Rittenhouse, Arbery verdicts correct

A pair of closely-watched trials have concluded in the U.S. with both watched for their racial undertones as the United States experienced significant upheaval over racial justice in the summer of 2020. The trials, that of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery, both came to the only conclusions each of them could have ended with in our opinon.
Rittenhouse was 17 in August of last year when he traveled to Kenosha to, in his telling, protect property and provide medical care during intense protests in the city in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake. That night, carrying a rifle that had been bought and kept for him by a friend who lived in Kenosha, he became involved in a series of confrontations that ended with him killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and seriously wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, all of whom were white.
According to his family, Arbery, a black man — a runner — was out for a jog. Two white men, claiming concern about local break-ins, grabbed their guns, jumped in a truck, pursued Arbery, and were later joined by a third white man. One of those men shot and killed Arbery with a shotgun. The men who gave chase say they were defending themselves while attempting to make a “citizen's arrest,” yet one of the men testified during the trial Arbery never threatened any of the men who were eventually found guilty for murder.
Those three men, Travis McMichael, William “Roddie” Bryan and Gregory McMichael now face life in prison for the murder, and rightfully so. They had no right to chase after a man whom they had no proof had committed any crime, and certainly had no right to shoot him with a shotgun when he had not posed a threat to them in any manner. Even if they believed Arbery had committed a crime, they could have notified the police and let them stop Arbery and question him. They had no experience in doing what they did and escalated a situation to the point a man was shot and killed for no reason.
As far as the Rittenhouse case, this was as clear a case as self defense as it gets. You can argue Rittenhouse shouldn’t have been there, but a lot of people, including those burning down businesses, shouldn’t have been there. Video clearly shows Rittenhouse being chased by Joseph Rosenbaum before shooting him (he said Rosenbaum lunged for his gun), and it also shows him running from a crowd of people who pounced on him when he tripped and fell in a Kenosha street.
One many kicked him, and another hit him with a skateboard. At that point, he opened firing, killing Anthony Huber, the man attacking him with a skateboard. Gage Grosskreutz is the third man who got shot, after going toward Rittenhouse with a pistol. He survived after being hit in the arm.
Again, Rittenhouse was trying to run away at this point. Yes, he had just shot someone, but that was for the police and courts to figure out. Street justice was not going to solve anything, just as it did not in the Arbery case. Attacking a man with a loaded gun is never the best course. The minute they started to attack him, he was well within his rights to defend himself, and he did.
In both cases, justice was served. Here’s to hoping these situations don’t play out again anytime soon in this country.