A top leader of the state's African Methodist Episcopal Church is renewing calls for a hate crime law in Georgia.
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, presiding prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District will hold a press conference Tuesday in Brunswick in response to the shooting death of then 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery on Feb. 23 by two white men. Arbery, who is African American, was unarmed as he jogged through a Brunswick area neighborhood.
The men, Gregory and Travis McMichael, were arrested on murder charges last week, more than two months after Arbery’s death in a case that has drawn national condemnation.
Related: Georgia AG asks feds to investigate Brunswick area shooting
Jackson will be joined at the noon press conference by state Sen. Lester Jackson, a Savannah Democrat; and state Rep. Al Williams, (D-Midway). The press conference will be held at the Historic Brunswick Courthouse, 701 G St., Brunswick.
Georgia is among less than a handful of states that lack a hate crimes law or require data collection on hate crimes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
"No action has been taken because Georgia doesn't have a hate crimes law," said Bishop Jackson said. "It's irresponsible. Georgia depends on the federal government to bring hate crimes action."
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has asked the Department of Justice to investigate how the case was handled from the start.
Federal prosecutors are weighing possible hate crime charges in Arbery’s death.
Gov. Brian Kemp recently signaled he is open to legislation that imposes stiffer penalties that involve hate crimes.
"We're saying enough is enough," said Sen. Jackson, who has sponsored hate bill legislation. "Let's prosecute these individuals to the fullest."
He said people have been victims of hate crimes based on religion, sexual orientation and race in Georgia. “Hate crimes happen every day in Georgia.”
There are more than 200 AME churches in the southern part of the state and more than 500 in Georgia.
It’s unknown whether anyone in the Arbery family is a member of that denomination, but the AME church has been the target of hate crimes in the past.
In 2019, a 16-year-old white girl allegedly planned to visit the predominantly black Bethel AME Church church in Gainesville and kill people inside.
In 2015, nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston were slain by a white man who said he wanted to spark a race war.
Bishop Jackson said it's the duty of faith leaders to speak out.
"This is a moral issue," he said. Not have enhanced hate-crimes laws "appears to go against the notion that all of us are created equal. To me, that is a theological issue."
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