Ahmaud Arbery’s mom is removing BLM Plaza
March 12, 2025 3:25pm PDT
The black mother who lost her son before the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement says the removal of BLM Plaza in our country’s capital is a sign that the country is in a bad place.
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, tells TMZ… that the removal of BLM murals in Washington “feels like a bad sign,” and she says, “a reminder of how vulnerable the fragile progress is.”
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Wanda says that BLM wasn’t about murals, monuments, or iconic gestures… It’s always about accountability, justice, meaningful change, but she doesn’t like the changes that take place here.
As we reported… Jamie Foxx says that Black America’s social efforts have been stepping back as President Trump puts pressure on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to remove the mural under the threat of losing federal funds.
Arbery was murdered in February 2020 while on a run in Georgia…and a video of his murder at the hands of three white men sparked widespread rage.
After George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer a few months later, the BLM really took off and erupted summer protests nationwide… But the Arbery incident continues to be a big part of the movement…so too, the death of Breana Taylor. Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown Killings also spurred the early beginnings of BLM causes.
Lee Merritt, an attorney who worked with Arbery, Floyd and Taylor’s families, told TMZ “Justice is not measured in murals — measured in law, accountability, and protection of black lives.”
On that front, Merritt says… “Accountability was born when the man who murdered Ahmoud was sentenced to life in prison. The reform came with the passage of Arbord Arbery hate crime acts when Georgia abolished the vigilante defenses that he used to justify their actions.”
