On Thursday, Ahmed Arbery’s mother was thankful as they finally received news on Wednesday that the three white men who chased and killed her son were convicted. The Georgia resident said that although it was the second Thanksgiving they’d had without Ahmaud, at the same time they were thankful.

In an interview on Thursday, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who is Arbery’s mother, also told the Associated Press that it was “the first Thanksgiving we are saying we got justice for Ahmaud.”

She said that they had planned to have a quiet Thanksgiving. She said that that they were not sure whether they would make his favorite dishes such as pork chops and butter beans on Thursday. However, she mentioned that they would be making these dishes soon as they were her son’s favorites for Sunday dinner.

In February 2020, three white men cornered Ahmaud Arbery as he had been seen on a surveillance camera at a house that was under construction in the neighborhood. They wanted to question him about recent burglaries that had taken taken place in the vicinity.

Arbery had run through the neighborhood and other places near his home to clear his head. He had nothing in his hands. He ran from these men for about five minutes. Then, one of these men shot him three times, at close range, with a shotgun.

They were later sentenced to face life in prison. In February, they will also face a federal hate crimes trial.

When asked if she had a message for the three men who were convicted, according to a report by abc News Cooper-Jones said, “I would simply tell them that their bad decisions have impacted two families –my family and again their family.”

Georgia became the 47th state in the nation that passed a hate crimes law after the death of Ahmaud Arbery. The state legislature also repealed the citizen’s arrest law. The defense tried to use this law to justify the chase.

Cooper-Jones said, “When they hear my son’s name, they will say, this young man, he lost his life but he did bring change.”

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