By: Maria Boynton
Thea Brooks says "we're ready to finish this fight and get justice for Ahmaud." Carla Arbery, also an aunt of the young black man who was chased down and then shot and killed last year in Brunswick, says justice would be a conviction and "these men not being able to return to the community, will stay in prison for the rest of their lives."
Atlanta Attorney Gerald Griggs, who has led various justice rallies in and outside of the town four-and-a-half hours southeast of Atlanta, expects it to be the biggest case that Georgia has seen in recent memory.
The trial starts on Monday, October 18, for the 3 men charged with murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. It's being prosecuted by the Cobb County District Attorney's Office, after 3 others preferred not to handle the case. One of them, Jackie Johnson, was indicted in September. She's accused of shielding the defendants from initially being arrested and charged.
Father and son, Greg and Travis McMichael, and William Bryant are charged with murdering Arbery. Their arrests came 74 days after Arbery's death, and following the release of a viral video showing how he was shot and killed. Bryant made the video.
The defense contends that the trio of white men thought Arbery was a burglary suspect.
Last summer in Atlanta, protests broke out over the killings of Arbery, George Floyd in Minneapolis, and Breonna Taylor in St Louis. Floyd and Taylor were killed by law enforcement.
Griggs, representing the Georgia and Atlanta NAACP, says "we were so horrified" by the video of "a young black jogger hunted, and shot and killed." According to Griggs, "Freedom summer 2020 started in Brunswick," and now "in death it's important for us to make sure that Ahmaud's voice is heard still fighting."
On Saturday, October 16, there will be a motorcade and rally to the area where Arbery was killed, according to Griggs, "so that people can remind themselves of the gravity of this moment, but also to remind the community that we have not forgotten about Ahmaud."
"We're going to take that final lap" says Griggs, "and then we're going to recovene at the (Glynn County) courthouse on Monday morning to make sure that people understand that we are determined for justice."