Father of Ahmaud Arbery joins Annapolis ‘votercade’
Marcus Arbery said his family “learned the hard way” the consequences of staying home from elections.
The father of Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed in a racially motivated attack while jogging in Glynn County, Georgia, in February 2020, was in Annapolis on Friday afternoon to speak during a voting rights rally.
“I’m here on a call to fight for voting rights,” Arbery said upon his arrival to People’s Park, flanked by buses displaying the face of late civil rights hero and U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
Lewis “spent all of his life trying to make America better not bitter,” Carl Snowden, convener of the Caucus of African American Leaders said. “He suffered a concussion trying to get people to vote. When he was dying from cancer, he was trying to register young Black voters.”
The three white men who pursued Ahmaud Arbery were not arrested for two months, despite a prompt response by members of the Glynn County Police Department. Two Georgia prosecutors involved, Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill, both advised the officers not to arrest the perpetrators, Travis James McMichael, Gregory Johns McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan.
“African American people, we are tired,” Marcus Arbery said. “We can’t keep getting set back 400 years.”
“I never want to see any family go through what my family’s going through,” Arbery said.
Arbery’s killers have since been convicted of felony murder and several other offenses in Georgia, as well as hate crimes and attempted kidnapping charges in federal court. Johnson, the former Brunswick County district attorney, was unseated later in 2020. She has since been indicted on violation of oath charges alleging she hindered
the killing.
“African Americans, we are strong people,” Arbery said. “And when they realize we are
people, they treat us right.”
The speech followed a “votercade” drive throughout Annapolis headed by the Caucus of African American Leaders and organized by other area civil rights groups. The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday. One week of early in-person voting begins Oct. 27, the deadline to request a mail-in ballot is Nov. 1, and Election Day is Nov. 8.
The rally was designed to heighten the awareness of voters and aimed at having 10 million Black voters participate in the November elections, according to a news release.
“We are seeking to energize, organize and mobilize voters for the most consequential
election of our time,” Snowden said in the release.