PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This powerful column had me thinking about about the Innocence and related Projects in North America and beyond who have not let a Pandemic get in the way of the fight to exonerate the innocent - and the good human beings who have generously offered their financial and moral support to the causes they are pursuing. Scarcely a day goes by when we don't read about yet another effort inside and outside of the courtroom to gather exculpatory evidence and focus attention on the case. The pursuit of freeing the innocent has not wavered - or been sidelined - because of this frightening all-consuming virus. In a sense, the lawyers, investigators, family members, friends, and members of the public wh0 refuse to stand by in the face of injustice are the front line of protection of our justice system. They understand - and live out every day Wes Moore's message: "We are in a crisis of health. We are in a crisis of economics. But we cannot let these crises mask the other tragedies that existed in our communities before covid-19. Like a crisis of justice." And they are committed to doing something about it.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
---------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "It took a groundswell of persistent online activism and organizing, an exposé in the New York Times and the release of that horrific cellphone footage to bring us where we are today. On late Thursday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the statewide law enforcement entity that had taken over the case, announced it had charged Gregory and Travis McMichael with murder and aggravated assault. Arbery’s death is a reminder we didn’t need of our unjust world. Of the history of racism, violence, trauma that too many black men carry with us on our morning jogs. As we pursue truth and justice for Ahmaud Arbery and his family, we have a responsibility to ask ourselves where else we might find a crisis of truth. How many stories have gone untold? How many injustices have withered in the darkness? How much trauma has gone unacknowledged? Our national insistence and understanding of our deep inequities need to be acted on, and should not have to be televised."
----------------------------------------------------------
GIST: "Getting dressed for my morning run, I found myself wondering what I could wear that wouldn’t scare anyone in my neighborhood in Baltimore.
Definitely not black. Let’s stay away from dark colors in general. Maybe an old T-shirt from my old Army unit, or one from my alma mater, Johns Hopkins, on it. Would that show I’m not a threat?
This unnerving fear crept into my mind amid news of the February killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased in a pickup truck, confronted and killed by two men who lived in his neighborhood in Brunswick, Ga., where his family says he regularly jogged.
The men, a father and son, say Arbery, in his white T-shirt matched the description of a suspect who was committing break-ins in the neighborhood, and that they intended to detain him.
The son, 34-year-old Travis McMichael, killed Arbery with his shotgun after a brief struggle captured in shaky and horrific cellphone footage. The father, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael, a former police officer, stood in the bed of the truck armed with a .357 Magnum.
Arbery and the men now charged with killing him lived a few short miles apart, but think about the different versions of America they experienced.
One lived in a version of America where his existence was perceived as criminal, and an activity as routine as jogging through a neighborhood proved fatal.
The other men lived in an America where they had enough agency to make them feel empowered to grab a gun and chase after a stranger who seemed suspicious to them but whom they had not seen do anything wrong.
Arbery would have turned 26 years old Friday. Instead, his name is added to a long and heart-wrenching roster of unarmed black people and black children whose existence was perceived as criminal or threatening and who were killed for it.
On social media, and in the conversations in churches and living rooms and barbershops that we have about life and justice, we often remind ourselves to say their names.
Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson.
What troubles me about the latest name, about the tragic and unjust killing of Ahmaud Arbery, is that, like many of the others, we almost never knew it.
It took more than two months from Arbery’s killing in late February to enter our national consciousness.
Because of the covid-19 crisis, gone were the attention of the news media, the public protests, the demonstrations, the news conferences that shed light on tragic incidents such as Arbery’s shooting that have grown common.
We are in a crisis of health. We are in a crisis of economics. But we cannot let these crises mask the other tragedies that existed in our communities before covid-19. Like a crisis of justice.
Over the past two months, prosecutors and police departments declined to press charges in the Arbery killing. Two prosecutors recused themselves. News cycles were focused elsewhere.
It took a groundswell of persistent online activism and organizing, an exposé in the New York Times and the release of that horrific cellphone footage to bring us where we are today.
On late Thursday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the statewide law enforcement entity that had taken over the case, announced it had charged Gregory and Travis McMichael with murder and aggravated assault.
Arbery’s death is a reminder we didn’t need of our unjust world. Of the history of racism, violence, trauma that too many black men carry with us on our morning jogs.
As we pursue truth and justice for Ahmaud Arbery and his family, we have a responsibility to ask ourselves where else we might find a crisis of truth.
How many stories have gone untold? How many injustices have withered in the darkness? How much trauma has gone unacknowledged? Our national insistence and understanding of our deep inequities need to be acted on, and should not have to be televised.
The entire commentary can be read at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/08/we-almost-didnt-hear-about-ahmaud-arbery-these-stories-must-not-go-untold/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_opinions
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
