Stop Cop City
The city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation along with its corporate sponsors have been constructing the militarized police training center in the South River Forest area of Dekalb County near the city of Atlanta, GA. The 85 acre facility will include a mock city to simulate urban warfare, bomb simulations, and multiple firing ranges among other things that will disrupt the the natural environment and its surrounding low income, majority black community.
This project was proposed and undemocratically passed in the wake of the 2020 protests for George Floyd and particularly after the killing of Rayshard Brooks who was gunned down by Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe after he harassed Brooks for simply sleeping in his car at a Wendys parking lot.
In January 2023, Georgia State troopers shot and killed a Venezuelan environmentalist activist and forrest defender, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran ( “Tortuguita”) during a raid of a “Stop Cop City” encampment at the location of the proposed facility. Tortuguita suffered 57 gunshot wounds. An independent autopsy revealed he was shot with his hands up and no residue of gun powder was found on his hands debunking the claims that he shot first. No body cam footage from the troopers who killed him have been provided.
The “Public Safety Training Center” is now estimated to cost about $110 million with over $60 million of that coming from Atlanta city tax payers. The majority of the cost is being bankrolled by the whos who of corporate elites whos only interests are to protect their wealth by continuing to suppress the population through the police and military. Some of the most notable who have made contributions or have representatives sitting on the board of the Atlanta Police Foundation are UPS, Delta Airlines, Chic-Fila, Bank Of America, Home Depot, Waffle House, Coca Cola, ATT, Wells Fargo among others. Cop cities have now sprung up across the country continuing to exhaust tax payer money that would be better suited to support public safety by instead investing in education, housing, employment, and health care.
DOWNLOAD:
