“Long Dirty Toenails” Wasn’t Just Rude; It Was An Overtly Racist Trope. Here’s Why.

Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial was already pandering to white supremacy. Then, in closing, the defense literally invoked Jim Crow.

Martie Sirois
13 min readDec 16, 2021

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Thomas Rice playing “Jim Crow” in blackface, Bowery Theatre, New York City, 1833. Image: public domain

“Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does…

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Martie Sirois

Covering the intersection of culture, politics & equality. Featured in Marker, HuffPost, PopSugar, Scary Mommy; heard on NPR, SiriusXM, LTYM, TIFO podcast, etc.