Ahmad Aubrey's Tragic Death: Did he Really Need to Die?

If you have heard the story of Ahmad Aubrey, you probably have a lot of thoughts on this topic. You may be someone who feels that it had nothing to do with the color of his skin, and more to do with a person in a neighborhood that did not belong there. You may be another person who feels that it was absolutely about race, and because he was Black, he was then given an early death. Wherever you stand on this argument is totally okay. I am not here to bash anyones opinion on why they feel the way they feel, but because I am a educated African American women who has seen how race plays a huge role in what happens to people of color in society, I would be misleading my audience if I said that Ahmad Aubrey's blackness had nothing to do with why he was killed. In America, we have had a horrible history on dehumanizing people because of the color of their skin. We can see this through slavery, the KKK movement, the millions and millions of African American men who are in jail for non-violent minor offenses, and the constant shootings that we see of White male cops shooting Black people for absolutely no reason.

A great example of these unneeded shootings was the case of Philando Castile. Philando was a young Black male who was shot by a White cop due to carrying a licensed gun in his car that he made the officer aware of when he stopped him. When the officer told him to get his I.D and registration, he informed him he had the gun, and he was just reaching in his glove compartment to get the registration information, not the gun. Before he had the chance to pull it out, he was shot in the arm, and eventually died. These incidents are way too common in our society, and if you watch the news or follow media, you are constantly bombarded with these horrific stories. I am blogging today to have a conversation about Ahmad Aubrey, and to ask the question: "What his death really justified?" 

If you have been keeping up on the story of Ahmad Aubrey, then you know it all started with a jog about a few months ago. He was taking his normal jog since he was an athlete, and decided to continue his jog in the city of Brunswick. As he was running, there were two White males named Greg and Travis McMicheal. Greg has been involved in law enforcement for years before retiring, which made this case even more complicated, because they had to finally find an attorney to review the evidence that would not be bias based off of having a relationship with Greg throughout the years. According to the video, the two white males followed Ahmad in their truck while calling the cops, because they thought he may have been the person that was robbing in their neighborhood. When they finally caught up to him, they got out and tried to restrain him, but Ahmad was obviously very uncomfortable, and tried to fight to get away. This is when the trigger was pulled, and young Ahmad was shot dead. The father and son tried to argue that because Georgia allows citizens to arrest other citizens they were justified in doing so, and when he retaliated, they had no other choice but to shoot him.  Here are my initial thoughts on this injustice.

For one, I think that due to this tragic situation that has occurred, Georgia should really consider changing that law, and just leave it all to law enforcement to handle these issues. I then want to bring up the question: "Did these two White males need to shoot Ahmed?" The answer from my opinion is no, and here is why. There could have been other ways that this situation could have been handled. For starters, they could have called the police like they did, tried to approach him without violence, and if he did not comply, let him go until law enforcement came. This is what happens when people try to take matters into their own hands without wisdom. Secondly, how did they know that he was actually the one robbing in their neighborhood? According to the media, they did not have any valid evidence that it was him. With this being said, we can then see why so many people of color are frustrated with these constant shootings of our Black men. I am saddened by all of the people who say that Black people are just angry, and do not understand as to why. Let's all take a moment to think. If your ancestors experienced slavery, was then lynched, was then water hosed and killed in the middle of the street during the civil rights movements, and now your Black men are being incarcerated and shot for no valid reason, how would you feel? Black lives matter does not mean that others lives does not matter, but it does mean that systemic racism is real. and we must speak out about these topics, which that movement does well. We must continue to fight the good fight, and realize that equality is just not here, and may never fully be, but we must not stop having conversations about it. Conversations bring about change, and change allows this world we live in to be a better place.