FACTBOX-'A vitally important step': Reactions to guilty verdict in Arbery trial

May this verdict bring a small measure of peace to #AhmaudArbery’s family and loved ones." * Congresswoman Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, in a statement: "While these verdicts are one step towards accountability, they will not bring back Ahmaud or the countless other lives we’ve lost at the hands of white supremacy.

A Georgia jury convicted three white men of murder on Wednesday for chasing and shooting a Black man named Ahmaud Arbery as he ran through their mostly white neighborhood in February 2020. The prosecution was widely watched as another test case of how the U.S. justice system handles the killing of unarmed Black people by white people.

Here are some initial reactions: * Stacey Abrams, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, said on Twitter: "A jury believed the evidence of their eyes and saw the meanness in the killers' hearts. May this verdict bring a small measure of peace to #AhmaudArbery's family and loved ones."

* Congresswoman Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, in a statement: "While these verdicts are one step towards accountability, they will not bring back Ahmaud or the countless other lives we've lost at the hands of white supremacy. We must double down on our efforts to fight hatred." * Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, said on Twitter: "This verdict upholds a sense of accountability, but not true justice. True justice looks like a Black man not having to worry about being harmed—or killed—while on a jog, while sleeping in his bed, while living what should be a very long life. Ahmaud should be with us today."

* Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., said on Twitter: "#AhmaudArbery should be here. The McMichaels and Bryan are indeed guilty of taking his life for no other reason than for him being Black. I'm praying for and thinking of Ahmaud's family, including his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who in this moment, is still missing her son." * Andrea Young, executive director of ACLU Georgia, said in a statement: "With their verdict, the jury rejected the vestige of Jim Crow and the assertion of white supremacy that was at the center of this case. This is a vitally important step, brought about because of the determination of Ahmaud Arbery's family and his community and the public protests."

* Margaret Huang, Southern Poverty Law Center president and CEO, said in a statement: "Through this conviction, the criminal justice system has begun to address the pervasive inequities that exist when it comes to the treatment of Black and brown people...The fact that justice was done in this case does not deny the reality that countless Black men are targeted and killed for no reason other than the color of their skin."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)