Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is weighing in on the murder of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery and how she thinks the “rhetoric coming out of the White House” had a role to play in the shooting
“With the rhetoric that we hear coming out of the White House in so many ways, I think that many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way that we otherwise would not see in 2020,” Bottoms said.
She added, “Because you have to remember, Jake, you know, in cities across this country, even if local leadership fails, there was always the backstop of our Justice Department to step in and make sure people are appropriately prosecuted. But we don’t have that leadership at the top right now. It’s disheartening.”
Watch her comments below:
“It’s heartbreaking that it’s 2020 and this was a lynching of an African American man,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says about the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery. https://t.co/VkQxggjQz1 #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/Rcar6kTmLa
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 10, 2020
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Arbery was shot and killed by Travis McMichael in Brunswick, Georgia on February 23, 2020, as IJR previously reported.
Travis McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael were both charged with murder and aggravated assault on Thursday.
After a video of the incident was released, it caused widespread outrage.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Bottoms if she thought the men were only charged because the video was released.
“I think that’s absolutely the reason that they were charged. I think had we not seen that video, I don’t believe that they would be charged,” Bottoms said.
She continued, “It’s heartbreaking that it’s 2020 and this was a lynching of an African American man.”
President Donald Trump weighed in on the shooting during an interview with Fox News on Friday, as IJR previously reported.
“I looked at a picture of that young man,” Trump said. “That looks like a really good, young guy, and it’s a very disturbing situation to me. And I just, my heart goes out to the parents, and the family, and the friends.”
