Rittenhouse and Arbery cases: similar claims, different results
Sydney Roker, Staff Writer
On Feb. 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African American man, was running through his neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia when three white men chased and shot him. Two of the three men, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, claimed that they saw him running and suspected that Arbery had committed a burglary, thus initiating a chase that ended in a fatal shooting. The third man, William Bryan, who was a neighbor of the McMichaels, joined in on the chase but did not know if Arbery had done anything wrong. Three months later, a video of the chase and shooting was released that led to national uproar and discussions about racial profiling. The handling of the case was also highly criticized due to the fact that no arrests were made until after the video was leaked and that the jury was made of 11 white men and one black man. On Nov. 22, all three men were found guilty of murder and were sentenced to life in prison, in addition to facing federal hate crime charges.
On Aug. 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois, attended a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The protests occurred after Kenosha resident Jacob Blake was shot by police and left paralyzed on Aug. 23, 2020. Demonstrators at these protests called for the arrest of the officer that shot Blake, Rusten Shesky. Rittenhouse, who attended this protest accompanied by an AR-15, claimed to attend the protests to act as a medic and help protect private property. After a confrontation with Joseph Rosenbaum, an unarmed protester, Rittenhouse shot and killed him, claiming to have acted in self defense. Anthony Huber, who saw Rittenhouse shoot Rosenbaum, tried to disarm Rittenhouse but was shot and killed as well. The third victim, Gaige Grosskreutz, was shot by Rittenhouse and injured after pointing his own shotgun at Rittenhouse. After the protest, Rittenhouse was charged with First-Degree Intentional Homicide, Attempted First-Degree Intentional Homicide, First Degree Reckless Homicide and two counts of First-Degree Reckless Endangering Safety.
There were various unique factors that led to Rittenhouse’s acquittal. After Rittenhouse was charged, he amassed many (mostly right wing) supporters who raised over two million dollars to support his defense. Because of the money raised, Rittenhouse had access to top attorneys that most defendants would not be able to afford. Additionally, laws in Wisconsin require the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not acting in self defense, even if Rittenhouse was deemed the first aggressor. Many also view Rittenhouse’s age as being advantageous towards him and see the jury as being more sympathetic towards him as he was a minor at the time of the shootings.
In the case of Rittenhouse’s trial, many right wing activists viewed his acquittal as a win for the right to self defense, but others saw it as a representative of racial injustice in the United States legal system.
“The system of justice works if I look like Kyle Rittenhouse. It does not work if I look like Jacob Blake,” Jacob Blake Sr., the father of Jacob Blake said.
Although both the Rittenhouse and Arbery trials received mixed reactions from the US public, Samo students had more unified thoughts on the case. 72 percent of surveyed Samo students who were aware of the verdict of the Arbery trial agreed with it, while 17 percent of students who were aware of the Rittenhouse verdict agreed with it.
“While the Kyle Rittenhouse one technically fell within “self-defense”, carrying a huge gun around a protest will obviously threaten people, and it was ridiculous for him to respond as such,” one Samo student said in an anonymous survey response.
A fairly large number of Samo students were unaware of the verdicts for both trials. Less than half of Samo students knew about the verdict for the Arbery trial, and a third of Samo students were unaware of the verdict for the Rittenhouse trial, which was a surprise to many, including social studies teacher RoseAnn Salumbides.
“I’m surprised that they are not more aware of it, given what we’ve all been through over the summer and the year and a half being at home with everything that’s been happening with Black Lives Matter, so I would have expected more,” Salumbides said.
Salumbides added that she discussed the trials in her own classes, and said that many of her students were more aware of the trials than was reflected in the responses of surveyed Samo students.
Regardless of the number of students who are familiar with the details of the Rittenhouse and Arbery trials, it is likely that the outcome of these two trials will influence views on issues concerning race, policing and the justice system for years to come, both in and out of the classroom.
From left to right: Gaige Grosskreutz, Ahmaud Arbery, victim of the shooting in Georgia, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, victims of the Kenosha shooting.