Black pastor supports family at Georgia murder trial
BRUNSWICK, Ga. – More than 100 black pastors, along with rabbis and other spiritual leaders, stand with Ahmaud Arbery’s family outside the Glynn County courthouse the following Thursday afternoon repeated attempts of a defense attorney to remove famous clerics from the courtroom.
Defense Attorney Kevin Gough, who represented William “Roddie” Bryan in the trial of three white men accused of Arbery’s murder, repeatedly attempted to exclude “senior members of the African-American community” from the room. trial, said their presence “threatened” the jury.
Gough’s words became a clear call for Black missionaries across the country to converge on Brunswick for a show of solidarity. The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III and other prominent civil rights figures sat in the courtroom Thursday and gathered for a prayer service, press conference and march.
“We are here today to pray for this family’s strength,” Sharpton said. “We know the pain they struggled with. It was the same pain that Emmitt Till’s mother struggled with. The same pain that Trayvon Martin’s mother struggled with. It was lonely pain. But I wanted them to. get the consolation that people have come around the world.”
Sharpton added: “I’ve been in courtrooms for 40 years with police involvement, and they packed the courtroom with uniformed policemen and nobody ever said it was a threat. So, if this attorney sets a precedent with us, then he sets the precedent that we can try anyone in a courtroom anywhere in the United States.”
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, thanked the clergy for their support.
“God will put people in your path to help you. You are my family and me, and I want to say thank you,” Cooper-Jones said.
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Thursday’s gathering comes as the trial of father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and neighbor, Bryan, draws to a close. The three men were charged with murder and other charges in the February 23, 2020 murder of Arbery. They were arrested two months later, after the mobile phone murder video was released.
Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses in eight days, and Defense resolved the incident on Thursday after two days of taking statements from seven witnesses. Closing statements are expected on Monday.
Tensions over members of the clergy in the courtroom arose last week. Sharpton and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Arbery’s father, were in Brunswick last Wednesday to attend the proceedings and hold a news conference and vigil, which Sharpton called Arbery’s murder is “a murder in the 21st century”.
The next day, Gough took issue with Sharpton’s presence, claiming he was worried about “political gain” entering the courtroom.
“Obviously there’s only so many pastors that they (the family) can have,” Gough said, adding, “We don’t want any more Negro pastors here, or any Jesse Jackson or anyone else. was here earlier this week.” He later apologized for the comment.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley refused to ban members of the public from the courtroom. He took the same stance again on Monday when he refuses Gough’s request to remove Priest Jesse Jackson from the courtroom, and again on Thursday when Gough raised the issue for the third time.
The judge called Gough’s comments last week “reprehensible”.
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As more people showed up on Thursday, volunteers served food to the crowd. Father Da’Henri Thurmond Sr., pastor of St. Paul CME of Savannah, said he went to Brunswick after hearing from Jackson. The pastor said that Gough’s remarks were “an insult to all of us.”
Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, led the group in an impatient vigil.
“Thank God dear, Brunswick is the Selma of our generation,” he said, palm raised. “Today’s era of civil rights is starting over right here in Brunswick, Georgia. God, we’re not talking to judges. We’re talking to the king of kings.”
Jackson then took to the podium with the help of a cane. He was flanked by Martin Luther King III, the son of the man he stood next to on the balcony of the Lorraine Lodge more than 50 years ago.
King says he is trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
“While I’m not a preacher, a ministry does exist,” he said. “And part of that mission is that whenever you see injustice, you have to stand up. Dad used to say, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
King added: “It just brought in some good men to bring about change. I saw that through the leadership of my father and then my mother years after my father was killed. We will keep coming back until justice is done. family.”
Contribution: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; Raisa Habersham, Savannah Morning News.