WEBVTT - Stop Cop City, Dispatch from Weelaunee Summer: Part Three 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:09.800 Welcome back to It could Happen Here. I'm Garrison Davis, 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.920 and this is the last episode in my trilogy covering 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.920 what's been happening this summer in Atlanta to stop Cop City. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.360 Last episode we covered the end of the Week of Action, 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.239 the resurgence of nighttime sabotage, and Atlas long Engineering dropping 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.520 out of the Cop City project. A relatively new, big 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.640 aspect of the movement that I've really only mentioned peripherally 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.280 is the Cop City vote referendum. The goal of the 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.960 referendum is to let the people of Atlanta vote on 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.800 whether to repeal an ordinance authorizing the land lease of 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.360 three hundred and eighty one acres of forest into Cab 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:49.280 County that was given to the Atlanta Police Foundation in 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.400 twenty twenty one to use the land for the construction 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.720 of Cop City. In order to get the referendum on 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.800 an upcoming ballot, the petition had to gather sixty thousand 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:03.240 signatures in six days. Every signature must be from an 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.119 Atlanta resident who was registered to vote in twenty twenty one, 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.480 and initially those who gathered signatures had to also be 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.759 Atlanta residents. Sixty thousand signatures in sixty days was a 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.760 lofty goal, but volunteers around the city were being increasingly 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.840 mobilized during and after the week of action. For the 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.160 first few weeks of the referendum, the city stayed mostly quiet, 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.440 but then on the July fifth APD press conference, Mayor 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.800 Andre Dickens addressed the referendum. 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.120 Mayor, some of these protesters and posters of the twenty 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.680 Center have biggun connecting signatures in the hope of having 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.760 a referendum, putting the November p Mu's your reaction to that? 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:42.720 What's your comment on that? 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.920 Will you allow them to do what they're doing right 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.560 now and possibly have in the referendum? 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.440 Absolutely, the referendum process is one that's legally documented. It's 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.760 in the city code, and anybody can attempt to get 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.680 the petition going and get the necessary signatures. We asked 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.040 they do so with honesty and truth, collect the signatures 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.640 from real people, with sharing the truth about what they 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:11.400 are looking to do. And so I don't personally believe 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.000 they're going to be successful. I believe that based on 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.160 what we know about the citizens of Atlanta, they are 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.760 a supportive of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. We 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.280 know that this is going to be unsuccessful if it's 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.920 done honestly, and so we're making sure that we continue 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:26.920 to monitor the process. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.320 This statement by the Democrat mayor of Atlanta, I don't 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.120 think has been highlighted enough. The mayor is trying to 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.480 frame a successful referendum as a fraudulent one. Dickens is 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.400 priming propaganda channels and testing the waters for blatant election 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.480 fraud stile messaging in the future by very clearly insinuating 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.480 that if you win this, that means you're cheating. 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.040 The referendum kept popping up like throughout the Week of 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.520 Action without It wasn't tailing up space. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.680 It was never never the focus. It was always just 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:00.560 like on the sidelines. 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.360 Yeah, but it was everywhere, Like every I think every 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.880 event the referendum was in some way shape or form. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.120 You know, they're like the Home Depot rally and people 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.520 walking by they were talking about the referendum and talking 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.200 about the Week of Action collecting signatures. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:17.000 It did not feel like it was taking space away 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.840 from any of the other aspects of the movement I'm trying. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.040 I think some people were definitely worried about that, Like 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.720 people worried that the referendum might act as like a 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.600 release out for both the movement and like the people 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:31.000 who are like out of the movement and still like 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.000 looking at cop City being like, how can you get 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.960 involved in this thing? And you see this like very 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.440 like above for electoral strategy of slanning stuff like what 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.120 if people's efforts just get funneled into that and they 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.560 missed that on the other much more expensive aspects of 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.440 the movement. One of the few more referendum focused events 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.600 during the Week of Action was a community town hall 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.640 discussion put on by the Hip Hop Caucus at the 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:58.800 gathering Spot on the evening of Friday, June thirtieth. Before 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.400 the panel discussion, myself and Matt from the Atlantic Community 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.320 Press Collective talked with two members of the Hip Hop 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.640 Caucus about the event and their hopes for the referendum. 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.000 This is Brandy Williams, an organizer with the Hip Hop Caccus. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.080 So the Hip Hop Coccus is a national nonpart is 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.960 a nonprofit organization that uses hip hop culture to connect 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.719 people to the civic and political process. And essentially we 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.120 do that in four areas. We do that with I 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.960 think one hundred percent, Climbate and environmental justice work. We 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.480 were founded as a voting and democracy organization out of 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.640 the Voter Die movement, so we still do that work 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.640 under our respect my Vote platform. We also have our 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.160 Good Trouble civil and human rights work. It's our multiissue 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.880 platform and we look at it as the justice department 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.920 for hip hop, so we do it. We work on 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.520 everything from police reform to education and healthcare, and then 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.640 our justice Paid in Full, which is our economic justice platform, 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.520 So how do we achieve economic justice. We actually started 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.960 our activation like on the groundwork in La last week 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.760 during be et weekend, so we did a similar event 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:09.560 in La. We're doing this one here and we're planning 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.440 to be here in Atlanta and through the referendum and 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:13.440 through the election. 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.320 We also talked with Leonajaha Lone Wolf, an Atlanta resident 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.000 and national community organizer. Recently she had been working de 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.880 spread awareness across the country about what's been going on 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:24.680 in Atlanta. 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:30.040 Myself, hip Hop Quark is movement for Black Lives Until Freedom, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.160 community movement builders. We all came up with this idea 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:39.240 to create this photo shoot campaign similar to Voter Die 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.760 or in anything you know, with these where you have 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.279 a nice shirt or a sticker and you're taking and 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.960 just being there in solidarity. So we did it during 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.839 La BT Awards weekend last weekend. We had a nice 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.159 turnout of folks that came. I was in LA for 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.640 the Hollywood Climate Summit. I spoke on the panel with 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.120 Jane Fonda, so there was a lot of people from 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.599 Hollywood that came and said, oh my god, that's what's 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.839 happening in Georgia. We have to be if we cannot 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.520 sign for on the referendum, but we stand with you 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.680 all because what we are also educating people at is 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.680 that if Cop City is built, they already having contracts 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.520 with police nationally to come here. This will be the 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:26.400 largest police training facility in the United States. I went 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:31.680 to Universal Studios, Hollywood, Universal Studios. Rollercoat says, its huge, 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:37.200 just nice. It's four hundred acres. That's fifty acres. Lest 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.400 will be Cop City. And then you know, and I'm like, 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:47.320 that's an amusement park of nothing but real real gunfire, 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.960 real bombs, real real everything. It's not gonna be fake. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.400 It's not amusement park in that way. But this is 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:55.880 their call of duty in real. 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.560 Life, and it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.919 They're not here to protect and serve. They're here to 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.719 shoot to kill. And so police from all across this 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.360 nation will be coming here to Georgia for this militarized 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:13.080 police training and that's a problem for me. And the 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.560 turnout in California showed that that's a problem for them too. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.960 So we had a lot of people that came for that, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.320 and today we're doing the same thing and we're having 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.640 a community town hall discussion because I think there's a 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.080 lot of people that don't understand why is cop city 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.840 because the mayor. I want to meet the mayor's publicists 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.440 because the way that this whole thing has been spinned 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.080 on his side that no, it would be great for 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:43.160 the EMT and the firefighters, and they're pushing EMT firefighters 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.120 more than the police part, but the police part is 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.120 a huge part. I think these type of conversations need 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.480 to be talked about, and so that's what this community 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.680 town hall is all about as well for those that 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.000 are kind of wavering neutral, maybe don't know, maybe they 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.240 know it a lot, you know, because the number one 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.400 thing that we've been like, I was on V one 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.200 O three yesterday on the radio station, and I also 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.640 have been doing a couple of other media and call ins, 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.280 and a lot of people don't understand, like they a 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.520 lot of people don't understand, like why is this a 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.280 bad thing? You know, you can move it somewhere else, 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.640 they say. But even if it's moved somewhere else, I'm 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.840 still gonna fight against cop city, you know, just because 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.040 I have this hits home for me too. Many of 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.440 my friends and family have been murdered by the hands 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:35.520 of radical power hungry, gun happy, trigger happy police officers. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.319 And I feel that there is and then also another 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:43.000 thing too, I there is answers, you know, in regards 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:47.040 to we don't need more police, we need resources. They 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.360 shut down our hospital, they shut down the shelters. It's 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.040 not like they don't know, right, Like we tell them, 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.560 we need more jobs, not just any job, good quality jobs. 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.400 We need pristine health, not just affordable healthcare. And then 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:07.160 most importantly, it just are unsheltered friends to see that 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:12.520 they put bulldozers. They, this administration, this this city continues. 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.319 To ignore. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.400 Ignore the people. We have the hugest the biggest wealth 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.640 gap in the nation. They and they call it Wakanda, 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.960 the blackest City. But if this is how you treat 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.400 us our people, our people need resources. That's where this 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.440 sixty seven million dollars should be going. It should not 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.520 be going towards a more police. We don't need more 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.800 police because when you go to Cobb County, when you 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.040 go over to Alpharetta, they don't have a lot of police, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:47.640 they don't have a lot of Why would they need 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.680 a lot of police because they already got the resources. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.200 On top of the community town hall discussion, there were 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.000 a few other things to do at the event that, 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.199 you know, Jaha talked about. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.079 Stop Cop City photo campaign. One, you come and take 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.400 your photo and just showing that you stand in solidarity, 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.480 and then most importantly is to get some signatures. 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.920 As well throughout the referendum process. It's been interesting how 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.520 many people, even in Atlanta are just now learning about 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:15.280 cop City. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:17.959 When did you first hear about cop City? 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.960 Honestly earlier this year, And. 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.800 Like a lot of the people that I am talking 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:35.720 to now, I was also kind of confused about the issue. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:40.640 I wasn't really sure why, you know, they were so 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:44.600 opposed until I started learning a little more about what 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:46.240 actually was going to happen. 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:47.480 At this training facility. 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.679 So the idea of building a mini city with the 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:56.320 helicopter landing pad with a shooting range or a firing 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.520 range military grade in a community. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:02.360 So this is not on the outskirts. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.920 This is in a community, and then in a community 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.400 of color, and you're bringing police from around the country 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:13.600 in to learn military tactics, tactics that we use in 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:15.839 foreign countries to protect citizens. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.720 We should not be thinking about our. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:24.280 Citizens, our residents, as people who need to be protected 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:25.800 from themselves. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.960 If that, if I'm making sense, you know what I mean. 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.600 So it's sort of like enemy combatants in your own. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.480 In your on backyard, but you're training them up in 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.520 a black community. So I can only imagine that some 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:39.960 of that many cities is going to spill over into 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:40.760 the communities. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:42.360 Then you're bringing. 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.400 Police officers from around the country here, so they're taking 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:45.959 that back. 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.880 The specific community where the Atlanta Police Foundation is trying 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.920 to build a cop city has already been traumatized by 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.600 the violence of the States for hundreds of years. Now. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:01.040 This whole area was violently stolen from Muscogee Creek, then 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:03.920 it became a slave plantation, and then part of it 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.040 was sold to the city of Atlanta, and then it 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.640 became a prison firm. Since then, the land has been 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:14.080 home to two landfills and three detention facilities. This is 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.080 the history of just this neighborhood for the last few 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:21.280 hundred years. Now, the carstor of violence inflicted on this land, 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.040 it's attempting to be exported, as police will soon come 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.199 from around the country and even the world to train 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:29.400 at copp City. 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.680 No one wants it in their community, but you're going 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:36.080 to continue to burden this particular community with the same 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.760 thing over and over and over again. The people of 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.720 that community for generations have experienced all kinds of harm 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.920 at the hands of the people that they supposedly are 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.719 electing to represent and protect them from these types of. 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.960 Things, and they're actually the ones doing it to them. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.559 You were elected by people to represent them, and they've 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.600 told you for two years, we don't want this. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:01.560 You are ignoring their voice. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.040 On the day of the Hip Hopcoccus Panel, an air 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.760 quality alert was issued due to incoming smoke from wildfires 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.880 up north in Atlanta. The AQI reached one hundred and 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:14.560 fifty the ocean. 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.319 These fish, these birds, they're screaming at us right now. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.920 What we are doing to Mother Earth right now is 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:27.599 we are from cutting down the trees, fossil fuels, everything, 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.479 this is, this is, and especially this being the lungs 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.720 of Atlanta. Today, I'm wearing my mask because on my 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.440 weather advisory it said it said the air quality is 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:44.560 not good today for sensitive people. And that is just 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.360 with the trees. And they keep on cutting down these trees. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.239 I moved here because of the trees. I'm from Arizona, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.240 so I needed trees. That was nothing but desert. But 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.160 I moved here because of these trees because I love 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.360 the life force that trees give us. Even when we 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.280 see a tree, the Earth is talking back to us, saying, 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:10.680 stop doing what you're doing. The dolphins, the orcas, the wells, 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.280 they're all migrant. They're like, you're you're the ocean is 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.840 hot right now, the so they are. They're yelling at us, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.560 and we're not listening. And and as a native in 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.480 my native way, our elders, our chiefs have said that 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.400 we plan for seven generations from now. I am a 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:35.120 mother of two sons, and what this administration is doing 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.920 and what these corporations are doing, they're not looking at 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.120 seven generations from now they're not looking at how this 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.880 is gonna affect us on the long run. And and 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.680 and I love the fact of everyone that is standing 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.520 firm and saying stop cop City, because we see the vision. 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.240 We know what this, this Uchi Marca, this mother Earth 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.120 is going to look like seven generations from now. And 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.080 we're fighting to our death because the fact that we 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.960 want to make sure that our children's children's children's children 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.440 could still live here and be in a peaceful, safe 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:09.920 place and environment to live. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.880 Since being elected as the Progressive candidate in twenty twenty one, 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.280 there's been an ever growing animosity towards Mayor Dickens from 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.960 all of his unfulfilled promises. When talking with you Najaha, 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.480 she expressed that she felt disappointed that herself and this 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:32.080 big block of people helped Andre get elected. And now 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.760 Mayor Dickens is fully committed to the cop City project 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.880 and is even having conversations with other black leaders in 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:41.520 the city to bring them on board and prevent them 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.000 from opposing Cop City. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.160 The mayor is in his position because of the blood, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.120 sweat and tears and arrest and beat ups that we 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:56.520 got during Freedom Summer twenty twenty. He used the social justice, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:01.480 the civil rights organizations and activists voices to get him 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.760 in the position that he used them and say, y'all 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.960 help me. I'm gonna be there for you all. And 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.160 it's all a slap in the face. So I don't 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.480 like hypocrisy. And I see I see hypocrites all throughout 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.440 this and on the on this administration side, from the 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.080 governor all the way down, even when we try to 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.960 help our unsheltered friends. In December, when it was so 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.880 cold out here, I went on social media. I raised 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.560 five thousand dollars in two hours. I went and went, 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.400 Me and my friends went and got them all tents, tents, 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:42.560 sleeping bags, everything. The mayor called my comrade. Mayor Andre 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.720 called my comrade and was all like, why are you 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.800 saying that they don't have no heating stations? And I 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.640 set up a heating station. Not everyone wants to go there, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.920 because so is there? Where is your mental health services? 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.040 What's the transitioning team that you should have on the 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.720 ground to helped transition them. Don't just open up a 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.720 temporary heating shelter. Where's a transition team to go and 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.240 talk to the people of saying, hey, let me walk 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:11.840 you in to go get heated. There was none of that. 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.080 You're just expecting people to just go in there or 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:14.880 they knew where. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:15.120 It was at. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.160 So we went to the cab. We went to the cab, 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.359 and we also went down to Atlanta. We gave them tents. 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.880 The police went down there. The Atlanta Pede went down 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.920 there and put holes all in their tents. They slight 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.639 They used a knife and put and sliced their tents 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:36.440 open so it wouldn't they couldn't even stay in it. Yes, yes, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.800 while it was still below freezing. This is all under 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.719 the administration of Mayor Andre. So no, we can't trust 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:46.880 We can't trust them. 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:48.120 Do you feel betrayed by Andre? 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.719 Yes, because I voted for him. I voted for him. 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.240 I voted for him because I think I voted for 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.720 him like every other person voted for vote for someone. 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:04.320 Is that their care is? They talk an amazing game. 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.640 And on top of it, my friends that were close 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.840 with him voted for him. My friends in the movement activists, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.479 people that I look up to from as mentorship. They said, man, Andre, 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.480 He's gonna have fund a lot of the things that 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:22.040 we're doing. 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:26.400 Leonajaha spoke about how Mayor Dickens worked to build mutually 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:30.520 beneficial relationships between the city and non governmental quote unquote 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.760 progressive organizations. So while some NGOs have received money from 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.960 the city, now many of these big quote unquote civil 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.240 rights orgs are scared of jeopardizing potential funding and are 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.760 now currently refusing to speak out against cop City. 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:48.760 Yeah. When I talk so the same people that have 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.640 spoken to Andre are the same people. I'm like, why 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:58.159 don't you involved, you know, And they're just like, I 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.120 think it's gonna be built, and at least I'm at 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.199 the table. A lot of them think that way. They 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.320 was like, I was there at the beginning fighting. I 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.480 had to sit down with the mayor. I believe this 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.400 is gonna be built. So since this is gonna be built, 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.520 let me figure out at least I'm at the table 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.440 in the community and there's community engagement. At least there's 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.679 some type of bridging happening. That's their angle. Anyone that 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.199 said black Lives Matter was on the front line with 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.080 us in twenty twenty, that is that was horrified by 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:30.240 the videos that they saw. This we are at prime time, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:36.880 this is the epicenter of police terrorism being built. This 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.679 is it, this is this is it. This is not 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.560 each individual. We're trying to prevent more families, because if 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.600 they build this, it's gonna be a lot more families 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.119 that's gonna be crying and saying, they killed my baby. 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.880 So we're at the epicenter of a cop city and 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:59.800 you are silent. You're silent, but you was there for 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:04.199 the families. You was there posting black lives matter. You 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.399 was there saying stop police terrorism. But they're building a 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:14.000 they're building a terrorist headquarters, and you don't have nothing 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:19.439 to say. You're a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite, period, point blank. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.440 Brandy also talked about the hypocrisy of pushing forward cup 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.959 City after the George Floyd uprising in twenty twenty. 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.880 You know, three years ago, just in May, all these 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.560 companies were sending out these emails saying that black lives matter. 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.879 After George Floyd. They were pouring money into the community 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.639 to show their support for black lives. But some of 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:47.119 those same communities Home Depot, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, waffle House. 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.800 You guys are I'm sure sent those emails out, and 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.040 now you're putting money into something that does not respect 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.440 black lives. So I think there's just this huge contradiction 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.440 in who these companies say they are how they're showing up. 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.600 Part of the growing propaganda battle over cop City is 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.800 an attempt to frame this state of the arched militarized 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.960 police training facility as a quote unquote public safety training center, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.280 embodying the call for police reform that liberals protested for 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:22.320 in twenty twenty. Not only does this erase the abolitionist 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.920 corps of the twenty twenty uprising, but it also obfuscates 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.040 the fact that cop City is indeed a direct response 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.000 to twenty twenty, not in terms of police reform, but 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.320 in the aftermath of the neoliberal police state being under 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:39.760 genuine threat. Corporate America and police have made this pact 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:44.520 to maintain each other's legitimacy, as one cannot survive without 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:48.520 the other. Cop City is to ensure that what happened 0:21:48.520 --> 0:22:02.760 in twenty twenty will never happen again. After the clear 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.480 cutting of around eighty acres to the Wahlani Forest, there's 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.000 been more of a focus on the stop Coop City 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.760 wing of the movement than defend the forest. Sure, there 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.760 are still three hundred acres to defend and eighty acres 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.320 to restore. But as construction is getting more imminent, the 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.520 specific cop city focus has taken center stage in messaging. 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:27.880 When it was initially talked about, it was all about 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:28.520 the environment. 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:29.520 They're tearing down the. 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:36.960 Forest and as marginalized poor people. If I am hearing that, 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:39.800 I'm not seeing it as important. I'm trying to figure 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:41.640 out how much pay my rent, how much my kids, 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:44.359 how i'm i pay my bills, how I'm getting to 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:49.240 and from work, and so those things I think made 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:54.040 it difficult to break into the household of people who 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.400 really need to be paying attention, and I would dare 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:58.679 to say even the people in the community. I watched 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.320 some of the testimony from the city council meeting several 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:07.399 weeks ago. In the the state representative that spoke first 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.199 talked about how the church right next door to the 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:15.720 facility didn't even know what was happening next door to them. 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.080