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Friend,
Have you been following the ongoing fight in Atlanta to
Stop Cop City?
Cop City is a project of the Atlanta Police Foundation to build a
$90 million police and military training facility in Atlanta’s
Weelaunee Forest, the largest urban forest in the United
States and ancestral land of the Muscogee people.
Activists and community members in the primarily Black
neighborhoods surrounding the forest have been organizing to oppose
the project for two years. Recently the movement gained national
attention with the death of Tortuguita, a forest defender, increased
police and legal violence towards activists, and a swell of local
opposition at City Council meetings.
“I
cannot believe I am standing here, pleading with you not to spend the
tax dollars of a Black city, to tear down a forest in a Black
neighborhood, to increase the policing and caging of more Black people
… Say no to Cop City.”
—
Testimony from the public comment period in Atlanta
Georgia officials are trying to portray activists as outside
agitators, but local opposition is strong, deep, and anchored in a
vision of solidarity and safety for all of us without increased
policing and militarization.
Our local Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Atlanta chapter has
been involved in the work to Stop Cop City over the last few
months — joining Shabbat and ritual gatherings in the forest,
attending City Council hearings and offering
public comment on why we reject increased militarization and policing
as Jews, and following the lead of Black activists organizing to
keep Atlanta communities safe.
Last week, rather than listening to the majority
of Atlantans who have raised their voices in opposition to Cop City,
the Atlanta City Council caved to the lobbying pressure of the Atlanta
Police Foundation and voted to approve an additional $30 million in
public funding for the development.
The fight is not done, and there is a time-sensitive next
step: a coalition of local, statewide and regional
organizations and individuals has come together to place Cop City on
the November ballot through a referendum. Read
more about this effort here.
As we mark Juneteenth across the country this weekend, we all have
an opportunity to reflect on our personal and communal investments in
Black futures and Black communities, in reparation and accountability,
and in disinvestment from white supremacy.
If you live in the Atlanta area, you can join our
Atlanta chapter’s work to help collect the 75,000 petition signatures
needed to get the Stop Cop City referendum on the ballot. Raise
your hand to get involved in Atlanta with Bend the Arc here.
If you live outside of Atlanta, here are two
organizations on the ground leading this work who you can support with
donations:
Organizing to Stop Cop City is one example of how American Jews are
working in their communities to fund a vision of community safety by
stopping the flow of resources into policing and mass incarceration.
You
can read about work from other Bend the Arc chapters here.
In solidarity,
The Bend the Arc team
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