Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Describes Ahmaud Arbery Killing As A ‘Lynching’
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has joined other political figures, celebrities, and activists on the outraged felt after a video surfaced showing Amhaud Arberry being followed, confronted and then shot by two white men as he jogged through his Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood. However, the mayor is one of the first public figures to go as far as describing the encounter as a “lynching.”
"It's heartbreaking that it's 2020 and this was a lynching of an African American man," Bottoms said Sunday morning (May 10) on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “My heart goes out to his family, but I think again that it’s part of this bigger issue that we are having in this country.”
Bottoms said the video ignited the case which resulted in the eventual arrest of father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are now charged with felony murder in Arbery’s death.
“I think had we not seen that video, I don't believe that they would be charged," she said, while also taking issue with the Trump administration for a narrative that emboldens racism.
"With the rhetoric 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," she said. "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.
Bottoms continued further by explaining how important it is for any administration to have its words stand behind its actions.
"I think it speaks to the need to have leadership at the top that cares for all of our communities and not just in words but in deeds as well," Bottoms said.
