By now, most of the country is familiar with what happened to Ahmad Arbery, the 26-year old Black man who was gunned down by a father and son pair on Feb. 23, 2020 after jogging in his neighborhood. The incident only garnered attention once a video of the shooting went viral eventually leading to 64-year-old Grerogry McMichael and his son, 34-year-old Travis McMichael, being arrested.



Now, First Daughter Ivanka Trump is joining the outrage online by tweeting her sentiments about the situation and questioning why it took two months, the release of the video and public outrage for steps towards justice to ensue. 

Ivanka addressed the tweet specifically to Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp tweeting, “While the arrest of 2 suspects in the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery is a critical step towards justice, the question that needs to be asked is why it seemingly took months, the release of a video and corresponding public outrage to catalyze action.”  


It’s what she tweeted next that has Black Twitter (and selected allies) in an uproar. Trump thanked the Republican governor, who is a staunch supporter of her father, “Thank you @GovKemp for stepping in and taking action as truth, answers and justice are sought.” 

That was more than enough for the twitter reaction to explain to Trump that it was in fact several Black activists and attorneys who have brought the onslaught of media attention to the Arbery shooting that eventually forced Kemp to provide a statement on the matter. Kemp has actually seemingly done very little other than calling the video, “horrific” during a press conference last week.  

“I have full confidence in Dick Reynolds and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. I know that they will be working around the clock to thoroughly and independently investigate Mr. Arbery’s deah to find the truth,” said Kemp. “In these moments I would hope that you would continue to pray for his loved ones, the local community as well as our state.

Ivanka Trump, however, fails to acknowledge that it took so long for the path of justice to begin regarding the Arbery killing because it was originally deemed as justifiable homicide by prosecutor George Barnhill, who was the second prosecutor to oversee the case, citing self-defense and citizens arrest statutes.

A subsequent prosecutor, Tom Durden, was assigned to the case in mid-April and called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation last week. Roughly two days later, the McMichaels were charged with murder and aggravated assault. 

Now, a fourth prosecutor has been assigned by the Georgia Attorney General’s office to lead the murder case of Ahmaud Arbery. Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes is taking over the case and will try to see that the McMichaels face murder and aggravated assault charges. Kemp in fact has very little to do with any of these results. 

Here are some examples of how the Twitterverse did not hold back in their outrage over Ivanka Trump’s outrage over Arbery’s death.