Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! That was the powerful verdict that echoed multiple times in a court room in Brunswick, Georgia on Wednesday November 24. A jury found three White men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, guilty on multiple murder counts, and other charges.
The verdict which followed eight days of testimony, involving 23 witnesses, came after more than 11 hours of deliberation in two days. It was delivered by nine White women, two White men and one Black man.
Arbery was out jogging through their neighborhood on February 23, 2020 when the three defendants; Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William Bryan Jr. chased him down and fatally shot him.
This trial gripped the nation as the outcome had to determine where we are as a nation when it comes to racial justice. With a jury of nine white women, two white men and one black man deciding on the fate of three white men, no one was sure what the outcome would be. It turned out the jury did not disappoint. They did not buy the defense’s argument that the three men were conducting a citizen’s arrest and acted in self-defense.
Crowds of people chanting outside the courthouse after the verdict
Chants of jubilation broke out outside the courthouse as the verdict was read. Appearing alongside civil rights leadersand Arbery’s family attorneys Lee Merritt and Ben Crump outside the courthouse following the verdict, Arbery’s parents praised the prosecution and supporters who joined the family in the fight for justice for their son, whose killing spurred national outrage and helped cast a spotlight on other racially driven crimes around the country.
Armaud Arbery’s parents, Al Sharpton and their family attorneys after the verdict outside the courthouse in Georgia
Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, who have been in the courtroom throughout the trial heartily thanked the crowd outside with Cooper-Jones saying her son can now rest in peace. “I just want to say thank you guys,” she said. “It’s been a long fight. It’s been a hard fight, but God is good. … I never thought this day would come, but God is good, and I just want to tell everybody thank you, thank you for those who marched, those who prayed.”
Mar’cus Arbery was also grateful for the support. “I want to give all glory to God because that’s who made all this possible. It’s not one side did this. God put us all together to make this happen,” he said.
All Sharpton who has stood by Arbery’s family throughout the protests and trial said the evidence in this case was clear even to white folks. “Let the word go forth all over the world that a jury of 11 Whites and one Black in the Deep South stood up in the courtroom and said, ‘Black lives do matter,’ Sharpton said.
“Let it be clear that almost 10 years after Trayvon (Martin), God used Wanda and Marcus’ son to prove that if we kept marching and kept fighting, we would make you hear us. We’ve got a lot more battles to fight, but this was an important battle today,” he said.
Lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski was also pleased with the verdict. “When you present the truth to people and they can see it, they will do the right thing and that’s what this jury did today,” she said.
Sentencing date for the three men has not been set yet. Prosecutors have indicated they will seek sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, attorneys for the defendants say they plan to appeal.
The outcome of this trial which was closely watched around the country and world had put the nation on edge. Things would have certainly taken a different turn, had the verdict been “Not guilty!”.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
ABOUT FLORENCE MAFOMEMEH – FOUNDER, OWNER AND EDITOR OF BNN
Florence Mafomemeh is the founder, owner and editor of Black Nation News – BNN
Mafomemeh is a multimedia, backpack journalist and three-time B Free award-winning community video producer. She produces long and short form video and audio stories and writes news for broadcast and online media. She is very passionate about stories that impact the lives of ordinary people.
A native of Cameroon in West Africa, Mafomemeh wanted to become a journalist since the time she was in secondary school. As a news junkie, she realized that news hardly reach all ordinary people and their stories were not being told. She told herself that she would be a journalist so that she would bring the news to them and give them a voice by telling their stories to the world.
Growing up, Mafomemeh watched, read and listened to a lot of national and international news and used much of her pocket allowance to buy international news magazines like Time and Complete Football International. In order to not miss the news, she slept with a small radio under her pillow and usually left a tape for news to be recorded for her when she was not at home.
Currently living in New York City, Mafomemeh graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2019 with a master’s degree in Journalism. While in school, she produced radio and TV News stories on deadline as a one-man band. She also reported news stories around New York City for the NYCITY News Service. Florence was also a news reporter and co-anchor for 219 West, a TV News Magazine that aired on CUNY-TV.
As a field Community video Producer at Brooklyn Free Speech TV, Mafomemeh produces news stories that highlight issues in East New York and New York City. Her stories have had eight B Free Award nominations and three wins – The George Stoney B Free Awards for Social Impact and B-Informed, and The B Free People’s Choice Award. Florence has also freelanced for NYCPolitics.com and was a NYS Election Reporting Fellow with the Center for Community Media at CUNY.
Mafomemeh also has a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism from CUNY- Brooklyn College, a B.A. in English, and an M.A. in the Literatures in English and Commonwealth nations from the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon. She specialized/majored in Caribbean Literature, focusing on the West Indies where she did her dissertation on the works of V.S. Naipaul. She also has certificates in journalism, community news production & reporting, proofreading and editing 101 from New York University-SCPS, People’s Production House and Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
While at people’s Production House, Mafomemeh was radio reporter and co-host of Global Movements Urban Struggles-GMUS on WBAI Radio. GMUS was a show that tackled various issues facing various communities in New York City and around the United States.
Having lived through many challenging experiences and seeing people going through them everyday, Mafomemeh is passionate about telling stories that matter. She is fulfilling her childhood dream of telling ordinary people’s stories that impact their lives and help to inspire others.
I hope you have a great time here on BNN and find something to take with you even if it is just a good laugh! Please, do not forget to subscribe to/sign up for the newsletter with your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts. Please, also show me some love by sharing the link to the site.
Also check out my personal blog at Talking Point With Florence where you can also see the “MORE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME” blog post of November 2, 2013.
