America and Ahmaud Arbery: Guilty verdicts in Georgia bring ‘that small glimpse of hope’
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Relief, yes. Rejoicing — that’s more complicated.
The murder convictions of three white men who gunned down Ahmaud Arbery on a suburban street in Georgia last year drew broad approval across the United States on Wednesday, even from many conservatives who agreed that justice demanded the trio be held accountable for chasing and killing an unarmed 25-year-old Black man who was running through their neighborhood in shorts and a T-shirt.
From a courtroom in the Deep South, where 11 of 12 jurors were white, it seemed common ground had been found after nearly two years of a national reckoning on race. But while the verdicts in Brunswick were widely applauded, many saw an America still grievously beset by injustice, with an uncertain path to genuine reconciliation even as the offenders were led away in handcuffs and
