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This week, the murder trial cases of white teen murderer Kyle Rittenhouse and that of white vigilante murderers Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan started in Kenosha, Wisconsin and in Brunswick, Georgia.
Race is obviously a central factor in both cases. However, the impending verdicts seem predestined to end in acquittal–because of the virtually all-white juries that have been seated in both.
In the Rittenhouse case, it already appears his pathway to acquittal is secured. Why?
For one thing, the biased judge has already tilted the scales in Rittenhouse’s favor. In a bizarre biased ruling, Judge Bruce Schroeder said the two dead (Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber), and one wounded (Gaige Grosskreutz) victims, of Rittenhouse can’t be called victims.
According to Judge Bruce Schroeder “the word victim is a loaded, loaded word.”
But while saying that, Judge Schroeder said Rittenhouse’s victims can be called “arsonists” or “rioters and looters” despite little evidence to substantiate these allegations. Apparently, this white judge doesn’t think its too “loaded” to call two dead victims “arsonists” or “rioters and looters.”
We now know Judge Schroeder has a history of bias.
As one Daily Kos article put it, this “judge has a history of jackassery that goes back over 30 years.” The Kos piece noted that Judge Schroeder’s reputation “is apparently so daunting that hundreds of defendants request a different judge, creating imbalances in the workloads of different felony courts.”
To make matters worse, the jury selection in this important case was completed in one day. How could jury selection in such a national case be rushed in such a manner? And there is only one “person of color” on this jury, in an area where the non-white population tells us there should be more.
Some may say how is race relevant in the Rittenhouse case? The answer to that, and why it was less than legally prudent, and not in the best interest of justice to have such a swift jury selection process, was partially answered by what happened on Thursday.
Because, Thursday Judge Schroeder was forced to make what some legal analysts have called his singularly sane ruling when he remove one racist white juror.
This white male juror made the following “joke” to a court police officer, who is presumably white like this moron: “Why did the Kenosha police shoot Jacob Blake seven times?” The punch line: “Because they ran out of bullets.”
And this reminds us that it was the police backshooting of Jacob Blake (which left him paralyzed from the waist down) which set in motion the events that led the then 17-year-old Rittenhouse to go to Wisconsin, from his home in Illinois, to murder these two white people who were demonstrating and showing solidarity with Black America against racist police violence.
Remember how 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot dead in the park across from his home in Ohio while playing with a toy gun? But the underage Rittenhouse after killing two people walked by several police cars, with his assault-rifle, and talked to at least one police officer–before going home to sleep in his bed.
Rittenhouse’s lawyers reportedly initially objected to the prosecution’s request to remove this white cracker juror–until he declined to repeat his odious joke when asked, then they apparently thought better of fighting to keep him. But these lawyers know they have others like him on this white jury who aren’t dumb enough to be so brazenly blunt with their bigotry.
They know their client Rittenhouse is well on his way to an acquittal.
In the Ahmaud Arbery case, prosecutors ended up with the same nearly all-white jury, save one Black person–even though jury selection was much longer. The prosecution is reportedly saying they didn’t notice the defense was gutting the jury pool of Blacks till it was too late.
How is this possible? Is this what happens when we get prosecutors who become conveniently “color-blind” in racially–charged cases where the defendants are white–but not so when they are prosecuting those they are more comfortable prosecuting: Black Americans?
If the Arbery case ends in an acquittal, we don’t need to look much further that the white composition of this jury. The judge himself basically has admitted that the lawyers of these vigilante murderers targeted Black jurors for removal. But yet he says his hands are tied in doing anything because of the actions, or non-actions, of the prosecution who failed to challenge the racist dismissals of these Black jurors until after the fact.
To say this stinks to high heaven is an understatement.
On the first day of the Arbery trial, the lawyers for these three white vigilante murderers (Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan) made it clear they will be arguing self-defense. Only white people who murder Black people would dare argue self-defense when they initiate a deadly armed situation, where only they have guns.
Let’s be clear here: despite the sly lies and deception that is being spun, Ahmaud Arbery was not armed and there was nothing, besides racial hallucinations, that would have led anyone to think he was armed.
The lawyer for the main murderer of Arbery, Travis McMichael, told a tale about him being concerned that Arbery was armed. Does that make sense to anyone who really looked at the Arbery murder tape?
Do we ever see law enforcement get that close without proper cover, or backup, if they think someone is armed? Travis McMichael’s law enforcement training was introduced Friday in court, and his father was a former cop, do we really think they would’ve gotten that close if they really thought Arbery was armed?
But let’s look at the central claim being made by these murderers about why they targeted Arbery.
They say there had been burglaries in an open home that was under construction. They admit Arbery wasn’t the only one who went into this open construction site. White people were going into it too. Yet, they decided Arbery must be the one who was burglarizing the site. Why not one of the white people?
Apparently, only Black people steal stuff. But there are other incongruent things to consider in their fables.
Now, we know Arbery liked to jog. But they saw his jogging as running away from perpetrating a criminal act. It reminds me of when a Black New York City cop was shot by a white cop because he saw him running.
These killers claim they were only trying to detain Arbery for the police. But here is the thing: why did they need to confront him when they were driving vehicles? Couldn’t they have just followed him, at a safe distance, and notified the police of his location–especially, since they claim they thought he was armed? Remember, these people were on the phone with 9-11 just prior to the murder.
There is another illogical aspect to debunk here: what the hell could Arbery have stolen if he was only running in his jogging clothes? Are they saying he could have been concealing building supplies along with the phantom gun they say they thought he had?
Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers are modern day examples of what we’ve always had in America: white Klan-type vigilante killers who have for centuries made it a blood sport to hunt, harm, and murder, Black Americans with impunity. These blood-thirsty racists have always done this because: they usually always evade justice–assuming they are even prosecuted, with the help of all-white juries.
Sadly, the way things look now, Kyle Rittenhouse will be (I hope I’m wrong) acquitted by the white Wisconsin jury and Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan will likely be acquitted by the white jury in Georgia as well—or, be saved by a hung jury.
But let’s see what next week brings…
