7.1
May 8, 2020

President Obama’s two Graduation Speeches. ~ Waylon Lewis

“Be alive to one another’s struggles.”

So inspiring, in just 8 minutes. How did we get here, with a President like Trump? We didn’t vote. 

President Obama gave two Commencement Speeches, yesterday. I needed to hear his wisdom, his guidance, his care, his honesty, his hope, and his ask:

“It doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick. Our society and democracy only works when we think not just about ourselves, but about each other.”

“…he offered the words I wanted to hold on to during this crisis.”

“Whether you realize it or not, you’ve got more road maps, more role models, and more resources than the Civil Rights generation did. You’ve got more tools, technology, and talents than my generation did.”

“No generation has been better positioned to be warriors for justice and remake the world.”

“Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy — that’s how little kids think. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up. I hope that instead, you decide to ground yourself in values that last, like honesty, hard work, responsibility, fairness, generosity, respect for others.”

~

Original post follows:

Here’s a photo of the two men who killed Ahmaud Arbery for the crime of jogging while being Black.

“They look exactly like they did in my head.”

That said, prejudice–pre-judging fellow humans based on how they look–is the problem here. The difference is that nobody would shoot these men just because of the way they look.

 

Here’s a photo of the two men who killed Ahmaud Arbery for the crime of jogging while being Black. They weren’t arrested for two months, until yesterday, thanks to international attention that came to the case, thanks to the perseverance of local activists.

Here’s the graphic, painful, tragic video.

They look just like I thought they would. That said, prejudice–pre-judging folks based on how they look–is the problem here.

That said, no minority would get away with killing these two in broad daylight, with no charges, with video evidence:

“The murderers of Ahmaud Arbery have been arrested, 2 months after Georgia sat on the case.”

Bonus: Trump administration stopped all investigations of local police departments by DOJ.

“Supervisors of The Glynn County Police Department, responsible for the investigation of Ahmaud Arbery, have a history of misconduct, encouraging alterations of testimony, and retaliating against officers who have complied with past GBI investigations for prior incidents.”

“There is an ongoing culture of cover-up, failure to supervise, abuse of power and lack of accountability within the administration of the Glynn County Police Department,” according to the document.

Grand jury report calls for vote on fate of GCPD

Relephant, via Reddit: 

Probably never given that the memo from the (I think) DA said there wasn’t probable cause to arrest. The logic is too absurd to bother recounting except to highlight how crooked everyone involved in this clown fiesta is.

So yeah, without that leaked video, these two were probably free and clear.

Edit: link to the referenced memo: https://georgiarecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Barnhill-letter-Brunswick-shooting.pdf

Not going to bother discussing point by point but I will make the point that it takes an exceptional disregard for human life to argue that the victim is at fault for defending himself.

~

Pasting this here, the memo conflicts with Georgia state law in addition to being a blatantly false retelling of events. The video shows the truth.

  1. There is a vast difference between benign open carry and using a gun to threaten a person. It’s a crime under Georgia law to point a gun (loaded or unloaded) without legal justification. When Arbery was confronted by armed men who moved directly to block him from leaving, demanding to “talk,” then Arbery was entitled to defend himself. Georgia’s “stand your ground law” arguably benefits Arbery, not those who were attempting to falsely imprison him at gunpoint.

  2. According to Georgia case law, one cannot use the citizen’s arrest statute “to question” a suspect. In fact, stating an intention to question a suspect can be evidence that the individual claiming a right to make a citizen’s arrest is “uncertain and did not have immediate knowledge” that the victim had been the perpetrator of the alleged crime. The only “offense” committed in anyone’s presence is the report of a person walking into a construction site.

  3. McMichael not only failed to report that he was parked and waiting in the road for Arbery rather than pulling up alongside him, he claims they told Arbery, “Stop stop, we want to talk to you.” A conversation is not an arrest, and an unarmed citizen is under no legal obligation to stop and “talk” to other armed citizens who are blocking his path.

Remember the time police executed an unarmed man begging for his life saying “please don’t shoot me” right outside his hotel room?

The person who pulled that trigger was acquitted and still collects a pension.

~

Here is District Attorney George Barnhill’s explanation why no arrests were made.

TLDR: If you threaten someone with a shotgun, and they attempt to defend themselves, you can shoot them in self-defense.

~

It appears Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and Bryan William were following, in pursuit burglary suspect, with solid firsthand probable cause, in their neighborhood, and asking/telling him to stop. It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia Law this is perfectly legal,

Fuck this guy. He contaminates the case by rubber stamping what the McMichaels did and then recuses himself. “Solid firsthand probable cause,” my ass. Their probable cause was the fact that Arbery was black.

~

He then goes to cite the law he’s referring to, which says NOTHING about “firsthand probable cause.” The law specifically says that the offense must be “committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge.”

When exactly did these assholes see or otherwise acquire “immediate knowledge” that Arbery committed a crime?

~

1, They are not the police.

2. “probable cause” exists only for actual peace officers

3. Seeing a black guy jogging and assuming he’s an armed robbery suspect is not probable cause

4. F*ck these guys. All of them.

Edit: apparently we have a ton of law experts in this thread, ?‍♂️

It’s also bullshit anyway because the legal standard set out in a citizens arrest in Georgia isn’t “probable cause”. It’s “immediate knowledge”. That’s a standard higher than probable cause. It basically means you have to witness the crime committed in real time.

This prosecutor should have known this. It would have taken three seconds to look up. I wonder if this DA ends up having to answer some questions with the Georgia state bar or with the Attorney General’s office because of this. There are precedents for what counts as a “citizens arrest” in Georgia and what doesn’t and this case doesn’t meet any of them. There are a bunch of statutes and precedents that allow for prosecutorial discretion in bringing charges when there is a death, and this case didn’t meet any of them. In most circumstances, a Georgia prosecutor is legally required to try to get an indictment, but this DA tried to wiggle out of it under what seems to be a deliberate misreading of Georgia’s citizens arrest law.

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