We Walk with Ahmaud

On February 23, 2020, a young man, Ahmaud Arbery, was jogging in a neighborhood in Georgia. A father and son decided he looked like a robbery suspect so they jumped in their truck and chased him down. They confronted him as he was jogging and in a scuffle the young man was shot and killed. And if that wasn't bad enough, due to what appears to be local corruption, his killers weren't even arrested for almost three months. It took a video of the incident and public outcry before that happened. 

Yesterday would have been his 26th birthday. In his honor, people were encouraged to run 2.23 miles, remembering the day he was killed. They were encouraged to post pictures with the hashtag #irunwithmaud

David and I sat down with our kids and told them what had happened. We talked about racism - something we had talked about before, but this time we talked to them about how to respond if confronted. We talked about putting your hands in the air or on the dashboard. We talked about not being argumentative or confrontational. We had conversations that my parents never had to have with me - because I'm white.

Then we decided to walk for Ahmaud as a family. We went to the Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg. We had never been there and I had always wanted to check it out. The roses were beautiful.

 The area surrounding the roses was also beautiful. It was a lovely park with a boardwalk by the Edisto River.

The kids had never seen a functioning water wheel.

As we were leaving, Jalen was super excited to see this cool antique car.

Overall, it was a beautiful day. I hate that my children live in a world with racism, but I have great faith that their generation can make a difference.