“At a moment when America’s institutions seem more sympathetic to white vigilantes than they do to anti-racist protestors, they saw Gardner as a picture of white privilege and systemic racism at its most brazen and depraved — a white male business owner who killed a young Black man one night and was allowed to go home the next.”

In May, Nebraska bar owner Jake Gardner killed James Scurlock, a 22-year-old who had joined the protests in Omaha after the police killing of George Floyd. After being indicted for Scurlock’s murder, Gardner died by suicide. Max Ufberg, senior politics editor for GEN, investigated the long and winding quest for justice for Scurlock—and how the right turned Gardner into a martyred hero.

‘Being a Racist Is Not Against the Law’