Remembering Ahmaud Arbery: Sunday marks his 28th birthday

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - You don’t have to be from Brunswick, Georgia to know his name.

Two years ago, Ahmaud Arbery was chased down and killed in Satilla Shores.

It’s a tragedy that shook the world and had all eyes on Brunswick.

Tarin Rogers was born and raised in Brunswick. She said she remembers when it happened like it was yesterday. With Arbery’s birthday coming up on May 8th, all of those feelings are resurfacing.

“Even the emotion of not knowing him, but...that’s my brother,” said Tarin Rogers, from Brunswick.

Now, Arbery’s convicted killers are serving life sentences in prison and people around the world watched and waited every moment until it happened.

“All I could think was they have to be guilty,” said Rogers.

Rogers said she was a part of protests and the national “I Run for Maud” movement...jogging for 2 minutes and 23 seconds since he was killed on February 23, 2020.

“We have to remember why he was running. Just take that jog. Don’t take a break. Don’t drink water. Just take that jog and when you take that jog, remember why you run for Maud,” she said.

Brunswick isn’t the only community remembering. Even though they’re more than an hour way, The Grey restaurant in Savannah has been shining a light so people can’t forget.

“2 minutes and 23 seconds is a lot longer than it seems,” said Marcus, an artist.

Marcus Kenney is the artist behind the “Not so Dark Night”....a fixture that’s been lighting up The Grey for 2 minutes and 23 seconds since 2020. He said from Arbery’s death to George Floyd’s months after, he felt “helpless” so he used his art to do something.

“A reminder to take a minute...think about what happened,” he said.

The Grey’s co-owner Johno Morisano said when all the details finally came out, he felt the pain of the restaurant’s other owner who’s Black.

“My reaction to the news at first was disgust,” said Morisano. “So traumatized by those two killings...physically...visibly and emotionally just wrecked.”

So he said shining the light for Arbery is meant to interrupt.

Morisano said: “I’ve sometimes had some of the team say, you know, are we ever gonna take that light out of the skylight? Some guests don’t like it...and I’m like...I think that was Marcus’ point.”

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