“The system killed my son, so we decided to fight the system back for justice.”
Marcus Arbery
Ahmaud’s father
Carter Media Group started this journey nearly two years ago with the Arbery family. Last February, we were back in Brunswick a day after Travis and Gregory McMichaels, and William "Roddie" Bryan were found guilty in federal court on the anniversary of Ahmaud’s death for a prayer vigil and rally with the community.
Facebook post from CMG's CEO Dontaye Carter:
Today was a “Day of Action” for Ahmaud Arbery.
Today, we marched for Ahmaud.
Today, we witness a park that Ahmaud visited, often renamed after him.
All these things happened because of the 73 days after Ahmaud’s death.
For 74 days, the family of Ahmaud Arbery refused to give up when they couldn’t receive any official information about Ahmaud’s death.
For 74 days, they refused silence.
For 74 days, the media was presented with false information about the death of Ahmaud Arbery,
For 74 days, the Glynn County NAACP called around Georgia, trying to get help.
For 74 days, the elected leaders in the Criminal Justice System in Brunswick attempted to cover up a murder motivated by hate.
On Day 74, a video emerged. I was holding my daughter when Gerald A. Griggs called after meeting with Lee Merrit, who represented Marcus Arbery. Gerald said, “They murdered that boy in cold blood, and we’re going to show the world what they did to him.”
When I saw the video, I was so angry. I didn’t realize the tears were falling until my daughter asked me, “Daddy, why are you crying?”
I was still on the phone when Gerald said, “get it together, bro. We gotta get justice.” We strategized how to release the video in coordination with the other attorneys. It went viral.
A short time later, Gerald called back. Two high-ranking gang members learned he was working on the case. As the streets overfilled with protests, they told him, “y’all got 72 hours to get those guys that killed Ahmaud off the streets. If the law can’t handle it, the streets will.”
I HATE that it took death threats and protests for a system to do a job it should have started 74 days earlier.
Ahmaud’s case isn’t rare.
People don’t protest as they did in 2020 for rare cases. They protested because they were tired. They voted in record numbers in Georgia because we need change.
So many organizations came together to rewrite the archaic civil war legislation known as the Citizens Arrest law. On February 23, 2022, Brunswick and Glynn County unveiled that they renamed Ahmaud’s childhood park after Ahmaud.
Georgia stood up for Ahmaud.
Now we have to stand up for:
#JimmyAtchison
#OscarCaine
#CaineRogers
#VincentTruitt
And so many more…
Click here to watch the video of the day.
