Ahmaud Arbery Should Still Be Here

WASHINGTON— Jesselyn McCurdy, executive vice president for government affairs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to the jury’s conviction of William Bryan and Travis and Gregory McMichaels in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery:

“Today’s conviction is a bittersweet salve to the loved ones of Mr. Arbery and those of us who were horrified by his tragic murder. Too often the bigoted assumptions of white supremacists are prioritized over the actual lives of Black people and other people of color across this country. Although nothing can bring Mr. Arbery back, we must dedicate ourselves to confronting the white supremacy that claimed Mr. Arbery’s life and defend communities targeted for hate to ensure no more lives are tragically lost to such senseless, racist violence.”

The Leadership Conference, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign, Muslim Advocates, NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and 110 other civil rights organizations, wrote the previous attorney general last spring urging the Department of Justice to open a full and thorough hate crimes investigation into the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and to conduct a federal civil rights pattern or practice investigation into the local district attorneys as well as the Glynn County Police Department for constitutional abuses. The three men were indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges by a federal grand jury in April of this year. The full letter can be read here.

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This post was previously published on civilrights.org.

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