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Atlanta’s “Stop Cop City” Movement Is Youth-Led Democracy in Action [1]

['Hunter Buchheit', 'Elie Mystal', 'P.E. Moskowitz', 'Richard J. Evans', 'Joan Walsh', 'Steve Brodner', 'Natalya Mcconnell', 'Matt Wuerker', 'Laurie Smith', 'Peter Kuper']

Date: 2023-11-14 10:00:00+00:00

Activism / StudentNation / Atlanta’s “Stop Cop City” Movement Is Youth-Led Democracy in Action “When we can’t trust our leaders, regardless of political party, to exercise their power for our betterment, we the people have the power to do something about it.”

Environmental activists hold a rally and a march through the Atlanta Forest in March 2023. (Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty)

This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism , which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more Student Nation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here . StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation . If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected] .

In July, the Georgia State University Student Government Association passed a resolution opposing Atlanta’s proposed “Public Safety Training Center”—also known as Cop City—to be constructed on 85-acres of land outside of city limits.

“The construction of Cop City in Atlanta, a militarized police training facility also known as the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, has raised significant concerns among the student body,” the resolution read. “The Student Government Association publicly denounces the construction of Atlanta’s cop city as it threatens civil liberties, exacerbates systemic biases, and will directly impact the lives of the Students this body represents.”

The $90 million training center would feature “a lab to develop and test technological innovations” and “a mock streetscape to simulate real-world crisis situations faced by law enforcement officers” with “a focus on tactical training,” according to the Atlanta Police Foundation website. Opponents of the facility cite the risk of increased police militarization. “I do share the concern of the citizens of Atlanta,” Arthur Rizer, a former police officer and a scholar of policing, told The New York Times, “that the apparent focus is going to be a paramilitary-type training, urban assault tactics, which quite frankly have not been effective at reducing crime.”

“Cop City, if built, would pose a direct threat to the safety and well-being of our students,” said Brian Ramirez, a member of Young Democratic Socialists of America and a GSU student. Over the last few years, the fight to “Stop Cop City” has mobilized young people across Georgia, beginning in 2021 with the Defend the Atlanta Forest occupations. “The Stop Cop City movement is a signal to bloated police departments across the country that we are fed up with overmilitarized communities and overflowing prisons,” said Yana Batra, a student at Georgia Tech.

The resolution from GSU’s student government came after months of protests from students, including a walkout at more than one dozen universities. At GSU—a campus well-known for its diversity and youth organizing—a military-grade training facility for police is a clear cause for concern. “GSU is so heavily policed,” Rhea Wunsch, a GSU student and Campus Mobilization Co-Lead at GYJC, laments. “We’re under the jurisdiction of APD, GSUPD, Marta Police, Capitol Police, and Fulton County PD,” said Wunsch. “There’s no need for one school to have so much policing.”

According to Ramirez, the ties between the university and the Atlanta Police Foundation further pushed students to act. “Approximately 20 faculty members and GSUPD personnel were identified as APF donors. Notably, GSU’s non-profit entity, The Georgia State Foundation, was also listed as a donor,” said Ramirez, citing documents obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act. “As an institution that prides itself on high Black student graduation rates and one of the most diverse student bodies in the country,” reads a statement from the GSU Student Coalition Against Policing & Militarism, “GSU’s participation in prison industrial complex expansion raises concerns.”

The movement gained significant momentum in the last few months, with national coverage of Cop City spurring the work of hundreds of students across the state. Groups like the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition—which previously won statewide fights around equal ballot access, representative redistricting, and funding for education—have taken leadership alongside dozens of statewide orgs in spreading awareness of Cop City. “I quickly began organizing with many smaller grassroots groups,” said Zeena Mohamed, a student at the University of Georgia and an organizer with the GYJC, about canvassing around Stop Cop City.

On social media and on the ground, students and groups like GYJC have worked to inform their peers about the effects of the training center and created a network of organizers across the state. “Many people were unfamiliar with the project, but this lack of awareness became an opportunity for engagement. When we educated them about Cop City, its potential implications, and its connections to the university, we found that they were generally receptive and supportive once they understood the situation,” said Ramirez. A majority of Black adults in Atlanta oppose the project, according to an Emory University survey from March, while 44 percent support the building of the facility. “I think what we can conclude from the study is that Black Atlanta, like the rest of Atlanta, is split on support for Cop City,” Andra Gillespie, an associate professor whose research covers African American Politics at Emory University, told Capital B Atlanta.

The land being used for Cop City is part of the historical Weelaunee Forest, stolen from the native Muscogee residents in the early 19th century by white settlers. In the decades following, slavery permeated the area’s plantations. By the 20th century, city officials were looking for new uses of the land and began bringing in unpaid inmates to work on the Atlanta City Prison Farm. “I felt that this simple police facility proposal indicated so many more historical and structural problems the city faces,” said Mohamed, the organizer with GYJC.

In January, Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, a nonbinary climate protester and supporter of the Defend the Atlanta Forest, was shot by Georgia State Patrol SWAT troopers during a raid on a Stop Cop City encampment protesting the construction. An autopsy determined that Teran had been shot 57 times and most likely had their arms raised when the police began firing, and their hands were free of gunpowder residue. The troopers were not wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting and will not face charges. One trooper was also shot in unclear circumstances, a video suggests that he was hit by friendly-fire by other officers. Terán’s family is suing the city for records related to their death, and calling for an independent investigation along with members of Congress Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, and Ed Markey.

The project has its defenders among the ranks of Atlanta Democrats. “This training facility will not only help boost morale, retention and recruitment of our public safety personnel, but will give us physical space to ensure that our officers and firefighters are receiving twenty-first century training,” said former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in 2021.

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[1] Url: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/atlanta-georgia-stop-cop-city-youth-movement/

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