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Speaker 1: Welcome back to It could Happen Here. I'm Garrison Davis,

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Speaker 1: and this is the last episode in my trilogy covering

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Speaker 1: what's been happening this summer in Atlanta to stop Cop City.

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Speaker 1: Last episode we covered the end of the Week of Action,

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Speaker 1: the resurgence of nighttime sabotage, and Atlas long Engineering dropping

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Speaker 1: out of the Cop City project. A relatively new, big

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Speaker 1: aspect of the movement that I've really only mentioned peripherally

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Speaker 1: is the Cop City vote referendum. The goal of the

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Speaker 1: referendum is to let the people of Atlanta vote on

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Speaker 1: whether to repeal an ordinance authorizing the land lease of

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Speaker 1: three hundred and eighty one acres of forest into Cab

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Speaker 1: County that was given to the Atlanta Police Foundation in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one to use the land for the construction

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Speaker 1: of Cop City. In order to get the referendum on

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Speaker 1: an upcoming ballot, the petition had to gather sixty thousand

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Speaker 1: signatures in six days. Every signature must be from an

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Speaker 1: Atlanta resident who was registered to vote in twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 1: and initially those who gathered signatures had to also be

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Speaker 1: Atlanta residents. Sixty thousand signatures in sixty days was a

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Speaker 1: lofty goal, but volunteers around the city were being increasingly

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Speaker 1: mobilized during and after the week of action. For the

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Speaker 1: first few weeks of the referendum, the city stayed mostly quiet,

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Speaker 1: but then on the July fifth APD press conference, Mayor

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Speaker 1: Andre Dickens addressed the referendum.

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Speaker 2: Mayor, some of these protesters and posters of the twenty

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Speaker 2: Center have biggun connecting signatures in the hope of having

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Speaker 2: a referendum, putting the November p Mu's your reaction to that?

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Speaker 3: What's your comment on that?

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Speaker 1: Will you allow them to do what they're doing right

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Speaker 1: now and possibly have in the referendum?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, the referendum process is one that's legally documented. It's

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Speaker 4: in the city code, and anybody can attempt to get

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Speaker 4: the petition going and get the necessary signatures. We asked

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Speaker 4: they do so with honesty and truth, collect the signatures

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Speaker 4: from real people, with sharing the truth about what they

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Speaker 4: are looking to do. And so I don't personally believe

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Speaker 4: they're going to be successful. I believe that based on

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Speaker 4: what we know about the citizens of Atlanta, they are

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Speaker 4: a supportive of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. We

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Speaker 4: know that this is going to be unsuccessful if it's

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Speaker 4: done honestly, and so we're making sure that we continue

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Speaker 4: to monitor the process.

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Speaker 1: This statement by the Democrat mayor of Atlanta, I don't

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Speaker 1: think has been highlighted enough. The mayor is trying to

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Speaker 1: frame a successful referendum as a fraudulent one. Dickens is

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Speaker 1: priming propaganda channels and testing the waters for blatant election

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Speaker 1: fraud stile messaging in the future by very clearly insinuating

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Speaker 1: that if you win this, that means you're cheating.

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Speaker 2: The referendum kept popping up like throughout the Week of

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Speaker 2: Action without It wasn't tailing up space.

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Speaker 1: It was never never the focus. It was always just

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Speaker 1: like on the sidelines.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but it was everywhere, Like every I think every

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Speaker 2: event the referendum was in some way shape or form.

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Speaker 2: You know, they're like the Home Depot rally and people

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Speaker 2: walking by they were talking about the referendum and talking

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Speaker 2: about the Week of Action collecting signatures.

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Speaker 1: It did not feel like it was taking space away

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Speaker 1: from any of the other aspects of the movement I'm trying.

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Speaker 1: I think some people were definitely worried about that, Like

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Speaker 1: people worried that the referendum might act as like a

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Speaker 1: release out for both the movement and like the people

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Speaker 1: who are like out of the movement and still like

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Speaker 1: looking at cop City being like, how can you get

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Speaker 1: involved in this thing? And you see this like very

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Speaker 1: like above for electoral strategy of slanning stuff like what

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Speaker 1: if people's efforts just get funneled into that and they

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Speaker 1: missed that on the other much more expensive aspects of

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Speaker 1: the movement. One of the few more referendum focused events

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Speaker 1: during the Week of Action was a community town hall

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Speaker 1: discussion put on by the Hip Hop Caucus at the

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Speaker 1: gathering Spot on the evening of Friday, June thirtieth. Before

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Speaker 1: the panel discussion, myself and Matt from the Atlantic Community

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Speaker 1: Press Collective talked with two members of the Hip Hop

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Speaker 1: Caucus about the event and their hopes for the referendum.

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Speaker 1: This is Brandy Williams, an organizer with the Hip Hop Caccus.

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Speaker 5: So the Hip Hop Coccus is a national nonpart is

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Speaker 5: a nonprofit organization that uses hip hop culture to connect

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Speaker 5: people to the civic and political process. And essentially we

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Speaker 5: do that in four areas. We do that with I

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Speaker 5: think one hundred percent, Climbate and environmental justice work. We

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Speaker 5: were founded as a voting and democracy organization out of

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Speaker 5: the Voter Die movement, so we still do that work

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Speaker 5: under our respect my Vote platform. We also have our

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Speaker 5: Good Trouble civil and human rights work. It's our multiissue

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Speaker 5: platform and we look at it as the justice department

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Speaker 5: for hip hop, so we do it. We work on

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Speaker 5: everything from police reform to education and healthcare, and then

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Speaker 5: our justice Paid in Full, which is our economic justice platform,

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Speaker 5: So how do we achieve economic justice. We actually started

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Speaker 5: our activation like on the groundwork in La last week

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Speaker 5: during be et weekend, so we did a similar event

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Speaker 5: in La. We're doing this one here and we're planning

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Speaker 5: to be here in Atlanta and through the referendum and

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Speaker 5: through the election.

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Speaker 1: We also talked with Leonajaha Lone Wolf, an Atlanta resident

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Speaker 1: and national community organizer. Recently she had been working de

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Speaker 1: spread awareness across the country about what's been going on

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta.

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Speaker 6: Myself, hip Hop Quark is movement for Black Lives Until Freedom,

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Speaker 6: community movement builders. We all came up with this idea

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Speaker 6: to create this photo shoot campaign similar to Voter Die

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Speaker 6: or in anything you know, with these where you have

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Speaker 6: a nice shirt or a sticker and you're taking and

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Speaker 6: just being there in solidarity. So we did it during

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Speaker 6: La BT Awards weekend last weekend. We had a nice

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Speaker 6: turnout of folks that came. I was in LA for

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Speaker 6: the Hollywood Climate Summit. I spoke on the panel with

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Speaker 6: Jane Fonda, so there was a lot of people from

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Speaker 6: Hollywood that came and said, oh my god, that's what's

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Speaker 6: happening in Georgia. We have to be if we cannot

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Speaker 6: sign for on the referendum, but we stand with you

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Speaker 6: all because what we are also educating people at is

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Speaker 6: that if Cop City is built, they already having contracts

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Speaker 6: with police nationally to come here. This will be the

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Speaker 6: largest police training facility in the United States. I went

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Speaker 6: to Universal Studios, Hollywood, Universal Studios. Rollercoat says, its huge,

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Speaker 6: just nice. It's four hundred acres. That's fifty acres. Lest

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Speaker 6: will be Cop City. And then you know, and I'm like,

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Speaker 6: that's an amusement park of nothing but real real gunfire,

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Speaker 6: real bombs, real real everything. It's not gonna be fake.

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Speaker 6: It's not amusement park in that way. But this is

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Speaker 6: their call of duty in real.

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Speaker 2: Life, and it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

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Speaker 6: They're not here to protect and serve. They're here to

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Speaker 6: shoot to kill. And so police from all across this

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Speaker 6: nation will be coming here to Georgia for this militarized

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Speaker 6: police training and that's a problem for me. And the

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Speaker 6: turnout in California showed that that's a problem for them too.

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Speaker 6: So we had a lot of people that came for that,

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Speaker 6: and today we're doing the same thing and we're having

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Speaker 6: a community town hall discussion because I think there's a

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Speaker 6: lot of people that don't understand why is cop city

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Speaker 6: because the mayor. I want to meet the mayor's publicists

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Speaker 6: because the way that this whole thing has been spinned

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Speaker 6: on his side that no, it would be great for

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Speaker 6: the EMT and the firefighters, and they're pushing EMT firefighters

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Speaker 6: more than the police part, but the police part is

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Speaker 6: a huge part. I think these type of conversations need

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Speaker 6: to be talked about, and so that's what this community

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Speaker 6: town hall is all about as well for those that

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Speaker 6: are kind of wavering neutral, maybe don't know, maybe they

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Speaker 6: know it a lot, you know, because the number one

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Speaker 6: thing that we've been like, I was on V one

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Speaker 6: O three yesterday on the radio station, and I also

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Speaker 6: have been doing a couple of other media and call ins,

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Speaker 6: and a lot of people don't understand, like they a

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Speaker 6: lot of people don't understand, like why is this a

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Speaker 6: bad thing? You know, you can move it somewhere else,

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Speaker 6: they say. But even if it's moved somewhere else, I'm

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Speaker 6: still gonna fight against cop city, you know, just because

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Speaker 6: I have this hits home for me too. Many of

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Speaker 6: my friends and family have been murdered by the hands

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Speaker 6: of radical power hungry, gun happy, trigger happy police officers.

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Speaker 6: And I feel that there is and then also another

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Speaker 6: thing too, I there is answers, you know, in regards

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Speaker 6: to we don't need more police, we need resources. They

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Speaker 6: shut down our hospital, they shut down the shelters. It's

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Speaker 6: not like they don't know, right, Like we tell them,

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Speaker 6: we need more jobs, not just any job, good quality jobs.

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Speaker 6: We need pristine health, not just affordable healthcare. And then

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Speaker 6: most importantly, it just are unsheltered friends to see that

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Speaker 6: they put bulldozers. They, this administration, this this city continues.

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Speaker 4: To ignore.

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Speaker 6: Ignore the people. We have the hugest the biggest wealth

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Speaker 6: gap in the nation. They and they call it Wakanda,

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Speaker 6: the blackest City. But if this is how you treat

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Speaker 6: us our people, our people need resources. That's where this

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Speaker 6: sixty seven million dollars should be going. It should not

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Speaker 6: be going towards a more police. We don't need more

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Speaker 6: police because when you go to Cobb County, when you

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Speaker 6: go over to Alpharetta, they don't have a lot of police,

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Speaker 6: they don't have a lot of Why would they need

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Speaker 6: a lot of police because they already got the resources.

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Speaker 1: On top of the community town hall discussion, there were

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Speaker 1: a few other things to do at the event that,

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Speaker 1: you know, Jaha talked about.

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Speaker 6: Stop Cop City photo campaign. One, you come and take

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Speaker 6: your photo and just showing that you stand in solidarity,

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Speaker 6: and then most importantly is to get some signatures.

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Speaker 1: As well throughout the referendum process. It's been interesting how

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Speaker 1: many people, even in Atlanta are just now learning about

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Speaker 1: cop City.

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Speaker 2: When did you first hear about cop City?

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Speaker 3: Honestly earlier this year, And.

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Speaker 5: Like a lot of the people that I am talking

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Speaker 5: to now, I was also kind of confused about the issue.

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Speaker 5: I wasn't really sure why, you know, they were so

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Speaker 5: opposed until I started learning a little more about what

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Speaker 5: actually was going to happen.

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Speaker 3: At this training facility.

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Speaker 5: So the idea of building a mini city with the

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Speaker 5: helicopter landing pad with a shooting range or a firing

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Speaker 5: range military grade in a community.

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Speaker 3: So this is not on the outskirts.

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Speaker 5: This is in a community, and then in a community

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Speaker 5: of color, and you're bringing police from around the country

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Speaker 5: in to learn military tactics, tactics that we use in

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Speaker 5: foreign countries to protect citizens.

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Speaker 3: We should not be thinking about our.

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Speaker 5: Citizens, our residents, as people who need to be protected

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Speaker 5: from themselves.

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Speaker 3: If that, if I'm making sense, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: So it's sort of like enemy combatants in your own.

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Speaker 5: In your on backyard, but you're training them up in

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Speaker 5: a black community. So I can only imagine that some

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Speaker 5: of that many cities is going to spill over into

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Speaker 5: the communities.

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Speaker 3: Then you're bringing.

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Speaker 5: Police officers from around the country here, so they're taking

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Speaker 5: that back.

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Speaker 1: The specific community where the Atlanta Police Foundation is trying

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Speaker 1: to build a cop city has already been traumatized by

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Speaker 1: the violence of the States for hundreds of years. Now.

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Speaker 1: This whole area was violently stolen from Muscogee Creek, then

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Speaker 1: it became a slave plantation, and then part of it

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Speaker 1: was sold to the city of Atlanta, and then it

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Speaker 1: became a prison firm. Since then, the land has been

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Speaker 1: home to two landfills and three detention facilities. This is

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Speaker 1: the history of just this neighborhood for the last few

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Speaker 1: hundred years. Now, the carstor of violence inflicted on this land,

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Speaker 1: it's attempting to be exported, as police will soon come

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Speaker 1: from around the country and even the world to train

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Speaker 1: at copp City.

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Speaker 5: No one wants it in their community, but you're going

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Speaker 5: to continue to burden this particular community with the same

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Speaker 5: thing over and over and over again. The people of

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Speaker 5: that community for generations have experienced all kinds of harm

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Speaker 5: at the hands of the people that they supposedly are

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Speaker 5: electing to represent and protect them from these types of.

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Speaker 3: Things, and they're actually the ones doing it to them.

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Speaker 5: You were elected by people to represent them, and they've

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Speaker 5: told you for two years, we don't want this.

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Speaker 3: You are ignoring their voice.

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Speaker 1: On the day of the Hip Hopcoccus Panel, an air

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Speaker 1: quality alert was issued due to incoming smoke from wildfires

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Speaker 1: up north in Atlanta. The AQI reached one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty the ocean.

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Speaker 6: These fish, these birds, they're screaming at us right now.

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Speaker 6: What we are doing to Mother Earth right now is

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Speaker 6: we are from cutting down the trees, fossil fuels, everything,

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Speaker 6: this is, this is, and especially this being the lungs

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Speaker 6: of Atlanta. Today, I'm wearing my mask because on my

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Speaker 6: weather advisory it said it said the air quality is

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Speaker 6: not good today for sensitive people. And that is just

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Speaker 6: with the trees. And they keep on cutting down these trees.

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Speaker 6: I moved here because of the trees. I'm from Arizona,

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Speaker 6: so I needed trees. That was nothing but desert. But

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Speaker 6: I moved here because of these trees because I love

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Speaker 6: the life force that trees give us. Even when we

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Speaker 6: see a tree, the Earth is talking back to us, saying,

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Speaker 6: stop doing what you're doing. The dolphins, the orcas, the wells,

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Speaker 6: they're all migrant. They're like, you're you're the ocean is

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Speaker 6: hot right now, the so they are. They're yelling at us,

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Speaker 6: and we're not listening. And and as a native in

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Speaker 6: my native way, our elders, our chiefs have said that

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Speaker 6: we plan for seven generations from now. I am a

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Speaker 6: mother of two sons, and what this administration is doing

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Speaker 6: and what these corporations are doing, they're not looking at

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Speaker 6: seven generations from now they're not looking at how this

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Speaker 6: is gonna affect us on the long run. And and

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Speaker 6: and I love the fact of everyone that is standing

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Speaker 6: firm and saying stop cop City, because we see the vision.

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Speaker 6: We know what this, this Uchi Marca, this mother Earth

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Speaker 6: is going to look like seven generations from now. And

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Speaker 6: we're fighting to our death because the fact that we

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Speaker 6: want to make sure that our children's children's children's children

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Speaker 6: could still live here and be in a peaceful, safe

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Speaker 6: place and environment to live.

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Speaker 1: Since being elected as the Progressive candidate in twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 1: there's been an ever growing animosity towards Mayor Dickens from

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Speaker 1: all of his unfulfilled promises. When talking with you Najaha,

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Speaker 1: she expressed that she felt disappointed that herself and this

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Speaker 1: big block of people helped Andre get elected. And now

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Speaker 1: Mayor Dickens is fully committed to the cop City project

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Speaker 1: and is even having conversations with other black leaders in

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Speaker 1: the city to bring them on board and prevent them

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Speaker 1: from opposing Cop City.

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Speaker 6: The mayor is in his position because of the blood,

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Speaker 6: sweat and tears and arrest and beat ups that we

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Speaker 6: got during Freedom Summer twenty twenty. He used the social justice,

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Speaker 6: the civil rights organizations and activists voices to get him

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Speaker 6: in the position that he used them and say, y'all

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Speaker 6: help me. I'm gonna be there for you all. And

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Speaker 6: it's all a slap in the face. So I don't

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Speaker 6: like hypocrisy. And I see I see hypocrites all throughout

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Speaker 6: this and on the on this administration side, from the

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Speaker 6: governor all the way down, even when we try to

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Speaker 6: help our unsheltered friends. In December, when it was so

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Speaker 6: cold out here, I went on social media. I raised

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Speaker 6: five thousand dollars in two hours. I went and went,

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Speaker 6: Me and my friends went and got them all tents, tents,

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Speaker 6: sleeping bags, everything. The mayor called my comrade. Mayor Andre

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Speaker 6: called my comrade and was all like, why are you

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Speaker 6: saying that they don't have no heating stations? And I

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Speaker 6: set up a heating station. Not everyone wants to go there,

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Speaker 6: because so is there? Where is your mental health services?

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Speaker 6: What's the transitioning team that you should have on the

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Speaker 6: ground to helped transition them. Don't just open up a

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Speaker 6: temporary heating shelter. Where's a transition team to go and

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Speaker 6: talk to the people of saying, hey, let me walk

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Speaker 6: you in to go get heated. There was none of that.

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Speaker 6: You're just expecting people to just go in there or

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Speaker 6: they knew where.

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Speaker 4: It was at.

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Speaker 6: So we went to the cab. We went to the cab,

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Speaker 6: and we also went down to Atlanta. We gave them tents.

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Speaker 6: The police went down there. The Atlanta Pede went down

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Speaker 6: there and put holes all in their tents. They slight

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Speaker 6: They used a knife and put and sliced their tents

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Speaker 6: open so it wouldn't they couldn't even stay in it. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 6: while it was still below freezing. This is all under

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Speaker 6: the administration of Mayor Andre. So no, we can't trust

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Speaker 6: We can't trust them.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel betrayed by Andre?

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Speaker 6: Yes, because I voted for him. I voted for him.

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Speaker 6: I voted for him because I think I voted for

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Speaker 6: him like every other person voted for vote for someone.

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Speaker 6: Is that their care is? They talk an amazing game.

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Speaker 6: And on top of it, my friends that were close

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Speaker 6: with him voted for him. My friends in the movement activists,

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Speaker 6: people that I look up to from as mentorship. They said, man, Andre,

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Speaker 6: He's gonna have fund a lot of the things that

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Speaker 6: we're doing.

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Speaker 1: Leonajaha spoke about how Mayor Dickens worked to build mutually

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Speaker 1: beneficial relationships between the city and non governmental quote unquote

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Speaker 1: progressive organizations. So while some NGOs have received money from

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Speaker 1: the city, now many of these big quote unquote civil

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Speaker 1: rights orgs are scared of jeopardizing potential funding and are

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Speaker 1: now currently refusing to speak out against cop City.

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Speaker 6: Yeah. When I talk so the same people that have

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Speaker 6: spoken to Andre are the same people. I'm like, why

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Speaker 6: don't you involved, you know, And they're just like, I

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Speaker 6: think it's gonna be built, and at least I'm at

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Speaker 6: the table. A lot of them think that way. They

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Speaker 6: was like, I was there at the beginning fighting. I

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Speaker 6: had to sit down with the mayor. I believe this

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Speaker 6: is gonna be built. So since this is gonna be built,

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Speaker 6: let me figure out at least I'm at the table

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Speaker 6: in the community and there's community engagement. At least there's

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Speaker 6: some type of bridging happening. That's their angle. Anyone that

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Speaker 6: said black Lives Matter was on the front line with

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Speaker 6: us in twenty twenty, that is that was horrified by

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Speaker 6: the videos that they saw. This we are at prime time,

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Speaker 6: this is the epicenter of police terrorism being built. This

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Speaker 6: is it, this is this is it. This is not

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Speaker 6: each individual. We're trying to prevent more families, because if

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Speaker 6: they build this, it's gonna be a lot more families

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Speaker 6: that's gonna be crying and saying, they killed my baby.

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Speaker 6: So we're at the epicenter of a cop city and

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Speaker 6: you are silent. You're silent, but you was there for

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Speaker 6: the families. You was there posting black lives matter. You

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Speaker 6: was there saying stop police terrorism. But they're building a

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Speaker 6: they're building a terrorist headquarters, and you don't have nothing

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Speaker 6: to say. You're a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite, period, point blank.

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Speaker 1: Brandy also talked about the hypocrisy of pushing forward cup

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Speaker 1: City after the George Floyd uprising in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 5: You know, three years ago, just in May, all these

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Speaker 5: companies were sending out these emails saying that black lives matter.

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Speaker 5: After George Floyd. They were pouring money into the community

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Speaker 5: to show their support for black lives. But some of

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Speaker 5: those same communities Home Depot, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, waffle House.

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Speaker 5: You guys are I'm sure sent those emails out, and

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Speaker 5: now you're putting money into something that does not respect

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Speaker 5: black lives. So I think there's just this huge contradiction

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Speaker 5: in who these companies say they are how they're showing up.

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Speaker 1: Part of the growing propaganda battle over cop City is

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Speaker 1: an attempt to frame this state of the arched militarized

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Speaker 1: police training facility as a quote unquote public safety training center,

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Speaker 1: embodying the call for police reform that liberals protested for

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. Not only does this erase the abolitionist

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Speaker 1: corps of the twenty twenty uprising, but it also obfuscates

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Speaker 1: the fact that cop City is indeed a direct response

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Speaker 1: to twenty twenty, not in terms of police reform, but

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Speaker 1: in the aftermath of the neoliberal police state being under

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Speaker 1: genuine threat. Corporate America and police have made this pact

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Speaker 1: to maintain each other's legitimacy, as one cannot survive without

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Speaker 1: the other. Cop City is to ensure that what happened

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty will never happen again. After the clear

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Speaker 1: cutting of around eighty acres to the Wahlani Forest, there's

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Speaker 1: been more of a focus on the stop Coop City

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Speaker 1: wing of the movement than defend the forest. Sure, there

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Speaker 1: are still three hundred acres to defend and eighty acres

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Speaker 1: to restore. But as construction is getting more imminent, the

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Speaker 1: specific cop city focus has taken center stage in messaging.

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Speaker 5: When it was initially talked about, it was all about

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Speaker 5: the environment.

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Speaker 3: They're tearing down the.

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Speaker 5: Forest and as marginalized poor people. If I am hearing that,

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Speaker 5: I'm not seeing it as important. I'm trying to figure

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Speaker 5: out how much pay my rent, how much my kids,

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Speaker 5: how i'm i pay my bills, how I'm getting to

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Speaker 5: and from work, and so those things I think made

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Speaker 5: it difficult to break into the household of people who

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Speaker 5: really need to be paying attention, and I would dare

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Speaker 5: to say even the people in the community. I watched

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Speaker 5: some of the testimony from the city council meeting several

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Speaker 5: weeks ago. In the the state representative that spoke first

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Speaker 5: talked about how the church right next door to the

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Speaker 5: facility didn't even know what was happening next door to them.

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Speaker 5: So for the city of Atlanta to say, oh, we've

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Speaker 5: done outreach people in the community, no, that's not true, right,

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Speaker 5: But part of that is the way that the narrative

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Speaker 5: has started.

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Speaker 3: And I think they were like, Okay, that ain't got

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Speaker 3: nothing to do with me.

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Speaker 5: And then also the fact that the faces that they

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Speaker 5: saw on TV, it was they're thinking, this is a

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Speaker 5: white led, white organization, white problem, it's not our problem,

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Speaker 5: so they haven't engaged. So I think those are all

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Speaker 5: things that we have to consider that and let people

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Speaker 5: know this is a diverse problem.

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Speaker 3: It impacts everybody.

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Speaker 5: It's going to impact people of color and poor and

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Speaker 5: marginalized communities more than anybody else, just because of the

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Speaker 5: nature of how policing is done in America and so.

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Speaker 3: And the and the problems that we still have with that.

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Speaker 5: So our program is from Red Dogs to cop City,

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Speaker 5: the Dirty South history of over policing Atlanta. So helping

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Speaker 5: them understand how this is just new iteration of what's

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Speaker 5: been happening. So the Red Dog Unit was at some

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Speaker 5: call it a gang within Atlanta PD for many years.

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Speaker 5: It was disbanded in twenty eleven, but they were terrorizing

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Speaker 5: low poor communities of color, and so cop City in

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Speaker 5: the way that they're thinking about training these officers.

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Speaker 3: Would be just a new iteration of that.

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Speaker 5: So helping them understand that just because we have come

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Speaker 5: far with the civil rights, with our civil rights and

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Speaker 5: I'm not even talking specifically about the sixties movement, but

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Speaker 5: civil rights for people of color, women, LGBTQIA plus communities.

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Speaker 3: Just because we've come far doesn't mean it can't go back.

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Speaker 1: Atlanta's Red Dogs inspired the Scorpion Unit in Memphis that

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Speaker 1: killed Tyree Nichols this past January, and the current iteration

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Speaker 1: of the Red Dogs in Atlanta is the Apex Unit,

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Speaker 1: who have been very active in suppressing stop Cop City protests.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to play three brief clips from the panel discussion.

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Speaker 1: The first is from Mariah Parker, a local activist and

438
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: former Georgia County commissioner.

439
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 3: This is a war on the Uprising of twenty twenty.

440
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 7: Okay, this is in the aftermath of the largest uprisings.

441
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 5: In North America.

442
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:41,280
Speaker 7: The Atlanta Police Foundation, who is the main driver and

443
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:43,880
Speaker 7: the main funder and actually the owner of Cross City.

444
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 7: I keep forgetting the fact that this is not actually

445
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,119
Speaker 7: going to go bust. The Limp Police Foundation trying to

446
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 7: rehas certain their control over Black communities at a time

447
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 7: when people are starting to understand that communities are made

448
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,720
Speaker 7: safe for bi bordable housing and healthcare, child.

449
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 5: Care and edger.

450
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 7: And where their supremacy in the public safety apparatus has

451
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:13,360
Speaker 7: been challenged, their dominance has been challenged, and so in

452
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:19,960
Speaker 7: response to that uprising, they seized hold of the narrative

453
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:25,639
Speaker 7: that more police training, more diversity in our officers would

454
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 7: be the magic key to heal all the wounds in

455
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 7: our communities and to actually deliver a style of police

456
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 7: thing that serves some people. And so with that they

457
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 7: were able to make arguments that cop city would be

458
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 7: the answer to right allegedly rising crime rates, heal at

459
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 7: these divides, et cetera, et cetera.

460
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 3: At the end of the day, they it's.

461
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,959
Speaker 7: Like it's a form of counterinsurgency. The people rose up,

462
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 7: and so this is the police right.

463
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 3: For that one response to reassert their dominance.

464
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,439
Speaker 1: Next is kJ Henson, an Atlanta local and organizer with

465
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: Black Men Build and Blackmail Initiative Georgia.

466
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,440
Speaker 8: We're clear that the police are not our protectors.

467
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 4: Right.

468
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 9: We suffer at the hands of the system on a

469
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:28,200
Speaker 9: daily basis. Right, the system was built upon our backs literally, So.

470
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 3: We see that we've been discarded, we've been.

471
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 4: Abused by the system. And that's the point.

472
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,120
Speaker 8: It's not that we're disengaged because we don't care. We're

473
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,640
Speaker 8: disengaged because we do care right. Every election cycle, it's

474
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 8: black voters to the rescue. We're the folks that are

475
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 8: most impacted by the decisions of the same elected officials

476
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,640
Speaker 8: that beg us to put them in a position.

477
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,439
Speaker 3: We suffer because these people will.

478
00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 8: Come to us and beg for votes, for canvassers, for money, and.

479
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 9: They turn around and they sell us out the first

480
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:05,239
Speaker 9: chance they need.

481
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:12,440
Speaker 8: So it's we're dis engaged of a matter of I

482
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 8: can't get what I need from these people that say.

483
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 4: That they're for me.

484
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 8: Right, the very means of the people are at risk.

485
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 8: Cop city threatens are very right to protest. Right, cop

486
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 8: city threat is the right.

487
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 9: For us to stand in the street and use our

488
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 9: voice as a means of building collective.

489
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:35,919
Speaker 8: Power, as a vehicle for making societal change. You can

490
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 8: come a domestic terrorist, you get jail, without bed, without bond,

491
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 8: you won't have a courtin I've been there myself, not

492
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 8: for testic terrorism.

493
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: We've just been from Corda.

494
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 9: So we're seeing the rise of fascism in a very

495
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 9: real way.

496
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 8: Like in the realistic ways cop City, like you said,

497
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 8: it is ground zero for what would become a very

498
00:28:58,560 --> 00:28:59,479
Speaker 8: popular trend.

499
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 7: Not this in America, but.

500
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 8: Across the world right, So it's on us to make

501
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 8: sure that we do everything that's.

502
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 6: In our power to make sure that this.

503
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 7: Day is stop.

504
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 3: Cop City is.

505
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 9: Given police the training and the ability to have urban

506
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 9: warfare and suppression tactics at their will to be used

507
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 9: against the people.

508
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 3: Urban warfare and suppression.

509
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 8: Not like thy not unlike what we see in other countries,

510
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 8: in other cities with organized resistance everywhere.

511
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 1: Lastly, we have Reverend Keana Jones, member of the Faith

512
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: Coalition to Stop Cop City, whom we've heard from on

513
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 1: this show before.

514
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 10: I want every Black Atlanta to think about what you

515
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 10: don't have. If you don't have affordable housing, it's because

516
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,479
Speaker 10: they put the money in the cop CIT. If you

517
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 10: can't pay your life bill, it's because that assistance got

518
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 10: given back to the federal government.

519
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 3: What they're paying for cop CIT.

520
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 10: If there are no policing alternatives and no urgent initiatives

521
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 10: in your community, is that they've given the money and

522
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 10: hop sick. If you fell into that pot hole on Passilion,

523
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 10: it's because they.

524
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 3: Give it the money to pop C.

525
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 10: If you can't walk out of your door and brief

526
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 10: clean air, it's because they rather get it to top C.

527
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 10: So Andrea Hickins does.

528
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 3: Not care about black people.

529
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Speaker 10: I'm gonna do a Kanye West right now, but I'm saying,

530
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:27,480
Speaker 10: are Gibbons.

531
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 3: Don't care about black people?

532
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 10: And Andrea Nickens ain't no different than nobody else, and

533
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 10: some of those other consul people out there who have

534
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 10: no soul called legacy names ain't doing nothing for black people. So,

535
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 10: once again, what is Andre Niggins doing for you? If

536
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 10: he is willing to take police and make sure that

537
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 10: they got slot takes to roll around in they walking

538
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 10: around the ars in your neighborhood, your children walking out

539
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,479
Speaker 10: the house to hearing gunshots constantly, what do Andre Niggins

540
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 10: care about you?

541
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 3: Does his children hear that?

542
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: Okay, it is important to mention the venue that that

543
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 1: this was, that this panel took place in, because this

544
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 1: is like a very much like a it feels it

545
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 1: feels like a Black Excellence type of like space. It's

546
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: like that is the space that it is. It's it is,

547
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 1: it is a private club. It holds like an amount

548
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 1: of like respect.

549
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 2: There cultural significance.

550
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 1: And on this panel at the gathering spot, the panelists

551
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 1: were We're talking about how why why is the mayor

552
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: who meant many of these people helped get elected because

553
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: he had promises about, you know, helping out the community,

554
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: giving millions of dollars to affordable housing. Why is he

555
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: using now, like sixty seventy million dollars that could go

556
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: to affordable housing, that could go towards supporting black people

557
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,840
Speaker 1: in Atlanta? Is funneling all of that money into the

558
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: police and and into not even like the police department,

559
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 1: a private police foundation, like funding funding the APFS project,

560
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 1: not a city project. I think it was Keana who

561
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 1: said that Andre Dickens does not care about black people. Yeah,

562
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 1: and having that be said at the gathering spot, I

563
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 1: think actually is very important and is worth talking about.

564
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 1: As the referendum was progressing and people from across all

565
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 1: sides of the movement, we're working in conjunction just spread

566
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: awareness of Copcity and engage in action. The mayor was

567
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: making attempts to divide the movement.

568
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 4: Criminals are hiding in the middle of peaceful protests and

569
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 4: sometimes they are doing their own separate acts of violence.

570
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 4: Some of them are career arsonists and vandals from across

571
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 4: the nation. Local activists have been alerted to this numerous times.

572
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 4: These are the actions of blatantly outrageous, dangerous, and violent criminals.

573
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 4: How are arsonists, vandals, violent actors able to be alongside

574
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 4: peaceful protesters. You have individuals that will burn up construction equipment,

575
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 4: light a fire to police vehicles, and then have a

576
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 4: bouncy house party the next day with peaceful protesters at

577
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 4: a park. So they will go to a park by day,

578
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 4: and then by night they're burning up police equipment or

579
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 4: setting fires or trying to destroy construction equipment. So these

580
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 4: individuals are trying to use the guys of peaceful protests

581
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 4: that maybe some local Atlantans may actually be engaged in

582
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 4: a desired conversation about their views on public safety. But

583
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 4: these individuals have different views than those folks. These individuals

584
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 4: are anarchists. They want to destroy. So these individuals are

585
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 4: alongside these arsonists, these criminals are alongside peaceful protesters, and

586
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 4: sometimes the peaceful protesters are aware of it, and sometimes

587
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 4: they are not. We have made it clear to local

588
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 4: activists that we know and individuals that tend to be peaceful.

589
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 4: We're letting them know that we are aware that there

590
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 4: are individuals that are in our city that have committed

591
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 4: crimes across the nation and that they are on your

592
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 4: social media or in your network saying they're coming to

593
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 4: your event to do the same.

594
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 1: Mayor Dickens went further and essentially threatened that if you

595
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,919
Speaker 1: are a so called activist and you don't snitch, then

596
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 1: the APD will treat you the same as a violent criminal.

597
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 4: So when we give you that heads up as a

598
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 4: local organizer, you should take that heads up and also

599
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,960
Speaker 4: see something, say something, as we're asking any other citizen

600
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 4: to do. When peaceful protesters, when organizers are not utilizing

601
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 4: their best judgment, then bad things can happen with them

602
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 4: being alongside them, and it makes it real tough for

603
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,919
Speaker 4: APD to know who was the one with the dirty hands,

604
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,279
Speaker 4: so to speak. And so that's what the message that

605
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 4: we want to get out to the public is that

606
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 4: these individuals mean harm and you don't want to be

607
00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 4: around them or associated with them. When you are, it

608
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:00,719
Speaker 4: makes it difficult to tell who.

609
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 1: The city wants. The various wings of the fight to

610
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 1: stop cop City to turn on each other, to resent

611
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 1: each other, to so distrust and undermine any collective power.

612
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 1: That's why the referendum's Statement of solidarity explicitly rejecting respectability

613
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: politics and the framing of violent and nonviolent resistance was

614
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: so important. An online communicate claiming responsibility for torching police

615
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 1: motorcycles on the last day of the Week of action

616
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 1: addressed this dynamic quote. We took action after non combative

617
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 1: demonstrations at Cadence Bank and Home Depot. The police attacked

618
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,920
Speaker 1: those demonstrations with no cause, as they do wherever and

619
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: however the movement gathers. There can be no separation of

620
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: time and space for tactics when police have turned society

621
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaker 1: into a war zone. Despite this, we dispersed our activity

622
00:35:56,600 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: as much as possible across their area of control. We

623
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: encourage those who are pursuing a strategy of referendum to

624
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 1: continue supporting all methods to stop cop City. If you

625
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,879
Speaker 1: defy the state's unilateral authority in any way, you will

626
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: be seen as a valid target. As demonstrated throughout the

627
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 1: history of this movement, including during this last Week of action,

628
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,960
Speaker 1: police will treat you like a violent criminal, whether you're

629
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,319
Speaker 1: holding a sign in a parking lot, bailing activists out

630
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:43,520
Speaker 1: of jail, or smashing a cop car. On July sixth,

631
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: a group of activists in unincorporated Decab County near the

632
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:51,040
Speaker 1: potential site of cop City, filed a lawsuit against the

633
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia, claiming the

634
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: requirement that signature gatherers must themselves be Atlanta residents violated

635
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 1: their First Amendment right to free speech and petition the

636
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:06,640
Speaker 1: government due to the potential constitutional violation, the lawsuit also

637
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: requested the court reset the sixty day clock for gathering

638
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 1: signatures while still counting the signatures that were already gathered.

639
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: In mid July, the City of Atlanta filed a reply

640
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,120
Speaker 1: in federal court arguing that the cop City referendum was

641
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:26,040
Speaker 1: wholly invalid since it seeks to provoke a land lease

642
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 1: that has already been signed. The filing reads, in part, quote,

643
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 1: repeal of a year's old ordinance cannot retroactively revoke authorization

644
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,040
Speaker 1: to do something that has already been done. But if

645
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 1: the referendum could claim to result in a revocation or

646
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: cancelation of the lease, it would still be invalid because

647
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,600
Speaker 1: it would amount to an imformissible impairment of that contract unquote.

648
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: The city also argued that if the court does deem

649
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: the Atlanta residency requirement for gathering signatures unconstitutional, then the

650
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 1: entire referendum should be deemed unlaw. A rebuttal by the

651
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,440
Speaker 1: plaintiffs said that the city did not provide factual or

652
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: legal evidence for its claims and misread the cited precedence.

653
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: According to the plaintiffs, the land lease contract is ongoing,

654
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: not an irreversible quote unquote one time event, and since

655
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 1: the city authorized and issued the petition form, they skipped

656
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,319
Speaker 1: their chance to argue that the referendum is somehow invalid

657
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:29,839
Speaker 1: by already approving the language of the petition and letting

658
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 1: the referendum process begin. Near the end of July, US

659
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 1: District Court Judge Mark Cohen ruled in favor of the

660
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: cop city referendum, allowing non Atlanta residents to collect signatures

661
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,760
Speaker 1: and reset the sixty day clock to collect the roughly

662
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 1: sixty thousand signatures needed to put the land lease on

663
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 1: the ballot. In his ruling, Judge Mark Cohen said, quote

664
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 1: requiring signature gatherers to be residents of the city imposes

665
00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 1: a severe burden on core political speech and does little

666
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:05,480
Speaker 1: to protect the city's interest in self governance unquote. Mary Hooks,

667
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 1: the tactical lead of the referendum coalition, reacted to the ruling, saying, quote,

668
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 1: we are thrilled by Judge Cohen's ruling and the expansion

669
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: of democracy to include our cab neighbors and level the

670
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:21,400
Speaker 1: playing field for our coalition unquote. The city quickly filed

671
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 1: for an appeal, which was subsequently denied on August fourteenth,

672
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 1: with the judge stating quote, the city's real concern may

673
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: be that now that non residents have the ability to

674
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 1: gather signatures on the petition for the entire time that

675
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,359
Speaker 1: they would have been permitted to do so had their

676
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: initial request been granted, there is an increased possibility that

677
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: a sufficient number of valid signatures could be obtained unquote.

678
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 1: As liberals cheered on the Fulton County District Attorney in

679
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 1: Atlanta for indicting Trump and co conspirators for election tampering

680
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 1: under reco charges, the same exact sort of charges that

681
00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 1: this office has used against young black rappers and have

682
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,479
Speaker 1: been wielded against the Stop Cop City movement, the City

683
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:06,920
Speaker 1: of Atlanta's own election interference by repressing the referendum has

684
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: been largely ignored. Fulton County court set Trump's bond for

685
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars for attempting to overthrow a federal election.

686
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:20,000
Speaker 1: The same court set bond at three hundred and fifty

687
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:24,399
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars each for multiple protesters arrested for being

688
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,600
Speaker 1: merely present at a protest. After Georgia State Patrol killed

689
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:33,640
Speaker 1: force defender Torteguita in January of this year, during all

690
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: of the glowing press for District Attorney Fannie Willis and

691
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:41,280
Speaker 1: the City of Atlanta, it was revealed that on August eleventh,

692
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Police Department killed a sixty two year old,

693
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 1: unarmed black man named Johnny Holman while responding to a

694
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:53,720
Speaker 1: minor traffic accident. Both Holman and the unnamed second driver

695
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 1: called nine one one after the accident. Holman told nine

696
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 1: one one operators quote, somebody ran into truck after waiting

697
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 1: for over an hour for police to arrive. Twenty three

698
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: year old officer Kiaran Kimbro responded to the scene. Kimbro

699
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,800
Speaker 1: joined APD in March of twenty twenty one and currently

700
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:19,600
Speaker 1: as an open complaint for quote sexual misconduct non criminal unquote.

701
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,080
Speaker 1: Johnny Holman, who served as a deacon in his church,

702
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,440
Speaker 1: called his kids to listen to how the officer was

703
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: escalating the situation, and then an unknown witness helped this

704
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:33,920
Speaker 1: APD officer wrestle sixty two year old Johnny Holman to

705
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 1: the ground and put him in handcuffs as the officer

706
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,760
Speaker 1: used his taser. To quote the Atlantic Community Press Collective quote,

707
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 1: the children listened for seventeen minutes as they drove to

708
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,839
Speaker 1: the scene of the accident, hearing their father call for

709
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 1: help after officer kimbro tased him. When they arrived on scene,

710
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: they found officers giving chrest compressions to their father. Unquote.

711
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:02,799
Speaker 1: Johnny Holman was then pronounced dead at Grady Hospital. A

712
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,920
Speaker 1: week after APD killed Holman, another person incarcerated at Fulton

713
00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:11,720
Speaker 1: County Jail died while being held on five thousand dollars

714
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,879
Speaker 1: bond after being denied signature bond for shoplifting less than

715
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:20,280
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars of goods. The City of Atlanta's own

716
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:24,839
Speaker 1: alleged voter suppression has continued. Initially, the cop City vote

717
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 1: referendum hoped to not have to use the extra day

718
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 1: is granted by the judge and submit the collected signatures

719
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,719
Speaker 1: on August twenty first, with the intention of getting them

720
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,840
Speaker 1: verified in time to put the cop City vote on

721
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 1: the upcoming November ballot come Monday, August twenty first, the

722
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: referendum put out a statement that, despite collecting over one

723
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,920
Speaker 1: hundred thousand signatures, that they are delaying submitting the petition

724
00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:51,320
Speaker 1: due to concerns that the city was going to employ

725
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 1: voter suppression tactics during the validation process. The statement reads,

726
00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 1: in part quote, In recent days, we began to hear

727
00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:03,400
Speaker 1: from reporters and sources inside city Hall that the City

728
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,279
Speaker 1: of Atlanta is planning to argue for a higher than

729
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 1: previously reported legal minimum signature count for ballot access. More

730
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 1: concerning were reports that they also planned to utilize signature

731
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 1: match in their verification process, an archaic and widely abandoned

732
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,960
Speaker 1: tool of voter suppression that has been widely condemned across

733
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:27,279
Speaker 1: the political spectrum, including by the Republican controlled Georgia State legislator.

734
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 1: Signature matching is a subjective form of a vote validation

735
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,400
Speaker 1: which uses election workers to visually match signatures on a

736
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,480
Speaker 1: ballot or in this case of petition, to a previous

737
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 1: signature on their driver's license or voter registration card. Hours

738
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:48,680
Speaker 1: after the referendum's statement, the City of Atlanta officially announced

739
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:51,560
Speaker 1: their intention to use his signature matching for the cop

740
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: city vote referendum. Back in twenty eighteen, a federal judge

741
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,399
Speaker 1: in Georgia ruled that signature matching did not serve any

742
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:03,440
Speaker 1: legitimate in interest and disenfranchised black and brown voters disproportionately.

743
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 1: For years, the ACLU has advocated against and won multiple

744
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:14,560
Speaker 1: court cases against discriminatory signature matching processes. Fair Fight Action,

745
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,400
Speaker 1: a Georgia based voting rights organization founded by Stacy Abrams,

746
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,720
Speaker 1: responded to the news Atlanta would be using signature matching

747
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:25,320
Speaker 1: with a statement saying quote signature matching is a tool

748
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,000
Speaker 1: of voter suppression that litigated extensively in Georgia and removed

749
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: from the mail in ballot process because of its harm

750
00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 1: to voters resulting in mass disenfranchisement. Using the discredited process

751
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 1: of signature matching is unacceptable and risks unfairly rejecting thousands

752
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 1: of valid petitions. Signature verification is notoriously subjective, disproportionately impacts

753
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:52,840
Speaker 1: voters of color, and as biased against disabled and elderly voters.

754
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 1: There is extensive precedent in Georgia showing the harms of

755
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:01,439
Speaker 1: this process. It must be relegated to them. Past Fair

756
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:04,120
Speaker 1: fight calls on the City of Atlanta to rescind their

757
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 1: intent to use this process and to enact steps that

758
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:12,680
Speaker 1: fairly evaluate these petitions unquote. Facing the City of Atlanta's

759
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 1: quote open and ongoing hostility to the cop city vote referendum,

760
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 1: the coalition has decided to use the time extension granted

761
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: by federal Judge Mark Cohen to continue collecting signatures to

762
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 1: quote leave no doubt as to the will of Atlanta

763
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:33,160
Speaker 1: voters unquote. They now plan to submit petition signatures on

764
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:37,760
Speaker 1: September twenty third. The City Council will then have fifty

765
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,360
Speaker 1: days to validate the signatures, which means that if successful,

766
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,919
Speaker 1: and assuming the city doesn't further interfere the referendum would

767
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,040
Speaker 1: get put on the ballot during the March primary election

768
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four. The vote being pushed into March

769
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 1: adds a few complications. Turnout may skew more Republican as

770
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:00,879
Speaker 1: it's unlikely there will be a Democratic presidential primary, and

771
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,400
Speaker 1: the vote being seven months away disrupts the momentum that

772
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 1: the campaign has been gaining over the past couple of months.

773
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,880
Speaker 1: People who signed the petition back in June would have

774
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 1: to wait almost a whole year to vote on the ballot.

775
00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 1: The few extra months does give more time to educate

776
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:19,799
Speaker 1: the public about cop City during a lead up to

777
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:23,920
Speaker 1: the election, but that goes both ways, which means that

778
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: after two years of this movement mostly taking form as

779
00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:31,240
Speaker 1: a ground war over territory, now for the time being,

780
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: much of the fight to stop Cop City will change

781
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:38,840
Speaker 1: into a pr war in the public sphere. This shift

782
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:43,080
Speaker 1: from a physical offense to a metaphysical offense was something

783
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,840
Speaker 1: that I already felt coming back during the Week of

784
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:49,239
Speaker 1: action in terms of like cameras and spectacle the other

785
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:52,920
Speaker 1: The big feeling I had on the Saturday kickoff rally

786
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,960
Speaker 1: was like this just feels like society of the spectacle,

787
00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:56,839
Speaker 1: Like there's.

788
00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:57,799
Speaker 2: Such a performance.

789
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 1: It was very performative, but it was like almost like

790
00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 1: with all of the cameras looking at everything all the time,

791
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:06,840
Speaker 1: it was like are people trying to make a proximily

792
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 1: of this movement for the cameras? Like is that has

793
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: become almost more important? Or like it felt that way.

794
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,960
Speaker 1: This is a conversation that people have, like is it

795
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 1: worth creating moments where we expect the police to lash

796
00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: out violently? Like is that effective as a propaganda tactic.

797
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that if comes with losing while looking good,

798
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:32,160
Speaker 2: it does.

799
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is like that is losing while looking good.

800
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:37,400
Speaker 1: But also I don't think that's nearly as effective as

801
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:39,920
Speaker 1: people think it is. I think after twenty twenty, I

802
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: think people are kind of desensitized to a lot of

803
00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:48,320
Speaker 1: police violence at protests. The visual the visuals of police

804
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,080
Speaker 1: hurting protesters, I don't think is nearly as impactful as

805
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:54,760
Speaker 1: it was even three years ago. So I think people

806
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,759
Speaker 1: are also realizing that and realizing that, hey, the sacrifice

807
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,680
Speaker 1: inherent in up actions where you know that you're probably

808
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:04,480
Speaker 1: going to get sucked up by police, that's not worth it.

809
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: That that one, it treats people as like tools. That

810
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:11,040
Speaker 1: treats people as disposable, which is, you know, that's not

811
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 1: great if you want to build a long lasting movement,

812
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:19,000
Speaker 1: And that's not even very effective. As the public relations

813
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 1: battle over the fate of cop City intensifies in the

814
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:24,280
Speaker 1: lead up to the vote, with the City of Atlanta

815
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 1: undoubtedly ready to run a full election, propaganda campaign strategies

816
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 1: of resistance cannot overlook the physical construction of the facility.

817
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:37,879
Speaker 1: Pre construction has been active and ongoing for a few

818
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:41,200
Speaker 1: months now, mostly in the form of tree clearing and

819
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,840
Speaker 1: land grading. Just a few days ago, the Atlanta Police

820
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,759
Speaker 1: Foundation updated their construction timeline, saying that they had just

821
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:52,440
Speaker 1: began installing a stone base for the main roadway, that

822
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:56,359
Speaker 1: irrigation and site lighting is now underway, and full lawn

823
00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:59,759
Speaker 1: construction is set to quote begin in the next week

824
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: or or soot that now may be out of date,

825
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:06,840
Speaker 1: but based on the progress being made on the site,

826
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 1: it's clear that construction is now imminent, and with the

827
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:14,239
Speaker 1: threat of the referendum, the APF will try to get

828
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,040
Speaker 1: as much built as quickly as possible to help with

829
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:21,480
Speaker 1: the pro copcity side of election messaging. One of the

830
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:23,919
Speaker 1: original goals of the referendum was to try to place

831
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:27,880
Speaker 1: an injunction on further construction until the ballot vote, but

832
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 1: it's unknown if or when that would happen. In the meantime,

833
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 1: activists may take a cue from Earth First, and instead

834
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:38,680
Speaker 1: of trying to occupy the site, instead they might find

835
00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:43,160
Speaker 1: creative ways to make the construction site hard to work on. Also,

836
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,880
Speaker 1: with the increased element of spectacle placing a lot of

837
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:50,840
Speaker 1: extra eyes on pre announced public demonstrations, more secretive actions

838
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,319
Speaker 1: may start becoming more common. There's other actions that can

839
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 1: happen more covertly, like if you're doing sabotage where you

840
00:49:57,200 --> 00:49:59,279
Speaker 1: don't need to invite a camera crew to film you

841
00:49:59,320 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 1: do crimes.

842
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 2: Why is move not?

843
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 6: Why is?

844
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 1: But it's also as a rule like why That's the

845
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:10,399
Speaker 1: other thing is like so many of these events during

846
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:12,400
Speaker 1: during these weeks of action are pre planned that not

847
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 1: only gives media heads up on like we're gonna film this,

848
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:17,719
Speaker 1: and this is also gonna that's gonna change the actions

849
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:20,239
Speaker 1: that happened while this is happening because everyone knows they're

850
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:22,400
Speaker 1: being launched, it also gives police heads.

851
00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:26,399
Speaker 2: Up to to shut down the paths your in jurudchment career.

852
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:28,600
Speaker 1: So that I think that comes with the week of

853
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: Action format because if people people coming in from out

854
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,200
Speaker 1: of town, they don't know where to go, if they're

855
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:35,160
Speaker 1: not already tied in with the movement, they don't know

856
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:37,960
Speaker 1: what what what exactly to do. So that's that's another

857
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:41,719
Speaker 1: thing that thinks could change during future actions that may

858
00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:44,320
Speaker 1: not be part of the Week of Action is more covert,

859
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:47,400
Speaker 1: less less pre planned, pre announced actions that are maybe

860
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:51,240
Speaker 1: uh maybe a little bit more mischievous in their recent

861
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: statement on voter suppression. The referendum also announced quote the

862
00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:59,280
Speaker 1: coalition will consider using upcoming opportunities for non violent direct

863
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:02,800
Speaker 1: actions to direct the people's frustration with the city council's

864
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:07,600
Speaker 1: obstruction of the democratic process unquote. Camal Franklin of Community

865
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,880
Speaker 1: Movement Builders added quote, if the city needs to see

866
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,879
Speaker 1: a demonstration of the people's commitment to the issue, we're

867
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:19,560
Speaker 1: happy to provide one. Unquote. Police intentionally denying anarchists operating

868
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 1: space by occupying the Wolani themselves may shift the more

869
00:51:24,239 --> 00:51:27,520
Speaker 1: liberal side of the movement to now focus on rallies

870
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:31,600
Speaker 1: and events around the construction site, which could also inadvertently

871
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:36,000
Speaker 1: draw eyeballs away and open up other territory across the

872
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:39,440
Speaker 1: city that might be more vulnerable to attack by small

873
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:43,799
Speaker 1: groups to quote the direct action communicate claiming responsibility for

874
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: torching the police motorcade on July first. Quote, while signatures

875
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:52,360
Speaker 1: are collected, the police are still killing. We cannot wait.

876
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,879
Speaker 1: If the referendum fails, actions like ours and Boulder will

877
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 1: be the only means available. Unquote. With construction imminent, subcontractor

878
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:07,640
Speaker 1: tensions increasing and the City of Atlanta gambling with voter suppression,

879
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 1: right now the movement really cannot afford to alienate the

880
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:15,400
Speaker 1: Green anarchists that pioneered the early legitimacy of this movement

881
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:19,160
Speaker 1: with bold direct action. The Atlanta Police Foundation is trying

882
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:22,520
Speaker 1: to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. What

883
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 1: happens in the next few months may push Atlanta to

884
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:29,839
Speaker 1: a dangerous tipping point. No matter the endpoint of this

885
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:34,920
Speaker 1: particular struggle, victory or defeat cannot be imagined as the end.

886
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:39,520
Speaker 1: The fight against Copcity is one large battle in an

887
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:44,240
Speaker 1: ongoing war, a war of police militarization, racism, environmental justice,

888
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:48,560
Speaker 1: and against the incestuous neoliberal police state in its leviathan

889
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:53,480
Speaker 1: like formation. Based on what happens here in Atlanta, similar

890
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:58,440
Speaker 1: police project proposals will be recalibrated. As the South goes,

891
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:03,439
Speaker 1: so goes the nation. Capitalist realism posits that history is over,

892
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 1: that it's a literal thing of the past, But it

893
00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:10,000
Speaker 1: turns out you're living through it right now, So what

894
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,920
Speaker 1: will you do to create it? You can read more

895
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:18,279
Speaker 1: about the fights to stop Coopcity at Atlpresscollective dot com

896
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:22,879
Speaker 1: and donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund at Atlsolidarity dot org.

897
00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:29,319
Speaker 1: See you on the other side. It could Happen here

898
00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:32,000
Speaker 1: as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts

899
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 1: from cool Zone Media, visit our website coolzonemedia dot com

900
00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:37,840
Speaker 1: or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

901
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources

902
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:44,160
Speaker 1: for It could Happen Here, updated monthly at coolzonemedia dot

903
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:46,400
Speaker 1: com slash sources. Thanks for listening.