The shooting of Ahmaud Arbery: Eradicating the virus of racism

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Artist Theo Ponchaveli wears a mask he created that reads, “Runwithmaud”, as he poses for a photo in front of a mural that he is painting in the likeness of Ahmaud Arbery in Dallas, Friday, May 8, 2020. Ponchaveli said that he was inspired to paint the mural after seeing the video of Arbery’s death on a news broadcast and learning that today would have been his birthday.

Ahmaud Arbery would have turned twenty-six last Friday. People across the US commemorated his life by running 2.23 miles, referencing the day he died.

A former high school football star, he was jogging near his home on the outskirts of Brunswick, Georgia, on Sunday, February 23. According to authorities, he was shot and killed after being pursued by two white men with guns. 

The men were charged last Thursday with murder and aggravated assault, two days after a shocking video of the shooting of Mr. Arbery became public. This tragedy is raising once again the specter of racism in our culture

Coronavirus as a metaphor for racism 

Administration officials announced Saturday that three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, would self-quarantine after contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. Let’s take a moment to consider the pervasiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a metaphor for racism. 

Both are unseen in a person’s life until they become symptomatic. Both can infect people who do not recognize symptoms of the disease in their lives and thus think they are free of infection. Both often produce symptoms that worsen over time. And both can infect people who become carriers who infect others. 

A year ago, I wrote a white paper that examines the issue of racism in depth. I reported that slavery began in the New World in 1619 when the first group of African slaves arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. Many Europeans argued that Africans were inferior and declared that they were better off enslaved by whites…

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