Last Week, I Ran for Ahmaud Arbery

By Tifanny Burks aya Aya Black

Five years ago Ahmaud was killed by a racially motivated hate crime when he was on a jog in his neighborhood in Georgia. An activity that millions of people do around the world to stay in shape physically and mentally. Last week, he should’ve turned 31 years old. So I went on a run, not just any run, a run in his honor. I remembered five years ago an old friend who lived in Hawaii called me and was shaken by the case and she asked me to run to join her in running in his honor and of course I told her yes. So if you are reading this now, I am asking you to go on a run in Ahmaud’s honor this week.

Our country still hasn’t atoned for the racism against Black people. Enslavement, mass incarceration, hate crimes and police brutality has plagued our communities at disproportionate rates. Which is what led to those racist feeling emboldened to take the life of Ahmaud.

Next month is Juneteenth, a holiday to honor the descendants of formerly enslaved people, and it would be a great time to pass reparations at the federal level for Black Americans. The conversation around reparations is not new, most recently Representative Ayanna Pressley and currently citizens in Maryland are urging their governor, Wes Moore to pass a bill to study reparations for slavery. We need reparations now, for all descendants of enslaved people in this country. We need reparations now for Ahmaud.

I ran for Ahmaud back in 2020, I ran in his honor last week and I will run again in his honor today. All Black men and people deserve to run freely without a fear of being killed due to hate.