Crusading journalist Ida B. Wells, who fearlessly and tirelessly worked against racism and violence targeting African-Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was posthumously honored last week with a Pulitzer Prize.

The special citation and $50,000 prize recognized her for “her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African-Americans during the era of lynching.”

But 89 years after her death in 1931, black Americans still are pushing to expose the barbaric lynchings that continue to take place in our nation.

The most recent wretched example to come to light is the Feb. 23 lynching of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old jogger who was tracked down by a white man and his son in a pickup truck and shot to death in broad daylight on a residential street in Brunswick, Ga.

The white men claimed there had been burglaries in the neighborhood and they were making a citizen’s arrest of Mr. Arbery.

A cell phone video of the fatal shooting, which was taken by a third white man who claims he is innocent of any wrongdoing, was uploaded to social media and made public on May 5, sparking protests calling for Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, to be arrested and charged in Mr. Arbery’s murder.

Two separate prosecutors in the small Georgia community refused to bring charges against the McMichaels, claiming that the pair acted in self-defense when they used a shotgun to blast the unarmed Mr. Arbery three times, striking him twice in the chest and a third wound grazing his wrist.

After first placing their thumbs on the scales of justice by refusing to bring charges against the McMichaels and even casting Mr. Arbery in a negative light, the two prosecutors removed themselves from the case, noting a conflict of interest because of their ties to the McMichaels. Gregory McMichael is a former police officer and investigator with the Glynn County district attorney’s office.

A third prosecutor was brought into the case, but sat on it and did nothing for more than three weeks until the video was brought to light. As expected, the horrific video went viral, with outraged people demonstrating and calling from across the nation for the McMichaels’ arrest.

The prosecutor then contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And within 36 hours of launching an investigation, the GBI on May 7 found probable cause and arrested and charged the McMichaels with felony murder and aggravated assault. The pair are being held without bond.

On May 8, Mr. Arbery, a former high school football standout and aspiring electrician, would have turned 26. His family is being repre- sented by prominent Florida attorney Benjamin L. Crump, who has become widely known for his work representing the families of victims of racist attacks and police shootings, including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown and Terrence Crutcher.

A fourth prosecutor now has been brought in to handle the case — Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes from the Atlanta area, a black woman who has experience both as a lawyer and as a judge.

Violence perpetrated against black people with impunity is an indictment of America and its system of justice. These atrocities will continue until those in authority are held accountable for protecting racist murderers.

Sadly, these occurrences are too frequent and too widespread to shrug them off as the aberrant behavior of a few bad apples. Bad apples rot the entire barrel. Those who commit such acts of violence must be punished, and those who protect them must face justice as well.

The whole dismal event shows that anti-lynching efforts must continue in this nation, alongside the fight for justice.

Not surprisingly, had the video not come to light, the McMichaels may never have been charged in Mr. Arbery’s death. The first prosecutors in the case had seen the video, which was turned over to authorities the day Mr. Arbery was killed. The pair were arrested only after the public saw the video.

In Ms. Wells’ day, there were no cell phone cameras aiding her work. Thankfully, we have the technology that gives us the proof. Social media distribution of videos, such as that in Mr. Arbery’s case, helps to galvanize widespread public support seeking justice.

We hope with Ms. Holmes’ appointment, the scales of justice will come back into balance. But that is not the end. Public officials in Georgia, and in every jurisdiction around the country, must answer to the public.

Jackie Johnson, George Barnhill and Tom Durden, the district attorneys who refused to bring charges against the McMichaels, must be removed from office. Voters in Georgia should mount a drive to recall them from office immediately, or vote them out of office when their terms expire.

Public officials, including police chiefs, district or commonwealth’s attorneys, judges and others are in office to protect the public. They abusethepublictrustandtheirofficeswhentheyarecomplicitwith racists in allowing harm to come to innocent black people.

Mr. Arbery was neither armed nor involved in any illegal activity when he was targeted and hunted down by the McMichaels, officials have said, and no burglaries had been reported in the neighborhood where he was jogging. Clearly there was no justifiable reason for this violent attack, making these attackers – and their protectors — criminals.

If these lynchings are to stop, we, the people, must stop them. We have demanded for years that people of color receive just treatment by police, prosecutors and the courts, but these demands have not been met.

Now is the time to take action. We must march to the polls and vote these criminals out of office.

We will face obstacles, including voter suppression, used by white supremacists to nullify our voting strength. But we must overcome these obstacles if we are to finally overcome the injustices in the American criminal justice system.

We must all work to show that this senseless violence against black people will not be tolerated.