Death humbles us all, and death comes for us all. For that reason, in every culture speaking ill of the dead is taboo, if not amoral. When the deceased is an innocent victim, speaking ill of them is especially abominable.

This sentiment was disregarded by Laura Hogue, one of the defense attorneys for Gregory McMichael, who was convicted with his son, Travis McMichael, in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a jogger who was chased down, shot and killed in Brunswick, Ga.

Was Ms. Hogue hoping that the jurors would be influenced by her description of the murder victim as a young athlete “in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” and acquit her client? Yes.

From a critical race theory perspective, the saying, “Good fences make good neighbors,” enforces the legacy of racism in America through real estate, where “good fences” ensured the preservation of white identity and privilege. After centuries of discrimination in home ownership, Black people who finally got through were confronted with the “good fences” drawn up by legislators to include impassable barriers that isolated and constrained them. Segregation was built into the physical environment in America, and in Georgia that was the reality for the two communities brought together by Mr. Arbery’s death.

Separating Satilla Shores where Mr. Arbery was attacked and killed, and Fancy Bluff, the Black community where he lived, is a four-lane highway. Although median incomes and home values were the same, the racial diversity was different. But, in the world view of Gen Zers like Mr. Arbery, those cultural divisions were as concerning as a swipe on a screen. Yet, on Feb. 23, 2020, dashing across Route 17, he breached the “good fences” rule and faced the judgment of white watchmen enraged by his audacity to run freely.

Ms. Hogue described Mr. Arbery as a trespasser. She assumed the nearly all-white jury would feel the collective racist twinge reminding them of the dreams of people like her father, who, “wanted to see his family ... surrounded by a community of people who cared about each other.”

She contrasted her bucolic, “Manifest Destiny” vision with a racist psychoanalysis of Mr. Arbery, including his intent: “Can anyone believe that Ahmaud Arbery was doing a ‘lookie-loo’? ... There was no legitimate reason for Ahmaud Arbery to be plundering there. ... He was a recurring nighttime intruder.”

What Mr. Arbery was, is a dreamer, perhaps envisioning his role in creating this reality for himself and for other families on that construction site. His dreams of being an electrician were manifesting as he stood in his future.

Ms. Hogue argued Mr. Arbery’s presence was “frightening and unsettling” and he should have known how he was perceived. Her racism rationalized that “he knew why he was being chased—because he was guilty.”

Guilty of the irrevocable freedom to jog in a country built on the backs of his ancestors?

The revocation of freedom for Africans in America compelled millions to risk their lives. This runaway problem had Congress passing the Fugitive Slave Act in 1793 and later extend incentives for re-capture to vigilante slave catchers—where their feet could be chopped off to prevent them from running away again.

Ms. Hogue explained that “police can’t be everywhere. ... a good neighborhood is always policing itself.”

The defendants were those vigilantes, mounting their F-150 trucks with Confederate plates to chase down this Black man, Mr. Arbery, as he ran away. To police, they were confident in their shared oath—his death as collateral to an attempted capture.

Ms. Hogue concluded, “He died because for whatever inexplicable illogical reason, instead of staying where he was. ... He had to avoid being captured that day and being arrested by the police, he chose to fight. He. Chose. To. Fight.”

Yes, he chose to fight for his freedom, with no socks to cover his feet. His toes were mentioned to arouse a racist archetype symbolizing the duty of the enslavers.

Every American student should be able to infer that Ms. Hogue expected Mr. Arbery to surrender to these 21st century slave catchers ... and then what?

It’s another reason American students need to be taught through the lens of critical race theory.

The writer is executive director Mothers of Diversity America.