#(and now it's circulating around personals so...deleted it and reposting it. after having blocked the personal that reblogged it.)

[brcha]

I just think it’s important to remind people regularly that Bail and Breha are the actual cutest, and have the cutest pet names for each other. like canonically she calls him “hotshot” and he calls her “my dove” and she calls him “B” (and he probably calls her “B” too but that’s just me guessing I don’t have a quote to back that one up). 

[torixus]

What We Know About the Killing of Ahmaud Arbery

In February, Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed, 25-year-old black man was shot to death while jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia, after being pursued by two white men in a pickup truck. Neither of his pursuers, a father and son named Gregory and Travis McMichael, were arrested or charged with a crime until May, even though Gregory admitted to police that Travis was responsible for the shooting. Gregory McMichael said Arbery resembled a suspect who had committed burglaries in the area, but had no evidence of any wrongdoing by Arbery except the color of his skin. It seemed to many like a clear-cut case of deadly racial profiling.

On Thursday night, more than two months after the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that Gregory and Travis McMichael had been taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault and murder. A statement from the GBI says that “Gregory and Travis McMichael confronted Arbery with two firearms. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery.”

Arbery’s death became a national flashpoint this week: On Tuesday, graphic video of the incident, filmed by an anonymous source, was posted (then deleted) by a radio station, and quickly went viral. In the video, a black man said to be Arbery is seen running down the street, when he comes across a truck stopped in the middle of the road. A white man is standing beside the open driver’s seat door, brandishing a gun, and another is standing in the truck bed. The runner attempts to go around the vehicle, then struggles briefly with one of the men, before gunshots can be heard. Afterward, he drops to his knees, mortally wounded.

Since the video circulated, national political figures have demanded justice for Arbery’s family, and the new prosecutor on the case has promised that a grand jury will now investigate the shooting. Arbery’s death has been compared to the murder of Trayvon Martin, who was also shot after being pursued, and Botham Jean, who was murdered in his own apartment. Here’s what we know so far.

Who was Ahmaud Arbery?

Arbery was a 25-year-old from the Brunswick, Georgia, area, a former star high-school linebacker who liked to stay in shape and was an avid jogger, according to his family. His mother lives a few miles away from the Satilla Shores neighborhood, which is where he was running on the afternoon of Sunday, February 23, at around 1 p.m. He was wearing a white T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes.

What does the video show?

S. Lee Merritt, the attorney representing Arbery’s family, reposted the video on Twitter after it was taken down on Tuesday. Per Vox, this is what it shows:

As the vehicle turns a bend in a road, a black man wearing a white shirt — what Arbery was described as wearing in 911 calls — can be seen running. A white pickup truck blocks his path; a white man is in the street next to the driver’s side of the truck, and another stands in the flatbed. The video is blocked by the dashboard for a moment, and some unintelligible yelling can be heard. The video then shows the black man trying to run around the truck by way of the passenger’s side.

It’s not possible to see what happens next, but there’s a gunshot; the black man and the white man who was standing in the road reappear in the frame, engaged in a struggle, and move off the road, again leaving the video’s frame. As the man in the flatbed brings up his firearm, there’s another gunshot … A longer version available online features a third gunshot, and the black man falling to the pavement, his shirt seemingly red with blood.

In a statement accompanying the video, Merritt wrote:

The video clearly shows Mr. Arbery jogging down the road in the middle of the day. Two armed assailants, known to be Gregory and Travis McMichael, are parked ahead of Mr. Arbery … Mr. Arbery makes multiple attempts to avoid the armed strangers before the first shot is heard. Mr. Arbery then appears to collide with the attacking gunman, now known to be Travis McMichael. Mr. Arbery then struggles for the gun and in defense of his life. At this point Travis McMichael shoots Mr. Arbery two additional times with a shotgun at point-blank range …

Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop. This is murder.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper, told CBS that the footage “proves that my son was not committing a crime. He was out for his daily jog and he was hunted down like an animal and killed.” Benjamin Crump, who represents Arbery’s father, told the Associated Press, “The video is very clear that they were on the truck with guns hunting him down. I don’t know what more you need to make an arrest.”

What does the police report say?

The New York Times obtained a police report from the incident, dated February 23, which includes only the account of Gregory McMichael — a former county police officer and a former investigator with the local district attorney’s office. McMichael told police he was in his front yard when he saw Arbery “hauling ass” down the street, and called to Travis, “The guy is running down the street, let’s go.” By “the guy,” he said was referring to a suspect in two recent neighborhood burglaries. McMichael claimed that surveillance video of one of the incidents had been captured, and that Arbery matched the person in the footage.

The McMichaels got in their pickup truck, armed with a .357 magnum and a shotgun, and began chasing Arbery through the neighborhood. A neighbor, William Bryan, is named as joining them. Gregory McMichael told police that when they eventually caught up with Arbery, they shouted, “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you,” and that when Travis exited the car with his shotgun, Arbery attacked him. During a struggle over the gun, the report states, Travis fired two shots. Arbery died at the scene.

Gregory McMichael told police he had rolled his body over “to see if the male had a weapon.” Arbery was unarmed.

What do the 911 calls say?

Another source of information on the killing is several 911 calls placed while Arbery was in Satilla Shores, reporting his presence in the predominantly white neighborhood. One caller told dispatchers that there was someone looking around a property under construction; the Daily Beast reported that the owner showed surveillance footage to Arbery’s aunt, who identified her nephew, but that he was simply interested in the bones of the house. Another caller can be heard telling 911, “I’m out here at Satilla Shores. There’s a black male running down the street.” The caller can be heard yelling, “Watch that. Stop, damn it! Stop!”

Why did it take so long for Gregory and Travis McMichael to be arrested and charged?

Two prosecutors assigned to the case had to recuse themselves because of conflicts: First, Brunswick district attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself because she’d previously employed Gregory McMichael; then, George Barnhill, the district attorney of Waycross, Georgia, had to recuse himself after Arbery’s mother pointed out his son works in Jackie Johnson’s office.

Before Barnhill recused himself, however, he wrote a letter outlining why he felt he did not have probable cause to pursue charges in the case. In the letter, he argued that the men who shot Arbery were compliant with Georgia’s open carry law, as well as laws regarding both citizen’s arrests and stand-your-ground. “It appears Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and Bryan Williams were following in ‘hot pursuit,’ [of] a burglary suspect,” he wrote, “with solid first hand probable cause, in their neighborhood, and asking/telling him to stop. It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia law this is perfectly legal.”

But the Arbery’s attorney, Merritt, disputed this interpretation to CNN, saying, “You actually have to be observing the crime or be in the immediate knowledge of the crime” in order to justify a citizen’s arrest, and Arbery had only been observed looking around a construction site and jogging. He also decried references Barnhill made in the letter to Arbery’s “mental health” and to prior convictions of shoplifting and of bringing a gun to campus while he was in high school, calling them absurd and unrelated to his death.

According to the statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Tom Durden, the district attorney now assigned to the case, formally requested that the GBI look into Arbery’s death on May 5. Meanwhile, on April 29, the Glynn County Police Department asked the GBI to investigate threats it says had been made against the department and against “individuals involved in the active investigation” — presumably, the McMichaels. On May 5, the GCPD also asked the GBI to look into the release of the video.

When will the grand jury hear the case?

Durden announced that a grand jury will be convened to investigate the killing. However, courts in Georgia remain closed until June 13. Merrit and other civil rights advocates have said that in light of these delays, including the two months already passed since Arbery’s death, they will push for a federal investigation.

What is #RunWithMaud?

On May 5, friends, family, and supporters of Arbery, whose nickname was Maud, convened in Satilla Shores to jog through the neighborhood in solidarity with Arbery’s family and to demand justice.

Under the RunWithMaud hashtag, they are now asking for supporters to sign a petition demanding Gregory and Travis McMichaels be arrested and held pending the grand jury investigation, and that they be charged by the FBI for committing hate crimes. On Friday May 8, which would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday, supporters will jog wherever they are, in accordance with social-distancing guidelines, wearing a white T-shirt in Arbery’s memory.

This post has been updated with information on the arrest of Gregory and Travis McMichael and the charges against them.

©The CUT

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[torixus]

What We Know About the Killing of Ahmaud Arbery

In February, Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed, 25-year-old black man was shot to death while jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia, after being pursued by two white men in a pickup truck. Neither of his pursuers, a father and son named Gregory and Travis McMichael, were arrested or charged with a crime until May, even though Gregory admitted to police that Travis was responsible for the shooting. Gregory McMichael said Arbery resembled a suspect who had committed burglaries in the area, but had no evidence of any wrongdoing by Arbery except the color of his skin. It seemed to many like a clear-cut case of deadly racial profiling.

On Thursday night, more than two months after the shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that Gregory and Travis McMichael had been taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault and murder. A statement from the GBI says that “Gregory and Travis McMichael confronted Arbery with two firearms. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery.”

Arbery’s death became a national flashpoint this week: On Tuesday, graphic video of the incident, filmed by an anonymous source, was posted (then deleted) by a radio station, and quickly went viral. In the video, a black man said to be Arbery is seen running down the street, when he comes across a truck stopped in the middle of the road. A white man is standing beside the open driver’s seat door, brandishing a gun, and another is standing in the truck bed. The runner attempts to go around the vehicle, then struggles briefly with one of the men, before gunshots can be heard. Afterward, he drops to his knees, mortally wounded.

Since the video circulated, national political figures have demanded justice for Arbery’s family, and the new prosecutor on the case has promised that a grand jury will now investigate the shooting. Arbery’s death has been compared to the murder of Trayvon Martin, who was also shot after being pursued, and Botham Jean, who was murdered in his own apartment. Here’s what we know so far.

Who was Ahmaud Arbery?

Arbery was a 25-year-old from the Brunswick, Georgia, area, a former star high-school linebacker who liked to stay in shape and was an avid jogger, according to his family. His mother lives a few miles away from the Satilla Shores neighborhood, which is where he was running on the afternoon of Sunday, February 23, at around 1 p.m. He was wearing a white T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes.

What does the video show?

S. Lee Merritt, the attorney representing Arbery’s family, reposted the video on Twitter after it was taken down on Tuesday. Per Vox, this is what it shows:

As the vehicle turns a bend in a road, a black man wearing a white shirt — what Arbery was described as wearing in 911 calls — can be seen running. A white pickup truck blocks his path; a white man is in the street next to the driver’s side of the truck, and another stands in the flatbed. The video is blocked by the dashboard for a moment, and some unintelligible yelling can be heard. The video then shows the black man trying to run around the truck by way of the passenger’s side.

It’s not possible to see what happens next, but there’s a gunshot; the black man and the white man who was standing in the road reappear in the frame, engaged in a struggle, and move off the road, again leaving the video’s frame. As the man in the flatbed brings up his firearm, there’s another gunshot … A longer version available online features a third gunshot, and the black man falling to the pavement, his shirt seemingly red with blood.

In a statement accompanying the video, Merritt wrote:

The video clearly shows Mr. Arbery jogging down the road in the middle of the day. Two armed assailants, known to be Gregory and Travis McMichael, are parked ahead of Mr. Arbery … Mr. Arbery makes multiple attempts to avoid the armed strangers before the first shot is heard. Mr. Arbery then appears to collide with the attacking gunman, now known to be Travis McMichael. Mr. Arbery then struggles for the gun and in defense of his life. At this point Travis McMichael shoots Mr. Arbery two additional times with a shotgun at point-blank range …

Mr. Arbery had not committed any crime and there was no reason for these men to believe they had the right to stop him with weapons or to use deadly force in furtherance of their unlawful attempted stop. This is murder.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper, told CBS that the footage “proves that my son was not committing a crime. He was out for his daily jog and he was hunted down like an animal and killed.” Benjamin Crump, who represents Arbery’s father, told the Associated Press, “The video is very clear that they were on the truck with guns hunting him down. I don’t know what more you need to make an arrest.”

What does the police report say?

The New York Times obtained a police report from the incident, dated February 23, which includes only the account of Gregory McMichael — a former county police officer and a former investigator with the local district attorney’s office. McMichael told police he was in his front yard when he saw Arbery “hauling ass” down the street, and called to Travis, “The guy is running down the street, let’s go.” By “the guy,” he said was referring to a suspect in two recent neighborhood burglaries. McMichael claimed that surveillance video of one of the incidents had been captured, and that Arbery matched the person in the footage.

The McMichaels got in their pickup truck, armed with a .357 magnum and a shotgun, and began chasing Arbery through the neighborhood. A neighbor, William Bryan, is named as joining them. Gregory McMichael told police that when they eventually caught up with Arbery, they shouted, “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you,” and that when Travis exited the car with his shotgun, Arbery attacked him. During a struggle over the gun, the report states, Travis fired two shots. Arbery died at the scene.

Gregory McMichael told police he had rolled his body over “to see if the male had a weapon.” Arbery was unarmed.

What do the 911 calls say?

Another source of information on the killing is several 911 calls placed while Arbery was in Satilla Shores, reporting his presence in the predominantly white neighborhood. One caller told dispatchers that there was someone looking around a property under construction; the Daily Beast reported that the owner showed surveillance footage to Arbery’s aunt, who identified her nephew, but that he was simply interested in the bones of the house. Another caller can be heard telling 911, “I’m out here at Satilla Shores. There’s a black male running down the street.” The caller can be heard yelling, “Watch that. Stop, damn it! Stop!”

Why did it take so long for Gregory and Travis McMichael to be arrested and charged?

Two prosecutors assigned to the case had to recuse themselves because of conflicts: First, Brunswick district attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself because she’d previously employed Gregory McMichael; then, George Barnhill, the district attorney of Waycross, Georgia, had to recuse himself after Arbery’s mother pointed out his son works in Jackie Johnson’s office.

Before Barnhill recused himself, however, he wrote a letter outlining why he felt he did not have probable cause to pursue charges in the case. In the letter, he argued that the men who shot Arbery were compliant with Georgia’s open carry law, as well as laws regarding both citizen’s arrests and stand-your-ground. “It appears Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and Bryan Williams were following in ‘hot pursuit,’ [of] a burglary suspect,” he wrote, “with solid first hand probable cause, in their neighborhood, and asking/telling him to stop. It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia law this is perfectly legal.”

But the Arbery’s attorney, Merritt, disputed this interpretation to CNN, saying, “You actually have to be observing the crime or be in the immediate knowledge of the crime” in order to justify a citizen’s arrest, and Arbery had only been observed looking around a construction site and jogging. He also decried references Barnhill made in the letter to Arbery’s “mental health” and to prior convictions of shoplifting and of bringing a gun to campus while he was in high school, calling them absurd and unrelated to his death.

According to the statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Tom Durden, the district attorney now assigned to the case, formally requested that the GBI look into Arbery’s death on May 5. Meanwhile, on April 29, the Glynn County Police Department asked the GBI to investigate threats it says had been made against the department and against “individuals involved in the active investigation” — presumably, the McMichaels. On May 5, the GCPD also asked the GBI to look into the release of the video.

When will the grand jury hear the case?

Durden announced that a grand jury will be convened to investigate the killing. However, courts in Georgia remain closed until June 13. Merrit and other civil rights advocates have said that in light of these delays, including the two months already passed since Arbery’s death, they will push for a federal investigation.

What is #RunWithMaud?

On May 5, friends, family, and supporters of Arbery, whose nickname was Maud, convened in Satilla Shores to jog through the neighborhood in solidarity with Arbery’s family and to demand justice.

Under the RunWithMaud hashtag, they are now asking for supporters to sign a petition demanding Gregory and Travis McMichaels be arrested and held pending the grand jury investigation, and that they be charged by the FBI for committing hate crimes. On Friday May 8, which would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday, supporters will jog wherever they are, in accordance with social-distancing guidelines, wearing a white T-shirt in Arbery’s memory.

This post has been updated with information on the arrest of Gregory and Travis McMichael and the charges against them.

©The CUT

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