A day that once represented gloom and despair for a Georgia mother has become an official day of reflection and support.
Georgia declared Feb. 23 as “Ahmaud Arbery Day,” a motion passed by state lawmakers earlier in February 2022.
“On February 23, 2022, the State of Georgia honors one of its most distinguished citizens,” the resolution reads. “Mr. Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was a blessed Mother’s Day gift from God, born to Wanda Cooper-Jones on May 8, 1994, in Brunswick, Georgia … a known athlete prior to the senseless loss of his life because of the color of his skin.”
On Feb. 23, 2020, Arbery was on a routine jog in Brunswick, Georgia, when three White men chased and killed him when he was 25. The three men, Travis and Gregory McMichael as well as William “Roddie” Bryan, have since been convicted of federal hate crimes and felony murder.
Arbery’s legacy was remembered on the two-year anniversary of his death at the National Civil Rights Museum in Atlanta.
“It’s been really draining,” Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, told rolling out. “Draining, but yet rewarding. Since we lost Ahmaud, we’ve had some change in the state of Georgia. [I’m] very appreciative of the state of Georgia to make that change on behalf of Ahmaud Arbery.”
The legislative change Cooper-Jones is referring to is the hate crime law Georgia signed in June 2020 following Arbery’s death. Following the Feb. 22 decision of the three men convicted of murdering Arbery guilty of hate crimes as well, Cooper-Jones said the family would never heal because her son is gone forever.
On Feb. 23, her message to other Black mothers was simple.
“Don’t stop fighting,” she said. “Keep pushing, and don’t give up.”
