BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Wednesday marked the two-year anniversary of the day that Ahmaud Arbery was killed in a Coastal Georgia neighborhood.
The anniversary comes one day after the men who killed him were found guilty of federal hate crimes against Arbery.
Celebrations of life took place across Georgia on Wednesday to honor his life.
In Brunswick, Georgia, a park was named for Arbery. Earlier in the day, Channel 2′s Tony Thomas spoke with Arbery’s family as they went to the spot where Ahmaud was killed.
The family released doves over the spot to symbolize Arbery’s spirit.
“When you released that dove, what was going through your mind?” Thomas asked Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr.
“Thinking about him, thinking of his spirit still flying full traveled the world and letting the world see he’s a child of love,” Arbery Sr. said.
Arbery was killed while he was out for a jog, running through the Satilla Shores neighborhood. That’s when three men tracked him down and shot him, accusing Arbery of being criminal.
“This driveway right here behind you -- last time I was here, (it) was stained with his blood,” Barbara Arnwine with the Transformative Justice Coalition told Thomas.
Arbery’s murder sparked a national conversation, forced changes in state law and led to the conviction of the three men for murder and hate crimes.
Wednesday was a day full of prayers of support, but there was also a nod to the work still to be done.
Porsche Miller led protests outside the Glynn County Courthouse during the murder trial. She traveled to Brunswick from Atlanta on Wednesday to help support the Arbery family.
“Tough coming out here today?” Thomas asked Miller.
“Yes. A lot of chills, a lot of hurt,” Miller said.
“This was an American tragedy and I think Georgia is sending a message this is how you respond when the entire state comes together,” family attorney Gerald Griggs said.
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“I’ll never recover again. It’s a hurtful thing. I’m going to die with it because of the way he lost his life,” Arbery’s aunt Diane Jackson said.
Friends and family also held a march through the neighborhood to honor Arbery.
Another march through the Satilla Shores neighborhood is set for next year.
Back in Cobb County, a crowd of about 100 people gathered in Marietta Square to celebrate Arbery’s life.
With all the court hearings now over in the case, activists say it’s time to change the way some people think.
“We gather not to mourn Ahmaud’s death, but to celebrate his life,” Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady told the crowd in the square.
By his side was Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones.
“On Feb. 2, 2022, the Georgia House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 688 recognizing today, Feb. 23, as Ahmaud Arbery day,” Broady said.
The DA and other elected officials on the stage told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes they are now looking for change in the hopes that no one will think they can ever take someone’s life the way Ahmaud’s life was stolen.
“We’re here to chart a path forward with the hope that we can rid our communities, our state, our nation of the hate, the division and the intolerance which led these men to believe in the legality of their actions,” Broady said.
Earlier in the day, Cooper Jones attended a different celebration in downtown Atlanta at the Center for Civil and Human Rights.
“Today is very special. Today is very hard to be honest. It’s very hard. I was thinking that every year would get better, but unfortunately every day, every year gets a little harder,” Cooper Jones told Fernandes. “I just want to say thank you to the state of Georgia, the community of Brunswick, to everyone who has actually stood with my family and I to get justice for Ahmaud.”
Cooper Jones also talked about the creation of the Ahmaud Arbery foundation, which will have its headquarters in Atlanta.
It’s a foundation that will give scholarships to young Black men and other resources to help them go where Ahmaud was destined to go before his life was cut short.
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