Atlanta Black, Indigenous Activists Resist ‘Cop City’ Plans At Historic Park
A plan to construct a $90 million police training center at the South River Forest in Atlanta is facing resistance from residents, who say “Cop City” would threaten the community in more ways than one. Residents say the facility would take away a beloved green space and historic site that plays a crucial role protecting the city from flooding.
“This is going to be the largest urban warfare training facility for police in the country,” said Jasmine Burnett, organizing director of Community Movement Builders, which is supporting resident opposition to the facility. “And, what does that mean when, in 2020, people were actually asking to abolish the police?”
The South River Forest sits on the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee Creek people, who were forcibly removed in the early 19th Century...