Dear Ones,
Today, the jury in the Ahmad Arbery trial has returned its verdict and found the men responsible for Arbery’s death guilty on nearly all counts. While this verdict does not, as our Presiding Bishop has said, bring Ahmaud Arbery back to his family and loved ones, it does provide a measure of justice from a system that has too often denied justice to our BIPOC siblings.
I echo the prayers and pleas of our Presiding Bishop and the Episcopal and Lutheran bishops of Georgia in their statements following the verdict, which I have linked to below. I commend them to you. The joint statement from the Georgia bishops is especially good and also provides some very good resources, including a link to the resource library of the Center for Racial Healing.
There is much work still to be done in reforming our justice system, and quite frankly much of that work is inside ourselves, for as many of you have reminded me over this past week, we humans make up, implement, and oversee this system. Much work remains to be done in each of our hearts to dismantle our own racism and bring about healing and reconciliation. When this happens I do believe any unbalanced and/or unjust system can and will change. I most definitely include myself as one that continues to need work and most likely will the remainder of my life. I ask you to pray for everyone involved in this case, their families, and for the repose of the soul of Ahmaud Arbery.
Blessings,
+Greg
- Presiding Bishop Curry’s Statement: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-michael-curry-responds-to-verdict-in-ahmaud-arbery-case/
- Statement from the Episcopal and Lutheran Bishop’s of Georgia: https://gaepiscopal.org/bishopresponse/
