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IN OPPOSITION TO “COP CITY” AND IN DEFENSE OF BLACK LIFE & MOTHER
EARTH, CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE STANDS WITH MOBILIZATIONS IN ATLANTA

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_ON MARCH 9, 2023, DWAIGN TYNDAL, MELISSA MILES, KIRTRINA BAXTER, AND LEAH
HUMPHREY, THE CO-CHAIRS OF CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE’S BLACK CAUCUS,
RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:_

“In the wake of the most recent clampdown on freedoms of peaceful
assembly, association and expression, Climate Justice Alliance stands with
the mass mobilizations of Atlanta defending the Weelaunee Forest and Black
and brown communities. With the unjust detainment and denial of bond for 22
environmental justice defenders, we join with them and demand the
abolishment of all systems of harm including the police and call for
substantial investments in systems of comprehensive care that address
mental health and healing, self-determined communities and protected
ecosystems. In the midst of ecological destruction and the intensification
of the interconnected racial, economic, and climate crises, Black
communities and their ecological assets are once again being placed upon
the auction block, despite community outcry to the contrary. 

This most recent attack follows the Atlanta Police Department’s June 2020
shooting of 27-year old Rayshard Brooks [4] (a killing that took place one
week following George Floyd), and the Atlanta City Council’s approved
legislation [5] to issue a lease of approximately 380 acres of Atlanta
forest to the Atlanta Police Foundation for the construction of a police
training facility known as “Cop City”. The Weelaunee Forest, one of the
largest urban forests in the country, has been the site of violent
oppression for decades, including multiple plantations which enslaved at
least 30 Black people’ the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, known for its
inhumane conditions that closed down in the 1970s; and the forced removal
of the Muscogee people in the 1800s. However, in 2017, efforts by the
community and city actors recognized the ecological value of the land and
the need to mend environmental injustices imparted on Southeast
neighborhoods. This resulted in a resolution passed by the Atlanta City
Council that sought environmental restoration and preservation of the South
River Forest Basin [6]. 

Sadly today, in contrast, we see that those elected by our communities have
failed us and had no intentions of truly delivering safety or ecological
well being to Black and brown communities. Destroying the forest, a key
resource used to mitigate climate driven extreme heat and flooding in the
surrounding majority Black neighborhoods, all in the name of the
construction of “Cop City,” makes this clear. In 2021, Atlanta City
Council voted 10-4 to approve the plans for the police training facility
following 17 hours of public comment and more than 70% community members
disapproving of the project according to public surveys.  Moreover,
earlier this year on January 18th, a community member and Stop Cop City
organizer named Tortuguita, was shot and killed by police while defending
the forest. Our alliance immediately joined solidarity calls with the
movement to Stop Cop City and Defend the Weelaunee Forest, and joined over
1,300 groups in calling for an independent investigation of Tortuguita’s
death. But this didn’t stop the City of Atlanta and Dekalb County [7]
from submitting approval for the final building permits for “Cop City”
on February 1, 2023.

As the City of Atlanta and it’s Police Department hold steadfast to their
efforts to create a new militarized police infrastructure which will only
serve to perpetuate state sanctioned violence against our communities and
accelerate the destruction of communal natural resources– we too hold
steadfast in our opposition to “Cop City”, in defense of Black life,
and Mother Earth. We stand with frontline communities and the mass
mobilizations in Atlanta, Georgia.”

                                                       
###

Climate Justice Alliance

1960A University Ave
Berkeley, CA, 94704
United States


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