OPINION: The conviction of white men does not prove America's innocence

“All three defendants were convicted of murder in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.” Nov. 24, 2021. Courtesy of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Zach Richards is a junior studying history and an opinion writer for The New Political. 

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Last week, Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan were convicted of the murder of Ahmaud Abery. Many people said this was a racially motivated attack, given that the men are white and Arbery is Black. Some people, including President Joe Biden, have cited this incident as an example of how the justice system works fundamentally. Many prominent figures, including former representative Tulsi Gabbard, have argued that the United States cannot be reasonably called a racist country. However, deeper problems with the trial should have people questioning these statements. 

If the definition of a racist country is one where a white person will never go to jail for murdering a Black person, then yes, America is not a racist country. However, this does not seem like a reasonable definition. There can still be discrepancies in the justice system worth talking about even if, ultimately, white people do sometimes get arrested for murdering Black people.

Even ignoring the specifics of the Ahmaud Abery trial, generally speaking, Black people face harsher sentences than white people for the same crime. The fact that white people are, in aggregate, wealthier than Black people means they also have access to better lawyers more capable of making sure the justice system works for their clients. However, even when explicitly focusing on the Ahmaud Abery trial, though it may have had a good ending, details of the case still demonstrate how it can sometimes be harder for Black victims to get justice.

The big issue with this case is that the local prosecutors tried to cover it up. The Glynn County Police Department knew about the case and made no arrests for over two months. The local attorney, George Barnhill, recommended twice that no arrests be made, despite later recusing himself from the case because his son worked with Greg McMichael. 

The case only ended up with Barnhill because District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself. McMichael was a former employee of hers. Even months before the case became public news, two commissioners from Glynn County accused her of covering up the case and actively preventing police officers from arresting McMichael. She has since been indicted for obstructing law enforcement and showing favor to McMichael.

Thus, it seems unlikely that anyone would have been arrested in the case of Arbery's murder had not surfaced and been posted online. This is a poor look for the justice system, to say the least, and pokes a big hole in the argument that America is not a racist country.

Additionally, many prominent conservatives defended the murderers after the video received viral attention. False accusations spread that Arbery had committed a robbery shortly before being killed. Based only on a video that Arbery had recently explored a construction site, many assumed he had committed a burglary, and his murderers were attempting to perform a citizen's arrest.

There was no credible evidence to back up any of these claims. Even if Arbery had robbed a construction site, it seems unlikely that most people who tried to justify his murder would have thought that his alleged crime deserved capital punishment in any other circumstance.

When discussing a concept as nebulous as America, there is room for reasonable disagreement over whether or not America is a "racist country," and the claim itself warrants endless interpretations. However, using the conviction of Arbery's murder as evidence that America can't be a racist country is not a convincing argument. The fact that a video of his murder had to go viral for anyone to be even charged for the crime and that many conservatives still defended the murderers is proof that Black people are not receiving equal justice through our current judicial system.