President Joe Biden appreciated the defendants' guilty convictions in the Ahmaud Arbery case, but said they were 'insufficient' to secure racial justice un the US.
While the guilty judgments represent our justice system doing its job, they are insufficient," Biden said in a statement following the announcement of the decision.
Travis McMichael shot and murdered Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, while running in Georgia. McMichael was pursuing Arbery because he thought he was a burglar. McMichael's father was also charged with helping his son in chasing Arbery and a neighbor, William Bryan, and was found guilty.Despite concerns from certain media outlets and activists that justice would not be served in the trial by a mostly white jury, all three defendants in Arbery's case were found guilty.
Arbery's death was a "devastating reminder of how far we still have to go in the battle for racial justice in this nation," according to Biden.
He urged all Americans to work together to create a future in which "no one fears violence because of the color of their skin."
Travis McMichael shot and murdered Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, while running in Georgia. McMichael was pursuing Arbery because he thought he was a burglar. McMichael's father was also charged with helping his son in chasing Arbery and a neighbor, William Bryan, and was found guilty.Despite concerns from certain media outlets and activists that justice would not be served in the trial by a mostly white jury, all three defendants in Arbery's case were found guilty.
Arbery's death was a "devastating reminder of how far we still have to go in the battle for racial justice in this nation," according to Biden.
He urged all Americans to work together to create a future in which "no one fears violence because of the color of their skin."
“My administration will continue to do the hard work to ensure that equal justice under law is not just a phrase emblazoned in stone above the Supreme Court, but a reality for all Americans,” he concluded.
In his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden highlighted Arbery's murder as an example of racial injustice in America, as well as the killings of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Breonna Taylor, calling each instance proof of the "original sin" of slavery still being felt in the United States.
