Ahmaud Arbery and tragedy in Brunswick, Georgia.
Coastal Georgia’s Perfect Storm
Hurricane season is especially busy in coastal Georgia. As a native of Brunswick, Georgia, I remember evacuating the city on several occasions with my family growing up. Residents of Brunswick, a small town of moss-laden, tree-lined streets normally spend this season watching Doppler radars. But for the past several months, they have watched police and news reports.
Like the rest of America, they were quarantined. But they became increasingly unsettled at stories of a young black man reportedly getting chased down and shot in his own neighborhood while jogging down the street. Little did Brunswick residents know, they were tracking the perfect storm.
The Fatal Run
Jogging isn’t supposed to get you killed. On February 23rd, Ahmaud Arbery became a heartbreaking, fatal exception as he jogged through his own neighborhood. Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down on a street intended to be a safe space for him. As he ran through the neighborhood that morning, he likely never thought he’d be fighting for his life in broad daylight.
The First Narrative
As a lawyer with close ties to Brunswick, I wanted to help. My brother, who coached Arbery in high school, reached out to me about the shooting and inquired about next steps. Together, we helped coordinate local efforts to galvanize Brunswick’s citizens to help discover the truth surrounding the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. And what we started to discover was troubling.
For starters, initial news reports highlighted Arbery’s past (unrelated) felony convictions, while subjectively reporting the facts covered in the incident report.
What if Martha Stewart, another felon, suffered the same fate? Would the story also discuss her record at …