News / Society

Arbery family in US files racial charges against son's murderers

Saturday, 29 January 2022 8:27 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 29 January 2022 8:27 PM ]

This screenshot shows a participant holding a banner during a vigil in Atlanta, Georgia after three white Georgia men were convicted on Jan. 7, 2022 of murdering African-American Ahmaud Arbery. (Video by AFP)

The family of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger who was chased by three white men and gunned down in south Georgia in 2020, demands justice for the killing.

All three white men who were convicted for Arbery murder have been sentenced to life in prison.

“That’s not enough,” said Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, who believes issues of race raised in the new trial may have an impact beyond the courtroom.

“My son isn’t coming back,” but “maybe it’ll save another Black son,” he said.

Civil rights activists say the new trial, which will begin on Feb. 7, is a key moment in the country’s reckoning with racial injustice. Arbery’s murder was another example of deadly violence being used against a Black man, they say.

Killing of Ahmaud Arbery shows US ‘still a very racist society’: Analyst

The shooting death of unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery by two white men in the US state of Georgia shows that “America is still a very racist society,” an analyst says.

Last November, a court in a Brunswick, Georgia convicted Gregory McMichael, 66, a former police officer, his son Travis McMichael, 36, and William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, for the 2020 murder of Arbery.

The court announced the verdict after more than 10 hours of deliberations following a highly-charged trial that was closely followed by the global media.

Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery, was convicted on all nine charges, including malice, murder and four counts of felony murder.

Three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia

Ahmaud Arbery’s gruesome murder became an emblem of racial injustice and white supremacy in the US after a graphic video was leaked online two months after the incident.

McMichael's father, Gregory McMichael, was found not guilty of malice murder but was convicted on the remaining charges, including the felony murder counts.

McMichael's neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, was found guilty of three of the felony murder counts and a charge of criminal intent to commit a felony.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk