Stop Cop City

Stop Cop City (SCC) or Defend Atlanta Forest is a decentralized social movement in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, whose goal is to stop construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by the Atlanta Police Foundation and the City of Atlanta. Opponents of the facility are concerned about the growth of policing in the city, which has witnessed several protests against police violence following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the killing of Rayshard Brooks,[1] both by police officers.[2]

Stop Cop City
Part of Black Lives Matter and the climate movement
A tree sit to prevent cutting of trees at the Old Atlanta prison farm
Location
Old Atlanta Prison Farm, Atlanta, Georgia

33°41′38″N 84°20′10″W
Parties to the civil conflict
Coalition of environmental organizations, social justice organizations, community groups, and autonomous forest defenders
Lead figures

non-centralized leadership

Casualties and losses
1 Georgia State Trooper injured (Gunshot)

The proposed location for the facility is the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, and opponents of the facility particularly object to this location because of its history and because destruction of the forest conflicts with their concerns about environmental justice, and attempts to preserve the land as an urban park and conservation area.[3]

Proponents of the training facility say that the project is necessary to improve police morale and to fight crime. They have said that there is no feasible alternative location for the training center and that the Old Atlanta Prison Farm is "not a forest".[3] On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Patrol Officers shot and killed Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, a demonstrator, during a raid on the occupied encampment.

Background

In 2020, as part of the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide response to the murder of George Floyd, Atlanta witnessed a months-long series of protests against police brutality.[2][4][5] Less than three weeks after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd on a public street, an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Atlanta resident Rayshard Brooks, resulting in arson,[6] national outcry and calls to defund the police.[2] Over one-third of Atlanta's budget in 2022 goes to the police department: about $250 million.[3] Atlanta is among the most-surveilled cities in the US.[7]

Criticism of the police and associated unrest has reduced police morale.[4] Authorities claim that the city has struggled with rising crime, suffering 149 homicides in 2021 which is the most in a single year since the 1990s,[3] although the city's crime compilation data shows a drop in overall crime, and a mixed trend in homicides over the period 2009-the present.[8] Advocates for the proposed training facility have said that the project is an attempt to address these problems.[3][4]

The $90 million proposed training center would include a shooting range and a mock village that has led the project to be nicknamed "cop city." The city is expected to pay one-third of the cost, with the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) paying the rest.[3] Plans for the 85-acre (34 ha) facility were announced in 2017. The APF says on their website the project provides "the necessary facilities required to effectively train 21st-century law enforcement agencies responsible for public safety in a major urban city."[9]

Atlanta has more tree cover than any other US city, and scientists have said that the city's trees are a defense against climate change and stormwater flooding.[4][10] For these reasons, SCC has acted to defend forested space in Atlanta more broadly by opposing the expansion of Blackhall Studios (now Shadowbox Studios) into a forested area near the proposed APF facility, in addition to opposing the training center itself.[3][10]

The SCC conflict has consistently been placed in the context of settler-colonialism. The Muscogee people were forcibly removed from the region by state and US governments during the 1800s, and SCC has invited members of the Muscogee Nation to return to the area, speak about the present conflict and lead ceremonies in support of the SCC movement.[2][3] Muscogee delegations visited in November and in December 2021,[2] and in summer of 2022.[3]

Cox Enterprises is a corporate investor in the training facility and owns the city's major daily newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[4] which has published multiple editorials in favor of the facility.[3]

Prison farm
See also: Old Atlanta Prison Farm

The facility's proposed location is the Old Atlanta Prison Farm (OPF), which a 2021 study found to be the site of past atrocities committed by the prison system.[2][11] An earlier study in 1999 did not mention historical atrocities, but did recommend the area be preserved and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. SCC activists have made objections to placing the police facility on the site of historic human rights violations.[2][11] Environmental organizations and environmental justice advocates have proposed to maintain the OPF as a centerpiece in a 3,500-acre (14 km2) urban green space called the South River Forest.[3][4] Atlanta has "massive disparities" in green space, with mostly African-American areas such as that which surrounds the OPF having fewer and smaller parks.[4]

Conflict

The APF training facility is opposed by a coalition of environmental groups, neighborhood associations, and racial justice groups.[12] Plans were approved by the city in September 2021 after 17 hours of public comment from over 1,100 residents, 70% of whom opposed the project.[3] Residents have expressed concern that the approval process was secretive with limited input from affected communities.[4] The city appointed a community-advisory committee, and Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens has said that there is "a lot of room for input."[3] The advisory committee does not include representatives from environmental groups, and does include representatives from the police and fire departments and the Dickens administration.[3] A vocal critic of the facility was removed from the advisory committee.[3]

Residents who support the construction of the training facility have said that they want a properly trained police force and hope the project would make their communities safer.[4]

STC supporters have led divestment movements against APF corporate sponsors, and four "week of action" campaigns in 2021–22 featuring music, supply drives, skill shares, and history lessons about the area.[7] Dozens of local community groups and regional organizations have opposed the project.[13][14][15]

Two environmental organizations, the South River Forest Coalition and the South River Watershed Alliance, have filed a lawsuit against the film studio development.[3]

Forest defense actions

Beginning in late 2021, the contested forest was occupied by forest defenders who barricaded the area and constructed tree-sits to prevent trees from being cut. Forest defenders have had several conflicts with police, resulting in some arrests. They have also destroyed equipment being used by developers in the forest, vandalized property belonging to corporations connected with the APF and Blackhall studios, and committed arson.[3] In May 2022 the corporate offices of Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, Alabama were vandalized, and the message "Drop Cop City Or Else" was spray-painted on the building.[16]

There is wide variation in the political stance of STC forest defenders,[16] but several sources describe the movement as leaderless and autonomous, with any participant able to act as they wish.[12][17][18] Prison abolition is a strongly represented political philosophy.[2][5]

On December 13, 2022, a task force of multiple police agencies conducted a joint raid at the training facility site.[19] Five people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism.[20] The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said that road flares, gasoline, and explosive devices were found in the area.[19]

Fatal shooting by police
Main article: Killing of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán

On January 18, 2023, Georgia State Troopers and other agencies launched another raid. During the raid, a trooper was shot in the leg and a protester, identified as Manuel Terán, known also as "Tortuguita", was killed by police.[21] Police stated Terán fired on them without warning.[22] Two independent journalists who had previously interviewed Terán, other protestors, and Terán's family have questioned whether Terán fired first, pointing to lack of body-camera footage of the shooting and calling for an independent investigation.[22][23][24][25] GBI forensic ballistic analysis determined that the projectile recovered from the officer's wound matched the handgun found in Terán's possession.[26] The GBI has said that there is no body-camera footage of the shooting, because officers near the incident did not have cameras. Georgia State Patrol officers do not wear body-cameras.[27] There is footage of the aftermath, because officers from other agencies would have captured that video.[27] The recovered handgun was determined to be purchased legally by Terán in September 2020.[28] Other protesters and Terán's family dispute that Terán fired a gun.[22]

On February 9, Atlanta police released body camera footage of the aftermath of the shooting wherein an officer is heard saying "You fucked your own officer up." This comment lead some activists to believe that the officer had been injured by friendly fire rather than by Terán.[29][30]

January 2023 protests
"Defend Atlanta forest" protest sign in Minneapolis, January 21, 2023.

On January 21, 2023, protesters marched from Underground Atlanta down Peachtree Street. At the intersection with Ellis St, some protesters damaged institutions who support the facility and burned an Atlanta Police Department vehicle. Six arrests were made. Responding to condemnation of these acts, Stop Cop City issued a statement that "Destruction of material is fundamentally different from violence. All reported acts appear to be explicitly targeted against the financial backers".[31]

Notable vigils and protests were also held in Bridgeport, Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Tucson from January 20–22, 2023.[32] Some demonstrators spray painted graffiti on Bank of America buildings to protest the company's involvement in financing the facility's construction.[32]

Development

In September 2022, the APF reported that it projected opening the first phase of the facility in late 2023. STC estimated that it had delayed the project by at least a month and a half.[7]

References
  1. Abusaid, Shaddi; Stevens, Alexis; Hollis, Henri; Burns, Asia Simone (August 23, 2020). "No charges against Atlanta officers in fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  2. "Abolitionists and Environmentalists in Atlanta Band Together to "Stop Cop City"". YES! Magazine. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  3. "The New Fight Over an Old Forest in Atlanta". The New Yorker. August 3, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  4. Maxouris, Christina (September 24, 2022). "Atlanta wants to build a massive police training facility in a forest. Neighbors are fighting to stop it". CNN. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  5. Lennard, Natasha (2022). "An Uncompromising Coalition Is Building Support to Nix Atlanta's "Cop City"". The Intercept. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  6. Ellis, Ralph (June 24, 2020). "Woman charged in Atlanta Wendy's arson given $10,000 bond in first court hearing". CNN. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  7. "INSTITUTE INDEX: Defending Atlanta's last forest from 'Cop City'". Facing South. September 2, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  8. "Weekly Crime Reports".
  9. Jordan, Mike (June 16, 2022). "The US activists holed up in treehouses to block $90m 'Cop City'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  10. Arnold, Aja. "Atlanta Poised to Approve Massive Police Training Facility Despite Public Opposition". The Intercept. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  11. Vicks, Akil (July 2022). "Atlanta Is Building a "Cop City" on the Site of a Former Prison Farm". Jacobin. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  12. Herskind, Micah (February 8, 2022). "Cop City and the Prison Industrial Complex in Atlanta". Mainline. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  13. "64 groups and businesses sign on to oppose public safety training center ahead of City Council resolution". SaportaReport. June 24, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  14. Capelouto, J. D. "SE Atlanta neighborhoods: Don't build police training facility on old prison farm site". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  15. "What is 'Cop City'? How opposition to an Atlanta police center prompted national demonstrations". NBC News. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  16. "Diverse Coalition Unites Against Atlanta's Plan to Build "Cop City"". Filter. August 25, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  17. Fassler, Ella (February 17, 2022). "Activists Are Occupying the Woods of Atlanta to Block a New Police Facility". Vice. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  18. Bernd, Candice (February 23, 2022). "Activists Blockade Construction of Massive Cop Training Center in Atlanta Forest". Truthout. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  19. Sayers, Devon M.; Watson, Michelle; Levenson, Eric (December 14, 2022). "Five people arrested on domestic terrorism charges in clash at Atlanta's 'Cop City' site". CNN.
  20. Wheatley, Thomas (December 15, 2022). "Atlanta's "Cop City" activists face domestic terrorism charges". Axios.
  21. "Atlanta Police Kill Forest Defender at Protest Encampment Near Proposed "Cop City" Training Center". Democracy Now!. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  22. Pratt, Timothy (January 21, 2023). "'Assassinated in cold blood': activist killed protesting Georgia's 'Cop City'". The Guardian. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  23. "Protesters: 'Cop City' activist's killing doesn't make sense". AP NEWS. January 29, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  24. Rico, R.J. "Man killed, trooper shot while 'Cop City' protesters cleared". ABC News. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  25. Peisner, David. "Little Turtle's War". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  26. Donesha, Aldridg. "GBI: Ballistic analysis shows projectile recovered from trooper's wound matches gun in protester's possession". 11 Alive. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  27. Raymond, Jonathan (January 23, 2023). "GBI says bodycam video exists of aftermath of deadly 'Cop City' clash". 11 Alive. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  28. Fox 5 digital team. "GBI: Gun used to shoot trooper at site of Atlanta Public Safety Training Center bought legally by suspect". Fox5 Atlanta. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  29. Estep, Tyler; Abusaid, Shaddi (February 8, 2023). "Atlanta police release footage of training center shooting aftermath". The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  30. Unicorn Riot (February 8, 2023). "Atlanta PD Releases Bodycam Footage from Deadly Jan. 18 Forest Raid". Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  31. "6 arrested after violent protesters cause mayhem, set APD car on fire in downtown Atlanta". WSBTV. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  32. Fur, Lucy (January 23, 2023). "Marches and Vigils Across the US Respond to the Police Killing of Forest Defender Tort". Unicorn Riot. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
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