A tale of two trials
The comedian Beth Stelling once described the US legal system as “the white man’s FUBU: just for us, by us”. If you had any illusions that this description was a comedic exaggeration then the past week should have shattered them. Two high-profile murder cases have shone a bright light on the inequities of the “justice” system and made it very clear who the law is there to serve.
Let’s start with the McMichael/Bryan trial in Georgia. To recap: three white men (father and son defendants, Greg and Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan) chased and brutally killed an unarmed 25-year-old Black man called Ahmaud Arbery last February. Arbery had been out jogging near his home; the defendants claimed they thought he was fleeing an attempted burglary.
The first shocking thing about the McMichael/Bryan case is the resistance there was to a trial even taking place. One of the first prosecutors assigned to the case initially recommended not charging the men involved, saying their pursuit of Arbery was “perfectly legal” because of slavery-era law that gave private citizens the power to arrest people if they thought a crime was being committed. Had a graphic video, taken by Bryan, of the McMichaels confronting Arbery not gone viral then his death could easily have been swept under the rug.
A trial may have been granted; whether it’s fair is another question. The jury are nearly all white; there is just one Black juror. This, by the way, is in a county that is nearly 27% Black. Worse still? The judge (who, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, is a white guy), noted that there appeared to be “intentional discrimination” in the selection of the predominately white jury, but allowed the trial to continue anyway. Not only does the defense seem to have an issue with Black jurors, it has also made clear it has an issue with Black pastors. A day after the Rev Al Sharpton sat in the back of the courtroom, defense attorney Kevin Gough told the judge: “We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here.” Gough was worried they could be “intimidating” for the predominately white jury.
Unfolding at the same time as the McMichael/Bryan case, with a number of parallels, is 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial. Again, the simple fact that a trial is taking place is notable. Rittenhouse shot three white men, killing two of them and wounding the other, during police brutality protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August. Had Rittenhouse been Black, do you really think he’d be alive to stand trial right now? Somehow I strongly suspect that he might not have been taken into custody healthy and well. Jacob Blake, whose shooting prompted the Kenosha protests, certainly wasn’t. Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down after a white police officer shot him seven times in the back; charges were not filed against the police officer after video showed Blake had been armed with a knife.
Rittenhouse did not find himself at the Kenosha protest by chance; he crossed state lines to attend. He obtained a semi-automatic weapon and brought it with him. He shot three people. While out on bail, he showed up at a bar in T-shirt that said “Free as Fuck,” and took photos with members of the Proud Boys. Had he been Black, the conservative media would undoubtedly be treating him like a terrorist; instead, he’s being treated like a hero.
Meanwhile, in the courtroom, the judge seems to be treating him with kid gloves. Judge Bruce Schroeder has raised a number of questions about his impartiality after making decisions that seem to strongly favour Rittenhouse. Last month, for example, he ruled that the people shot by Rittenhouse cannot be referred to as “victims” by prosecutors in court; defense attorneys may, however, call them “arsonists” or “looters”. Schroeder’s judgement has also been called into question after he made a very inappropriate joke about Asian food in the courtroom.
It’s not clear what the verdict will be in either the Rittenhouse or McMichael/Bryan trial. But the dynamics of each case have made it more than clear who the – overwhelmingly white and male – US legal system is designed to protect. One nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? It’s a lovely sentiment. But it’s rubbish.
Creepy Republican broadcasts his violent AOC fantasies
Republican congressman Paul Gosar (whose own siblings urged people not to vote for him) has been criticized for tweeting a video which depicted him striking the New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword. Sadly, this isn’t anything out of the ordinary for AOC: she is routinely subjected to threatening behaviour from her Republican colleagues. AOC responded to the video by calling Gosar “just a collection of wet toothpicks” who “couldn’t open a pickle jar”.
Why Japan hasn’t banned sexual depictions of children in manga
The country prohibited the possession of child abuse material in 2014, but there is strong resistance to cracking down on porn manga depicting minors. Vice outlines the issue.
New research shows men are just as emotional as women
The study found that men and women’s emotional stability and fluctuations are “clearly, consistently and unmistakably more similar than they are different”.
One of the latest TikTok trends involves squirting sexual lubricant straight onto your face
Why? Because people want their skin to look dewy and wet, apparently. All I can say is that I am very glad I am no longer in my 20s.
Oh, what a surprise! A feminist ‘world history’ ignores Arab women
Sophie Lewis, writing in the LRB, has an interesting review of a new book by Mallory O’Meara called Girly Drinks: a world history of women and alcohol. Lewis notes that women from the Islamic and Arab world don’t make it into the book, despite rich topics like Arab women’s “wine poetry”. “Perhaps, in planning her ‘world history’, O’Meara subconsciously adhered to the Western idea that Arab feminism is a contradiction in terms,” Lewis writes. It’s a shame because, that aside, the book looks fascinating.
The week in purrtriarchy
Every move you make, every step you take, your cat is keeping track of you. A new study suggests that cats keep tabs on where people are in their homes, even when they can’t see them. “[It suggests] that cats have the ability to picture the invisible in their minds,” one of the researchers noted. “Cats [may] have a more profound mind than is thought.” Pretty sure zero cat owners will be surprised by this news.
This article was amended on 15 November 2021. An earlier version said an automatic weapon was used by Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha; it was a semi-automatic rifle.
Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for pre-order