The Rot in Glynn County Runs Well Beyond the Murder of Ahmaud Arbery


     Today, February 23rd, 2022, is the first annual observance of Ahmaud Arbery Day. Yesterday, the three men who murdered him, Travis and Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, were convicted of attempted kidnapping and a hate crime; the McMichaels were each also convicted of federal firearms charges. Already convicted of murder charges in Georgia and sentenced to life in prison, they'll likely get the same sentence for the federal crimes whenever the day comes that they find out. Meanwhile, the family has turned their attention to former DA Jackie Johnson and neighboring DA George Barnhill. Both lost their office after Johnson ordered the police not to arrest the three men who murdered Arbery and recused herself; she sent the case to Barnhill, who also recused himself, but not before issuing a report claiming the men had done nothing wrong.

     It took the video going viral and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation stepping in in May 2020 for arrests to be made and convictions to be secured. Johnson was indicted on two counts: one for a felony charge of interfering with law enforcement and one for a misdemeanor charge of violating her oath. She faces up to six years in prison, but no action has been taken on her case since she was arrested in September 2021. I've also called on DA Barnhill to be indicted: while he didn't interfere with law enforcement, he did clearly violate his oath, and he deserves at least the misdemeanor charge for making Ahmaud Arbery's family suffer for so long. As I stated earlier, Barnhill has a long history of other misconduct, including an instance in which he failed to charge a sheriff's department employee with a prior incident of hitting and killing a pedestrian for hitting and killing a young black man. In another case, he tried to put a black woman in prison for 15 years for helping a disabled person cast a vote for Barack Obama; she would later be acquitted.

     It's easy to see why things like this happen when you see who's in charge in Glynn County. Just days after Arbery's murder in February 2020, former police chief John Powell and three other officers (David Hassler, David Matthew Haney, and Brian Scott) were indicted on a combined total of 25 felony and misdemeanor charges for oath violations, perjury, making false statements, and criminal attempts to commit felonies. The charges came after an officer for the department, James Cassada, was accused of doing drugs and having sex with confidential informants and the chief and three other officers repeatedly lied to cover for him. Even after these charges, Scott, who had served as Powell's chief of staff, managed to become the CHIEF OF POLICE in Vidalia. Powell and Scott were indicted on a further five charges between the two of them in August 2021 related to other charges in which they failed to disclose information to the public and showed favoritism in covering up misconduct by their officers.

     Ahmaud Arbery's murder changed the state of Georgia by prompting lawmakers there to pass a hate crimes law and repeal and replace their citizens' arrest statute while helping to initiate the conversation about race America had as a nation in 2020 and is still having today. The rot in Glynn County, however, runs well beyond the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. It is deeper, it is more insidious, and it denies people, especially people of color, their God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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