Columbia vigil honors Ahmaud Arbery, black victims of gun violence
South Carolina activists held a vigil Sunday calling attention to black victims of gun violence.
The Columbia Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Building Better Communities hosted “The Peace Vigil Support & Caravan” at Sidney Park CME Church.
Around 30 cars participated in the event, organized to accommodate social distancing protocol to curb the spread of COVID-19. Cars honked their horn three times as they passed the church on Blanding Street — the honks symbolizing the three times Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old unarmed black man, was shot and killed while jogging on Feb. 23 in Brunswick, Ga.
Arbery’s death was the catalyst for Sunday’s event, which rose to national attention earlier this week when a video of the shooting surfaced that showed a different version of events than the one originally shared with police.
The film footage shows two white men, identified as Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, stopping and shooting Arbery during his daily run along the side of a road. The McMichaels said at the time they thought Arbery was a suspected burglar from the area and they were not apprehended.
But the footage went viral and a national outcry to revisit the case prompted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to step in. The McMichaels were ultimately arrested Thursday night on charges of murder and aggravated assault.
“When I saw the actual footage, I was brought to tears and was saddened with emotion. I said this is enough,” said Rev. James Smith, the pastor at Sidney Park CME Church and an organizer of the Sunday event.
This was the second local event held over the weekend to bring attention Arbery’s death. On Friday, people around Midlands and the country jogged for 2.23 miles to represent the day Arbery was killed — part of a larger, #IRunWithAhmaud day of action around the country.
“It is time for it to stop,” said Columbia Branch NAACP president Oveta Glover. “We talk about it but we don’t do anything about it. This is a step in doing something about it. Bringing awareness is the first step.It is just to open up the ears of people to hear about what is being said in honor of all of those who have fallen.”
State lawmakers have also been vocal in speaking out against Arbery’s death. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the Senate, called for justice in a tweet Thursday.
“Every.single.time. The excuses pour in — ‘he looked suspicious’ … ‘we thought he was committing a crime ’… The fact remains, #AhmaudArbery was hunted down from a pickup truck and murdered in cold blood. My heart breaks for his family, and justice must be served.,” Scott tweeted.
The vigil Sunday also honored Joshua Ruffin, a black teenager who the Columbia Police Department said was shot in north Columbia in April by a white department officer. The officer stopped Ruffin as the teen was walking along a road where a series of car break-ins were reported, the department said.
Ruffin is alleged to have ran away and pulled a gun as the officer chased him, according to the department.
“The narrative that people of color are more suspicious or dangerous than their white counterparts when doing normal activities must be changed,” said Smith.
