HOUSTON, Texas – The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, Wanda Cooper Jones, attended the funeral of George Floyd and attendees who saw her said her presence at the procession was ‘powerful’.
Cooper Jones told ABC News anchor David Muir in Houston on Tuesday that she’d had no idea there were “so many mothers that had actually lost their sons to this type of brutality.”
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Her 25-year-old son was shot and killed as he went for a routine run on Feb. 23 through the Satilla Shores, Georgia, neighborhood. Three white men, including a father and son, have been arrested and charged in his murder.
Cooper Jones told Muir that she "needed” to go to Houston to show support for Floyd’s family.
“I know I don’t have the answers but I can listen. We share the same pain. … If I can be any kind of help, I’m here,” she said.
Cooper Jones also added that the protests and rallies over Floyd’s death has given her some peace in her own son’s slaying.
“I saw that we’re not standing alone, everyone is standing among us. It gives me strength to go on,” she said. “I think and I pray that we will see change.”
Cooper Jones is now pushing Georgia to pass a hate crime bill. She told Muir that Arbery would be proud of her activism, her presence in Houston and the journey she’d embarked on to get him justice.
There are stark differences between the deaths of the two men Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, but each triggered a mass outcry for justice from the public. On True Crime Daily, Cooper Jones said, “George Floyd was lying in the street just like my son.”
Cooper Jones attended the funeral with her attorney Lee Merritt, but she did not speak during the funeral, as some thought she might, TMZ reported.
Daily Mail reported that the families of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin were also there. All three families were given a standing ovation.