Taken in order, Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal would seem like a severe setback for social justice advocates. And by itself, it's certainly out there, isn't it?
But in the last few days, racism has suffered a deep blow, one that should resonate across Thanksgiving tables today and other venues tomorrow. For while Rittenhouse's verdict would seem to vindicate vigilantism, the reasons behind it--lack of respect for appropriately applied law and order and white supremacy--caught two whacks upside the head.
I'm talking about, of course, the verdict in the lawsuit brought by opponents to the "Unite the Right" demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, four years ago, and the guilty verdict in the murder case of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
The perpetrators in Virginia stand to lose a lot of money, even if every single part of the suit was not ruled to apply. They will appeal, naturally, so the actual, final delivery of the money might take additional years to transact--kind of like the four years it took to get these monsters in front of a jury. And it will not shut them up; they will do the same blame act they always have.
But the publicity surrounding the civil trial cannot be diminished. The First Amendment, thank goodness, has its limits. I am a strong advocate for that sacred document, but when it is used as a weapon to torture in the name of hate, it is a form of abuse that cannot be tolerated.
The three white murderers of a black man, just for jogging in a neighborhood they did not prefer, was, as Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post said the other day, a lynching. They tried to hide behind the law, stipulating that they were making a "citizen's arrest" of a potential burglar, one who had entered an abandoned house--isn't that what calling 9-1-1's supposed to be about? And the police had been called by someone else--but that found no traction. Like many of their type, they were trying to dial the clock back to 1960, even accusing black preachers of intimidating the jury with their presence, but lots of litigation has gone under the bridge by now.
But the case had parallels in Kenosha. A gun was involved. The gun toter in Georgia also believed that the deceased was trying to take the gun away and potentially use it on him, so he shot first, claiming self-defense. So is this about guns, or race? Both contain poison in their usage.
We'll never completely know. All the people involved in Kenosha were white, though the deceased were demonstrators protesting the shootings of black men. The deceased in Georgia was black. Eleven of the 12 jurors were white. The district attorney in Brunswick County, Georgia had shown deference toward one of the accused, said the New York Times (and a grand jury), but she was defeated for re-election. The prosecution was made by the district attorney's office of Cobb County, where Atlanta lies.
Again, the verdict will be appealed. A lawyer for one of the guilty in Georgia plans to file for a new trial. Well, anyone can file for something. But again, it takes a serious breach of protocol and process for an appellate court to erase the verdict of 12 people and start over. And note, too, that the judge, Timothy Walmsey, went out of his way to avoid making a spectacle of himself, as opposed to the bizarre eccentrism and grandstanding of Judge Bruce Schroeder in Kenosha.
But the word is out now: Racism will have stronger legal ramifications. Atticus Finch's famous courtroom speech in To Kill A Mockingbird resonates with many of us, but the unfair guilty verdict was in the minds of the jury before that ever happened. Not today, not at least in some places. And badly inspired by ex-, many racists and white supremacists will continue to spew their hate. But sometimes, it seems as if the tide is turning.
It's a big country, and it's easy to get discouraged when things don't turn out well. But racism seems to be losing now, and while it will take a long, long time to right the ship of justice, it still seems to be sailing along despite the choppy seas. Let us hope it continues.
Be well. Be careful. Get a booster shot. Happy Thanksgiving. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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