2 trials, 1 theme: White men taking law into their own hands

By NOREEN NASIR, SUDHIN THANAWALA and ADAM GELLER
Associated Press

The murder trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery were united by a dangerous theme: The move by some white Americans to grab guns and take their own stand against their perceptions of lawlessness, particularly by Black people.  Arbery, a Black man, was chased and shot to death by white men suspicious of an outsider in their predominantly white Georgia neighborhood. His killers were found guilty on Wednesday. In Wisconsin, while both Rittenhouse and the three men he shot were white, the encounter was triggered by the 17-year-old’s decision to travel to Kenosha, armed with an AR-15 rifle, bent on protecting local businesses from Black Lives Matters protesters. Rittenhouse was acquitted last week.