BRUNSWICK, Ga.— A crowd of about 40 people gathered near the intersection of Satilla Drive and Burford Road on early Wednesday evening, the very place Ahmaud Arbery drew his last breath exactly two years ago, Feb. 23, 2020.
Arbery's aunt Theawanza Brooks spoke to the people, a mix of friends, Brunswick neighbors and nearby residents, who donned “Ahmaud Arbery Day” T-shirts and held aloft orange and blue balloons. Brooks, ever present at both the state criminal and federal hate crimes trials, touched on the injustices many people like her nephew face and addressed those in the community who called the trials of the three men who murdered her nephew "an inconvenience."
“What about the inconvenience of Ahmaud’s mother and father having to go and identify his body?” Brooks asked no one in particular and everyone at the same time.
Brooks and others knelt and prayed as attorney Gerald Griggs offered a prayer.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Only the day before, the Arbery family sat inside a federal courthouse in downtown Brunswick as verdicts were read against the three men convicted in November 2021 for killing their son: Guilty on all counts for Travis McMichael, 36, his father Gregory McMichael, 66, and William “Roddie” Bryan, 52.
For Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, it’d been a day in a two-year battle to get justice, but she struggled to call it a victory. "We as a family will never see victory because Ahmaud is gone forever,” she told reporters outside the courtroom once the federal trial ended.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Neither Jones nor Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, were at the vigils held in Brunswick. Cooper-Jones was in Atlanta at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights to honor her son's day by announcing that the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation would award six $3,000 scholarships for seniors at Brunswick High School, Arbery's alma mater.
‘It ain’t over’
The fact that prosecutors were able to establish "hate" as the men's motivation did little to bring closure for the community, but it did bring relief for some who wondered whether Arbery's killing would ever be prosecuted. To many Brunswick residents, the verdict was "the right one." But for South Georgia, they said, there is still much more work to do to reconcile racial hatred and inequality.
Sitting inches away from the Albany Street mural of Arbery, Kim Robinson rattled off how she knew the 25-year-old man: Her son played football with him at Brunswick High School. “I wish we were celebrating his birthday instead of his death,” she said, her hands holding her head as she looked off in the distance.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Robinson said the verdict was right but emphasized: “It ain’t over,” referring to the sentencing in the federal trial. “I find it hard to get too excited about it because there are too many twists and turns.”
She wondered: Will the McMichaels be in the same federal prison? Will they even get a lengthy sentence?
“Are they going to find a way to wiggle out of paying the price?”
It’s the same question Missionary Baptist Rev. Zack Lyde asked. He, too, was pleased with the verdict, but emphasized this will not change racist attitudes overnight. “If you think one hate crime verdict will change this overnight, you’re out your damn mind.”
Laura Kipp walked over to the mural and said a quiet prayer before heading to her car. Kipp’s husband taught Arbery’s cousin Demetris Frazier at Brunswick High School.
Kipp said while she thinks justice has been served, there is still an issue of deep racism that isn’t going to go away just yet.
“I hope other people can look inside themselves and see if some of their beliefs are racist in nature and that they would think twice and change those thoughts."
Raisa is a Watchdog and Investigative Reporter for The Savannah Morning News. Contact her at rhabersham@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: For Ahmaud Arbery Day, family and residents offer prayers, balloons and calls for change
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