pleas for breath. This dehumanizing of Floyd demonstrated Chauvin’s own brutality. Read Full Article »
