Ahmaud Arbery’s Mother Calls Out Organizations Using Son’s Death As “Business Opportunity”
Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, seeks justice for profiting off of the use of her son’s death by multiple organizations.
Cooper-Jones wrote a letter outlining her grievances with these companies that was acquired by TMZ .
“It is with great disappointment that I must now elaborate on this situation with the founders of 2.23 and creators of I Run with Maud when I am still grieving, still advocating, still seeking justice, and still trying to adjust to the loss of Ahmaud.”
She starts off the letter expressing her feelings about the “I RUN WITH MAUD” social media page, which was originally started as a memorial page. Akeem Baker, Ahmaud’s friend, came to Cooper-Jones with the idea of the social media page. Cooper-Jones was on board with the page at first, however, she feels the page is being run with a business mindset. She is not able to have administrative access to the page as well.
Alongside with the page, there is a trademark application that was filed on May 9, 2020.
“This was the day after Ahmaud’s birthday; two days after the arrest of the McMichaels; and the date we set aside to release balloons in honor of Ahmaud, a very emotional time for us all”, Cooper Jones continues saying that, “one of the trademark applicants had never even met my son, yet applied for this trademark in an attempt to profit off Ahmaud’s name.”
Cooper-Jones’ third grievance is for a GoFundMe in Arbery’s name. The GoFundMe was “suggested to [Cooper-Jones] by one of Ahmaud’s friends and I put my trust and faith into that everything would be run appropriately.” Due to the inception of the GoFundMe, people have suggested that the family is using her son’s death as profit scheme
Lastly, Cooper-Jones spoke on the foundation 2.23, which was created by Jason Vaughn. According to Cooper-Jones, “he is not a relative and did not have a close relationship with my son.” The foundation started to spread awareness of different advocacy efforts being made. The foundation planned a major fundraiser was set for seven days after the foundation’s launch against Arbery’s mother’s wishes.
Arbery’s mother ends off the letter stating that she will not remain silent and that she speaks for herself and her son.
“The grief is a fight every day of my life. Fighting for justice is something I must do each day and every minute of the day. What I am experiencing is draining, but it is for my son. There is so much we experience after losses due to injustice. I am simply asking everyone to respect my wishes as they are always fair and in the best interest of my family and Ahmaud.”
Read Wanda Cooper-Jones’ full letter here
Alisha Brown | Instagram & Twitter : @lishablive
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