The murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in February rose to national attention last week. Footage was released of two armed white men pursuing and attempting to detain Arbery for a crime there was no evidence he’d committed. With Georgia’s “citizen’s arrest” law wrongfully cited as a defense, it could be time to look into the law itself.
This week on “What’s the Word,” Adam Schuster looks into the history of “citizen’s arrest,” its dangerous slippage in meaning and how it can give rise to acts of racial violence.
