The Token Convictions of Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Won’t Fix a Broken System
In the aftermath of the Ahmaud Arbery murder and the sentencing of his killers, we are once again reminded that these convictions are ultimately for show.
By Zola Ellen
Every time white supremacists are put on trial, I think of Kiese Laymon’s essay, “The Worst of White Folks”. In it, he writes, “White Americans were wholly responsible for the worst of white folks, though they would make sure it never wholly defined them.” And so, while the lives of William Bryan, and Gregory and Travis McMichael have been sacrificed to the prison system – tokenized to prove the system “works” – white America never owns the fact that they created these men. They felt it was their duty to racially profile and stalk Ahmaud. Had their brutality not been so undeniable would their stalking and profiling have even been notable?
A just society is one where Ahmaud Arbery could’ve left his house with the certainty that he would not be profiled or stalked. A just society is one where he makes it home – each breath intact. No Black person in the United States of America has ever been afforded the solace in knowing that our lives won’t be snatched from us when we go out for a jog, or are in our place of worship, or take a trip to the corner store.
It is our natural human instinct to want the worst for people who commit atrocities. I often find myself wanting the worst for white folks who hunt down our children. I often find myself wanting the worst for white folks who keep killing us. Even if I want the worst for Ahmaud’s murderers, even if they spend the rest of their lives on this earth in prison, terrorists like them will continue to be emboldened and even celebrated by a nation plagued with whiteness.
I think our communities, our Black communities, are desperate to fully exhale in relief. When we see those select few who have destroyed lives, receive what has been deemed adequate punishment from the carceral system, we want to believe that’s it, we got them. But our exhale is never quite achieved because even as Derek Chauvin was being indicted, it did not stop Kim Potter from murdering Daunte Wright.
The truth is, Ahmaud should not have been stripped of his life. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley should have left their church in Birmingham with their lives. Emmett Till should have made it back home to Chicago to start the 8th grade and laugh with his friends. Those sentiments apply to Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, and Breonna Taylor, whose murderers are all free.
Not a single conviction acted as a deterrent to Kyle Rittenhouse. He was quickly uplifted as a hero and received zero repercussions…
Zola Ellen (she/her) is a communications and policy organizer at Reclaim the Block, and a member of Burn Something Collective for artists working at the intersections of curation, publishing, and mentorship. Zola is also a Black Futures Lab Public Policy Institute fellow, and a writer and visual storyteller living in Minneapolis, MN.
