The Fight For Justice In The Ahmaud Arbery And Kyle Rittenhouse Cases Is Just Beginning

 

     Two very different cases, two very different legal processes, and two very different verdicts. On November 15th, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted for his psycho vigilante murder of two men and attempt to murder another in my home state of Wisconsin after an inept (at best) prosecutor argued before one of the most crooked, racist judges in the country, Judge Bruce Schroeder.

     On November 24th, Travis and Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan were convicted of a combined total of 19 of the 24 counts of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. When their attorneys tried to call Ahmaud Arbery a man with "khaki shorts and dirty toenails," asked for a blanket ban on black pastors in the room, and tried to hide the Confederate flag plate the McMichaels had, the judge in that case tolerated zero bullshit. 

     Still, the two cases share one thing in common: the fight for justice is far from over. In the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, we still have one punk who hasn't paid for what he has done. Fortunately, he is still facing a civil legal battle with Trump attorneys Lin Wood and Jon Eastman over millions of dollars in money raised to defend the white supremacist. Meanwhile, both Rittenhouse and the city of Kenosha are being sued for millions of dollars for their actions in civil court. We need to keep up pressure on the federal government, meanwhile: he crossed state lines with an illegal AR-15 and his mother put him in a dangerous situation: they both deserve federal felony charges. We need to make sure he can't rest for years to come and that he and everyone who cares about him faces emotional and financial ruin.

     In the case of the Ahmaud Arbery murder, three white supremacists have been found guilty and each face multiple life sentences. However, a federal hate crimes trial for the men will take place this spring, a corrupt DA named Jackie Johnson still needs to get prison time for covering up this crime for two months, and there still needs to be more civil redress for the hell the family of and advocates for the victim had to go through to see justice.

     Just like the Derek Chauvin case, these verdicts are just the beginning of a long battle for justice in pursuit of a reality where men and women are not treated unfairly or cruelly because of the color of their skin.