Luke Storey

Ahmaud Arbery. I am in tears. Real tears. Not just for Ahmaud, but also for the millions of minorities who will see that video and be afraid to go outside and exercise. Also for the thousands of cases where there was not a video or a hashtag to demand justice. It makes me sick… I almost do not have words, but I’m going to try this. 

Ahmaud Arbery. Yesterday, scrolling through instagram, I kept seeing the same picture, repeatedly. The first one I saw was from LeBron. It had a portrait of a young black man, encaptioned “I was murdered by an armed father and son who hunted me down and shot me as I jogged in a Georgia neighborhood. Neither of my killers have been charged. My name is Ahmaud Arbery.” Then I saw it from Steph, and then from Kyrie Irving, and then from Nyjah Huston, and then from plenty of other famous people and multiple friends of mine. I needed to know more. After reading about it and watching the video, I am so confused, and lost, and sad, and angry. 

Ahmaud Arbery. The thing is, I have yet to put my finger on what exactly set me off the most about the whole thing. One thing is that this whole incident happened two months ago, which I had no idea about until I was about three articles deep into reading about it. The video is from February. Two months, and I am just now learning this man’s name. Two months, and we are just now seeing the video. Two months, and it is just now going viral. 2 months, and THE KILLERS HAVE STILL NOT BEEN ARRESTED AND ARE JUST NOW BEING ORDERED TO GO BEFORE A GRAND JURY. 2 months… and it took a video getting out for even a chance at those guys being arrested. That’s one thing that set me off–2 months, and we’re just now hearing this. Another thing is that one of the killers used to be in law enforcement. So hey, if you were wondering why he has not been taken into custody, I can probably spitball a couple of reasons: 

1. He’s a white man in a white town.
2. He has connections–connections with people who probably thought he had done that community a favor when he took a black man’s life. 

Another thing is that there are people on social media, including real reporters, who think it is actually significant that Ahmaud has a minimal criminal record from years back. I’m not talking murder, armed robbery, or assault charges–I’m talking shoplifting charges. Shoplifting. Bro, shoplifting. Hey man… shoplifting. People are talking about how he shoplifted. Why is this being brought up? Because he is a black man… who was shot by a white man… which means he must have done something wrong, right? We need every possible piece of evidence we can get to show that Ahmaud was the malefactor in this situation, right? Because it could not have been the white people who were wrong in this situation, right? The ones who pulled up in a pick-up truck, with someone in the bed of the truck with a pistol and someone on the ground with a shotgun, and shot Ahmaud dead. It could not have been them who were wrong. It HAD to have been Ahmaud, right? Yeah, okay. FOH. 

Ahmaud Arbery. They’re also trying to say that he looked similar to a suspect in a series of previous break-ins in the area (which, for racist white people, just means he was black). Yeah, right–whatever. You know what you do at the VERY most, even if that is actually the case? You pick up the phone and call the police to tell them that you think you see the suspect in so-and-so case, and you let them handle it. You know what you definitely should not do? You definitely should not take matters into your own hands and chase the man down to shoot him dead. And does anyone know what definitely would have not happened if Ahmaud Arbery was white? He definitely would not have been chased down and shot dead. And if you do not believe that, and you want to pretend that this was deeper than just a racist hate crime by people who felt that a black man running through their streets should not have gone unpunished, then you are wrong, and part of the problem. 

Ahmaud Arbery. This writing has turned into a rant of me being sarcastically obvious, because it is the only way I can find any words. Otherwise, I am just speechless. Does it really need to be said that a black man jogging outside should not pass as a threat and reason to kill? Did it really take a video surfacing for these killers to finally have to stand before a jury? Does it really need to be said that someone shoplifting in the past does not pass as an excuse for the white men who shot him dead? Does it really need to be said that it was nobody’s job to kill Ahmaud Arbery, especially not two random white guys with extra guns lying around? I guess the answer is that for racist people, it does need to be said–but they won’t hear it anyway. 

Ahmaud Arbery. The important thing for me to say right now is that this man, and his family, deserve justice. He does not deserve to be just another hashtag of a man who was brutally murdered by people who now get to face zero repercussions. He does not deserve a bunch of people doing nothing except just saying “thoughts and prayers with the family.” The family needs a whole lot more than thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers will not stop this from happening to the next Ahmaud. Or the next Trayvon. Or the next Michael Brown, Eric Garner, or any of the many other men and women who are victims of hate crimes. Thoughts and prayers will not stop the problem, but justice might. Minorities deserve justice. They need to be able to trust that the justice system will work for them, the way I trust it to work for me if I ever need it as a white man. The justice system should not be a benefit of white privilege… The justice system should be a benefit of human privilege. 

Ahmaud Arbery. I am so heartbroken for Ahmaud, and his family. But I know that my heartbreak is incomparable to that of the minorities who read the articles and see that video and come to the realization that they might be the next Ahmaud, and that they need to always be on guard because they never know when a white man with a gun is going to be offended by just seeing them do something that he doesn’t like. 

Ahmaud Arbery. His name is at the beginning of every paragraph in this writing, because if you’re reading this, you will know his name. His name is Ahmaud Arbery. He was 25 years old, and he was an unarmed black man who was killed by 2 white men who thought they could get away with taking his life. They could have left him alone, and no one would have gotten hurt. Instead, Ahmaud had to die trying to fight and run for his life because two white supremacists thought it was their duty to get a jogging black man off the streets. 

Ahmaud Arbery. Can we please fix this? This is not politics. This is not Team A vs. Team B. This is the simple question of can we please put a stop to people killing innocent minorities? 

Ahmaud Arbery. I hear his name and I get sad, angry, and upset. Not only because he was taken for no good reason, but because of all of the minorities who hear his name and feel the need to hug their children a little bit tighter tonight, because they were just reminded that any day could be the day that someone’s racism is triggered onto them… and I do not know how that must feel, but I imagine it can only be described as terrifying.  

Ahmaud Arbery. To his family, I am so sorry. To his killers, I can only hope you get what you deserve, which is not my place to say–but whatever it is, hopefully it gives you even a glimpse of the terror you gave Ahmaud in his last moments. To law enforcement and any authorities involved, you wasted 2 months, but now it is time to make sure Ahmaud is not just another name on the list of people who were killed without justice. And finally, To… 

Ahmaud Arbery, you deserve justice, and you deserve to rest easy knowing that your name made a difference, and it’s on us to make that happen. We’ll do our best. Rest In Peace, sir.