After comments from the defense about wanting to bar “any more Black pastors” from sitting with Arbery’s family, hundreds gathered outside the courthouse.
Hundreds of mostly Black pastors gathered Thursday to pray outside as the trial of three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery continued, the Associated Press reported. The gathering was in response to comments made by a defense attorney requesting the removal of “any more Black pastors” after Reverend Jesse Jackson was sitting with Arbery’s family during the trial. Reverend Al Sharpton announced the organization of the rally in response to the comments, leading to Thursday’s gathering including “Black pastors matter” signs and #JusticeForAhmaud buttons with Arbery’s picture worn by many of the pastors in attendance. The rally drew prominent figures like Martin Luther King III, son of the famous civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., as well as other pastors from across the country like Reverend Gregory Edwards from Pennsylvania. The trial stems from the death of Arbery in February 2020 at the age of 25, with Gregory and Travis McMichael along with William Bryan Jr. accused of chasing Arbery, who they suspected of burglarizing a house under construction in their neighborhood. After chasing him in their trucks, allegedly trying to place him under citizen’s arrest, and eventually shooting and killing him in alleged self defense. Charged with felony counts of murder and aggravated assault along with false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony, all three have pleaded not guilty and face potential sentences of life in prison if convicted.
