"Why Are Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers So Scared?": Self-Defense Claims by White Attackers Seen As Racist

Update on Nov. 24: Jurors on Wednesday afternoon returned guilty verdicts against all three of the white men charged with killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020. Travis McMichael fired the fatal shots and was convicted on all counts, including the charge of malice murder. His father Gregory McMichael, a former police officer, and neighbor William Roddie" Bryan were convicted of felony murder and other charges.

As the jury deliberates in the trial of the three white men charged with hunting down and murdering 25-year-old Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, we speak with Nicole Lewis, Senior editor of Jurisprudence at Slate about her piece titled, Why Are Ahmaud Arbery's Killers So Scared?" She says claims of self-defense from armed white people serve as a racist dog whistle," and that it is inevitably a one-sided trial when the McMichaels are the only ones [surviving] that get to claim they're scared."