05/08/2020
I’ve waited longer than I should to post about the tragic killing of Ahmaud Arbery. I believe in due process. I believe the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused is guilty of a crime to fair and impartial jurors before the accused is condemned. I believe that most police officers and prosecutors are good and honorable people who do their best in often difficult situations to uphold the law.
The sad reality, though, is that I know too that a young black man was killed in Glynn County, Georgia for nothing more than being a black man running in a “white neighborhood.” I know that some leaders in that local law enforcement community, including the investigators and District Attorney, appear to have used their positions of trust to try to protect the killers, treating them as if they were above the law because of the killers’ ties to law enforcement, race, or some other untoward reason. And, sadly, I know that this won’t be the last African American man to die without cause, without provocation, for no reason other than the pigment of his skin.
I know It’s time to stand together, all people of all colors, against racism, bigotry and hatred. It’s time to stop the killing. It’s time to work for justice.
Kim Stephens
We run with Ahmaud.
