On February 23rd, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery went running and was murdered in a Georgia neighborhood. Today is Arbery’s birthday and to honor him his family and friends asked everyone to go for a run. To run 2.23 miles to represent the day he lost his life and spread awareness through the hashtag “I run with Maud.”
In Naperville, and all across the country, people like Rebecca Malotke-Meslin are jogging to raise awareness about his death.
#IRunWithMaud
“The awareness is the first piece, but we have to talk about what needs to change, how we can act out, speak out, what we can do to have conversations to talk to our elected officials right, and there was a call to action” said Rebecca Malotke-Meslin, a Naperville resident.
So Malotke-Meslin gathered some neighborhood friends, and started their jog from Maplebrook Elementary. But spreading awareness is only the first step to try and bring about change.
Steps Towards Change
“We were asked to take those next steps, not just to post on social media. I live in a beautiful neighborhood I live in a beautiful community, and it’s really easy to turn away and say it doesn’t affect me, it’s not part of my everyday life, and that makes me complacent right, it makes me complicit with what’s going on, and I refuse to be that way. I want to use my privilege in whatever way I can to help those weren’t born with the same privilege that I was. Naperville’s a perfect place to do that, because so many of us are living with privilege, so many of us are living with means and we have voices and we need to use them.” said Malotke-Meslin
The two men accused of Ahmuad Arbery’s death have been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. George McMichael and his son Travis were taken into custody.
Naperville News 17’s Ryan Skryd reports
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