John,

Two years ago today, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan chased, confronted, and killed 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery who was jogging through a residential neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia. 

Brunswick is only an hour up the highway from Jacksonville – where my son Jordan was murdered in 2012. Jordan and his friends were parked at a gas station when they were confronted by Michael Dunn for playing loud music.

Both Ahmaud and Jordan were unarmed when they were confronted and murdered. Neither of these young men posed any threat at all to their killers. We have witnessed this scenario play out over and over again in this country.

But here's something new: Yesterday, all three of Ahmaud’s killers were convicted of hate crimes in federal court. They will be joining Jordan’s killer Michael Dunn in prison for the rest of their lives. Those sentences are fair, but they cannot deliver true justice, which would be two 27-year-old young men who were alive and well, here with us today.

To Ahmaud’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones and father Marcus Arbery – I want to say thank you for fighting for justice for your son throughout two separate trials, just like Jordan’s father Ron and I had to. 

If anyone can know how you feel today, I know: You didn’t ask for this spotlight. You didn’t ask to relive every single moment and every last detail of your son’s murder for not one, but two separate trials, to get the justice you and your family wanted. 

Thank you for standing up and speaking out. You have proven to the entire world that the murder of your son was clearly racially motivated and that his killers were rightly convicted of hate crimes. 

Wanda, you will always be Ahmaud’s mother. I am still Jordan’s mother. 

Ahmaud Arbery and my son Jordan Davis – they were born only 284 days apart. True justice would be that they were alive, well, and looking forward to their 28th birthdays. Don’t forget that.

In solidarity,

– Lucy