1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to It Could Happen Here, the podcast about stuff 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: falling apart and how we can maybe put some of 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: it back together. Today I'm your host, Garrison Davis. Though 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: this episode is going to be more of an it 5 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: did happen here sort of thing, as this is part 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 1: one of a special three part series made in collaboration 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: with the Atlantic Community Press about the history of the 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: old Atlanta Prison Farm. If you haven't listened to my 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: super sized three hour two part series on the Defend 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Forest Movement from last May, I'd recommend you 11 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: check that out just for you know, extra context, but 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,480 Speaker 1: it's not strictly necessary, as will be mostly going over 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: history for these next few episodes, although I will sprinkle 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: in updates about what's been happening in Atlanta related to 15 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: the Stop Cop City movement throughout this areas. At the 16 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: end of this episode there will be a summary about 17 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 1: the most recent week of action now for this series, 18 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: not only did the Atlantic Community Press provide the vast 19 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: majority of the historical research and format for these episodes, 20 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: I was also able to record with two members of 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: the collective, Sam and Laura, so you'll hear snippets of 22 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: our conversations over the course of these next few episodes, 23 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: as well last year, in the lead up to the 24 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: Atlantis City Council signing over hundreds of acres of forest 25 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build a state of 26 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: the art militarized police training facility, complete with a large 27 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: mock city. Around that same time, a group of people 28 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: decided to look into the history of the land in question, 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: famed for being the site of an old federal prison 30 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: honor farm. This was also around the same time last year, 31 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: when more atrocities of the residential school systems were being unearthed, 32 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: and with the Atlanta Police Foundations plans to bulldoze large 33 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: sections of forest that were once used as an old 34 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: labor prison, the possibility of disturbing forgotten grave sites seems 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: to be worth considering. UM okay, I'm Sam. I help 36 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: out with I do research for the Atlantic Community Press 37 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: Collective UM so that means I file open records requests. 38 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: I accidentally I helped accidentally write a seventeen page history 39 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: report in summer, and I listened to fun things like 40 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: community stakeholders committee meetings and city council meetings. What is 41 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: the inception for the Atlantic Community press collective. So at 42 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: the beginning it was me, Laura, and another friend of ours, 43 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: and we were all just kind of involved on the 44 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: periphery of the movement. Laura, please feel free to correct 45 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: me if direct me also, but just as part of 46 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,959 Speaker 1: the general movement and resistance to Cops City, one of 47 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: us raised the question I based on when the prison 48 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: farm was an operation. One of us asked, I wonder 49 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: if they're unmarked graves there, because given the error in 50 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: which the prison farm was an operation, it's not unrealistic 51 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: that people were just buried on site, especially m for 52 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: prisoners who didn't have families to claim them. Is horrible, 53 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: but there you go. Um. That was sort of the 54 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: genesis of our history report, and then I guess naturally, 55 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: as an extension of that, we started asking questions of 56 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: city government and county government about the I guess construction 57 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: process of Cops City. Throughout the development of Cops City, 58 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: concerns regarding environmental racism, police violence, and land stewardship in 59 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: an era of climate change have all been discussed, if 60 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: not by local government or the Atlanta Police Foundation, but 61 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: at least by community members, some local press, and national media. 62 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: Despite this very little is actually publicly known about the 63 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: actual history of the land that Atlanta Police Foundation wants 64 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: to build a Cops city on, and the history of 65 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: the prison farm itself. The most often cited histories suggests 66 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,239 Speaker 1: the land was the site of a federal prison farm 67 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: that was later taken over by the city and then 68 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:34,239 Speaker 1: soon abandoned. Archival research into the site on Key Road, 69 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: conducted by volunteers with the Atlantic Community Press tell a 70 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: different story. Months of archival research revealed that not only 71 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: was it never run federally, it was run as a 72 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: city prison farm uninterrupted from about nineteen twenty to the 73 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties, and doing considerable harm to those incarcerated throughout, 74 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: despite claims of reform made at every stage. Through the 75 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: gathering of old legal notices, old newspaper articles, letters from nurses, 76 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: legislative and inspection records, and oral histories of forgotten legacy 77 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: of torture, overcrowding, slave conditions quote unquote, the lack of healthcare, 78 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: labor strikes, death, and unmarked Popper's graves have slowly been 79 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: rediscovered through Atlanta's radical scene, and this just barely scratches 80 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,799 Speaker 1: the surface. As the Atlantic Community Press conducted their research 81 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: to conflicting surprises arose, one being that there was just 82 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: so much available historical documentation that seemingly very few people 83 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: had dug into and put together correctly in the past, 84 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: and two that there was so much information that was 85 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: just missing entirely, records that were either just missing, destroyed, misfiled, 86 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: or possibly were never kept in the first place. The 87 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: nature of this kind of archival research is pulling on 88 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: one question and then finding dozens more. With limited time 89 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: and resources, you can find yourself with more questions than 90 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: definitive answers. These episodes are meant to just be a 91 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: brief overview of the broad strokes of this history, while 92 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: also serving as a survey of the possible directions that 93 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: further research can take. Many people, including an individual on 94 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:34,239 Speaker 1: the Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee for the Atlanta Public Safety 95 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: Training Center a k a COP City, have advocated that 96 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: there must be responsible, in depth investigations into the history 97 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: of this land and many of its current physical attributes 98 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: before any further development could take place. Katherine Nichols already 99 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: laid the groundwork for such research in her thesis on 100 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: the Unmarked Graves and burial Grounds of the Brandon Indian 101 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: Residential school system and the history of what took place 102 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: during its operation. A three pronged approach includes archivalry research, 103 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: field research, and qualitative interviews with effective members of community. 104 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: This type of research will be discussed more in the 105 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: third episode. However, this research would take time, and with 106 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: construction and deforestation attempts proceeding at an increasing rate, the 107 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: opportunity to do further on the ground historical research is 108 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: quickly vanishing. The same policing institutions that caused so much 109 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: harm are increasingly trying to physically bulldoze away centuries of history. 110 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: We did not set out to write this report. We 111 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: did not We did not know literally when we started 112 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: writing this that the Wooten Report and the Save Weel 113 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: Atlanta prison Farm campaigns proved it incorrect history. We didn't 114 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: know there were two more than two, frankly, prison farms. 115 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: No one's wrong for not knowing about the But we've 116 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: emailed this to city Council repeatedly. Laura has Laura has 117 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: done amazing, tenacious work and just making sure that every 118 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: single government official involved in this project knows exactly what 119 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: kind of violence there perpetuating. The cops. City is bad 120 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: enough on its own, but when you have an accurate 121 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: historical understanding of not just what they are building, but 122 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: where they are building it, it's beyond the pale. It's 123 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: beyond belief. It's it's disgusting. They want to build this 124 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: and stolen indigenous plan. They want to build this on 125 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: a slave plantation? Are you kidding me? What were we 126 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: out in the streets for? What are people still out 127 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: in the streets for. I know they know what we're saying. 128 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: I know they know who we are. I know they're listening. 129 00:08:48,600 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: It's just disgusting. It's disgusting to me. Before we continue, 130 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the idea of history. 131 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: I think for a lot of people, especially white people, 132 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: are engagement with history is often so distant. We keep 133 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: ourselves othered conceptualizing history as some abstract narrative instead of 134 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: the direct flesh and blood we ourselves and our systemic 135 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: relations grew out of. History should be the tales and 136 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: songs of joy and sorrow and pain, generational wisdom and 137 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: trauma told by the people who lived it, not just 138 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: a list of names and the numerical record keeping of 139 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: the structures that caused ongoing suffering which still benefit from 140 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,720 Speaker 1: this abstraction. Preserving history for its own sake is all 141 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,599 Speaker 1: fine and good, but doing preservation with an explicit, ecological 142 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: and intersectional drive can be much more insightful, not to mention, 143 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: respectful for those who it literally happened to in the past. 144 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: This perspective argues for the preservation on the basis of 145 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: its material effects on people both past and present, and 146 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: to demonstrate the direct continuity of control of these structures 147 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,199 Speaker 1: over the people they affect and the repeating patterns of 148 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: rhetoric used to justify it. Similarly, Katherine Nichols points out 149 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: in her residential school thesis that it's essential to view 150 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: this type of history and these records within a full 151 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: living context. Obviously, a complete consideration of context is outside 152 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: the small scope of this podcast and could probably make 153 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: up multiple volumes of books. The time period will be 154 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 1: diving into, roughly the nineteen twenties to present day, has 155 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: been home to an unceasing trend of the criminalization of 156 00:10:54,200 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: many marginalized peoples, especially black, Indigenous, poor, disabled, and mentally 157 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: ill people, which will see demonstrated throughout the story told 158 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: here and on into the present. This criminalization of marginalized 159 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: people's coincides with institutions of power, engaging in what Lauren 160 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: Berland calls the slow death. The phrase slow death refers 161 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: to the physical wearing out of a population and the 162 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: deterioration of people in that population that is very nearly 163 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: a defining condition of their experience and historical existence. It's 164 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: like a mass phenomenon of material and metaphysical restriction that 165 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: typically already marginalized people face when living under capitalist or 166 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: authoritative governing structures. The slow death manifests by intentionally and 167 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:57,199 Speaker 1: repeatedly subjugating people to events and conditions known to contribute 168 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: to suffering, resulting in an early death of those deemed 169 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: less valuable by capital interests, sometimes even at their own expense, 170 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: other times for the sake of profit. All that gets 171 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: passed down through generations, with the corresponding generational trauma that 172 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: becomes a defining feature of personal and cultural identity. In 173 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: the case of the prison Farm, we see the slow 174 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: death and living history in many forms. A swastika found 175 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 1: in one of the bedrooms white inmates going on strike 176 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: shortly after the prison farm is racially integrated. Stokely Carmichael 177 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: is held at the farm for several days on the 178 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: charge of loitering at the height of the civil rights era. 179 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: After Martin Luther King's assassination, donkeys from the prison farm 180 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: pull his casket through town. Nurses beg for more tuberculosis 181 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: tests for overcrowded prisoners. Homeless alcoholics are repeatedly cycled in 182 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: and out of the system um All of these instances 183 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: are similar to others both at the time and now 184 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: in present today, and reflect the racial and class dynamics 185 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: at the heart of the constral system. These same socio 186 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: political forces continued to shape the social landscape of Atlanta, 187 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: whether that be through the criminalization of Atlanta's water boys, 188 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: black teenagers who sell ice cold drinks to motorists. We 189 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: also see it in the ongoing eviction and housing crisis, 190 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: the lack of resources in the midst of a pandemic, 191 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: the continued cycling of homeless people through the prison system 192 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: instead of providing humane housing, the squashing of anti state 193 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: protests but allowance of white supremacists and anti vax protests. 194 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: All these highlight the further need for this history to 195 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: be told by the people it affects, rather than the 196 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: institutions responsible, which are already seeking to take hold and 197 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: control the narratives rounding this piece of land and their 198 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: own history. The Police Foundation has announced its intention to 199 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:12,559 Speaker 1: build separate museums on the site, dedicated to police officers, firefighters, 200 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: and the labor prison that was once located there. The 201 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: museum idea has been framed as a concession to last 202 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: year's anti cops city call in campaigns, a concession that 203 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: will result in land being paved over and as sanitized, 204 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: police approved history to be built over top the offending 205 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: institutions like the Atlanta Police Department, the Atlanta Police Foundation, 206 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: City Council in the Mary's Office, and the media organizations 207 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: which support them try to pay lip service to the 208 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: atrocities of the past as quickly as possible while retaining 209 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: all the power and then bulldozing over the forgotten history 210 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: as well discuss vague gestures towards the harms of the 211 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: past without material accountabil for the harm done have been 212 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: used throughout the prison Farm's history to justify continued control 213 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: of physical and narrative space and is simply vapid virtue signaling. Now, 214 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: before we deep dive into the prison farm itself as 215 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: a part of the intent to place the history in 216 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: its full living context, it's necessary to state the land 217 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: the prison farm was built on was a thriving trade 218 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: hub for Native Americans throughout the continent. Every story that 219 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 1: takes place in quote unquote America has grown from genocide, colonialism, 220 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: broken treaties, and the division of interconnected land into individual 221 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: parcels for ownership. This is part of the history and 222 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: needs to be reckoned with and fully reconciled before anyone 223 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: can truly be free. That extensive history is outside the 224 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: scope of this episode, but we are trying to get 225 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: such topics discussed on this platform arm with more qualified people. 226 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: The most frequently cited history about this piece of land 227 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: is a historical analysis of the Atlanta Prison Farm by 228 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: Jillian Wootton of the City Planning Department, written in nine 229 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 1: In it, we are told that the Key Road property 230 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: was purchased in nineteen eighteen by the Bureau of Prisons 231 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: and the United States federal government. It was called the 232 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: Honor Farm, and federal prisoners grew crops and raised livestock 233 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: to feed the population of the nearby Federal Penitentiary. The 234 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: piece claims that the site operated until nineteen sixty five, 235 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: when it was then purchased by the Atlanta City government 236 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: and shut down soon after, at which point the history 237 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: becomes murky, as a single report of a labor strike 238 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: on the land seems to contradict claims of the nineteen 239 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: sixties closing. If you just google Old Lana Prison Bar, 240 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: there's two things that are going to come up. There's 241 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: a campaign called Save the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, and 242 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: this website tells you the story of how in the 243 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: early to mid twentieth century, the federal government operated a 244 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,919 Speaker 1: prison farm in Atlanta, and then sometime in the fifties, 245 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: the city of Atlanta took it over. And it links 246 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: to a document written in by a person named Gillian Luton, 247 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: who I think was probably doing the best she could 248 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: in given the difficulties we had in researching this. And 249 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,160 Speaker 1: what this commonly cited history, the Save the Oldlanta Prison 250 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: Farm campaign and this more official report written by Jillian 251 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: Luton tell you is again that sometime in the fifties 252 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: the city bought this prison farm territory. We found nothing 253 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,199 Speaker 1: to support that. If our initial question was where the 254 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,680 Speaker 1: graves where the body is buried, the question we ended 255 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: up asking was, well, when did the city take over 256 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: the prison farm from the federal government, and we kept 257 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: going back and back and back further into historical record 258 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: until we eventually got to around nineteen eleven, when the 259 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: city itself bought the property that would become Cops City 260 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: and operated their own prison farm. And long story short, 261 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: the conclusion we came to was the federal prison farm 262 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: was a completely separate property, a completely separate prison system. 263 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: And sometimes even though this prison farm really only shut 264 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: down sometime around the early nineteen nineties, and the course 265 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 1: of just a few decades, we've forgotten the story of 266 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: the people who were incarcerated there and the story of 267 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: the prison farm to the point where we don't even 268 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: understand that it was its own thing, which is it's 269 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: It just makes me angry, like every abuse possible you 270 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: can imagine happened at the prison farm and we can't 271 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 1: even we've just completed it with another prison. Horrible, horrible 272 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: things happened. Like that's how poor custodians have been of 273 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 1: this history. A lot of people don't know that there 274 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:21,400 Speaker 1: were actually three prison farms running all in Atlanta essentially 275 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: once technically technically two of them are in decap Um. 276 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: There was the U S Prison Farm Number one federally run. 277 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 1: That's the one that most people know now as an 278 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 1: apartment complex. Uh sorry, I don't remember it off the 279 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,439 Speaker 1: top of my head. Then there's number two, which is 280 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 1: what people know as the quote unquote on our farm 281 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: near Panthersville. Then we have the City of Atlanta prison Farm. 282 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: So there are three running at the exact same time, 283 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: all with that a fairly short distance from each other. 284 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: This isn't something that was unique to Georgia by any means, 285 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: but the history of it is largely ignored. Convict least 286 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:15,200 Speaker 1: labor was incredibly common. The Our Cave Atlanta Sorry, did 287 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: a podcast specifically on the convict least labor that was 288 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: done to build the Atlanta streets. Basically every street in 289 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: Atlanta was built by convict least labor, and a lot 290 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: of that labor came from the Atlanta Prison Farm as 291 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: well as some of the other prison farms around. There's 292 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:39,919 Speaker 1: also the Chattahoochee Brickworks Company that was recently turned into 293 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 1: a public park, and it was historically acknowledged by our mayor, 294 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:51,359 Speaker 1: Mayor Dickens for its horrific atrocities of slave labor or 295 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: building or creating these bricks at the company um where 296 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 1: many people died. So there's just this hypocrisy of hey, 297 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 1: we're using slave labor at this location and it is horrific, 298 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: and we are going to acknowledge that, and we are 299 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 1: going to put a plaque out there and do a 300 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: ribbon cutting ceremony and truly acknowledge this atrocity. Whereas here, 301 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: because they want the land, they're just going to cover 302 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,679 Speaker 1: it up and oh, hey, our acknowledgement from this is 303 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: we're going to utilize some marble library stones in our 304 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: capaganda entrance to the horse bearings. That's pretty much what 305 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: they're going to do. The Atlantic Community Press research found 306 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: that the Wooton History Report actually conflates three different properties. 307 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: Property number one a prison farm on the property of 308 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,639 Speaker 1: the Federal Penitentiary where the penitentiary still exists today. Another 309 00:21:55,680 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: property number two was a second prison farm on Panthersville 310 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: that was purchased from farmers in nineteen twenty and was 311 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: used to supplement the production of the first Federal prison farm. 312 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: But the third property, and the one that we're focused 313 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: on here today, is the one on Key Road in 314 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: unincorporated Decab County. This one was only ever owned and 315 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,400 Speaker 1: operated by the city government and was used to produce 316 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: food for city prisons. It operated from up until the 317 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: early nineties before shutting down and being abandoned and then 318 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,480 Speaker 1: used as a dumping ground for the city until now 319 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: where they have plans to turn it into a militarized 320 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: police training facility. After serving as a slave plantation, the 321 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: Key Road property operated as a municipal dairy farm, but 322 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: accusations that the farm was losing the city money, coupled 323 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: with the ongoing scandals at the city jail stockade in Glenwood, 324 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: opened up debates within the city government ranging from nineteen 325 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: fifteen to nineteen twenty, about closing the old stockade and 326 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: moving prisoners to the municipal dairy farm. The stockade was 327 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:13,479 Speaker 1: overcrowded and unprofitable, and expanding it would cost the city 328 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: too much money. Meanwhile, the area it was in was 329 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: developing quickly and quote filling up with small property owners 330 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: and the presence of the stock aide is an hindrance 331 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: to further development unquote. They proposed building a park, or 332 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 1: a golf course, or school or all three on the 333 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: land to cater to new residents. Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Prisons, T. B. Langford, 334 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: who had also inexplicably be put in control of the 335 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 1: municipal dairy in nineteen eighteen, was the subject of a 336 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty Atlantic Constitution piece that examined Atlanta Humane Society 337 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: claims of women's stockade prisoners being tied to a chair 338 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 1: known as the bucking chair and with a strap for disobedience. 339 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: He at first denied these claims, saying that white women 340 00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: at the stock aid were never whipped to his knowledge 341 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: and quote Negro women only seldom so unquote. An investigation 342 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 1: apparently disproved this, and he was ordered to stop the 343 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: corporal punishment, which he argued was both good and necessary, 344 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: and should not be stopped because changing the course would 345 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: be an admission of having done something wrong. He argued 346 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: that workshy prisoners would need to be motivated somehow, so 347 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,959 Speaker 1: by the end of January nineteen twenty, Atlantic City Council 348 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,920 Speaker 1: passed a law banning whippings and offering a new form 349 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: of punishment instead, quote solitary confinement on a diet of 350 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: bread and water unquote. Complaints of the stock aide losing 351 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: money continue nude into April nine and T. B. Langford 352 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: suggested moving the whole operation to the dairy farm, which 353 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: he also controlled. Conveniently, prohibition had started earlier that year, 354 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 1: so it was suggested that the city couldn't save a 355 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: lot of money by making a new influx of prisoners 356 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: work this city dairy. Moving prisoners to the dairy farm 357 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: had one problem. It was not legal to build prison 358 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: facilities on land outside city limits, and the Key Road 359 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: property was located in unincorporated De Capp County despite being 360 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: owned by the City of Atlanta. This problem was easily 361 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: solved by city council, who simply passed a bill making 362 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: it legal to build city prison facilities on land outside 363 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:51,159 Speaker 1: the city, even outside of Fulton County. By November, the 364 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: proposal to close this cockade and move the prisoners to 365 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: the dairy farm was agreed upon, and from that point forward, 366 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,919 Speaker 1: the Key Road Municipal Dairy Farm became the Atlanta City 367 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: Prison and Dairy Farm, later simplified to the Atlantic City 368 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:12,920 Speaker 1: Prison Farm. Council members were being praised for bringing in 369 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: the quote largest number of prisoners at any one time 370 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: in the past ten years, saving the city twenty dollars 371 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: a day on the cost of feeding prisoners and increasing 372 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: dairy production by two hundred and fifty gallons a week unquote. 373 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: It was seen as a win win win for the 374 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,199 Speaker 1: new property owners, city government, and police, but it was 375 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,439 Speaker 1: a huge loss for the most vulnerable citizens of the 376 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: city and for the residents of the surrounding Decab County 377 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 1: area who had no way of consenting to this deal, 378 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: just like how modern day Decab County residents have no 379 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:54,360 Speaker 1: say whatsoever in Atlanta's goals of building a militarized police 380 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: training compound with a gun range and explosives testing section 381 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: in what would formerly be there forested backyard, I mean 382 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,679 Speaker 1: building cops city. Here is just a continuation of the 383 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,399 Speaker 1: violence that has been done to this land since the 384 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,199 Speaker 1: earliest since time and memorial like this was. This was 385 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: first of all, this was stolen Muskogee land. Then it 386 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,480 Speaker 1: was a plantation. Then it was a prison farm, which 387 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: is just an extension of being a plantation. When it 388 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: stopped being a prison farm and just started being mostly 389 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,399 Speaker 1: a prison, horrible horrible things were done to people and 390 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: the solitary confinement cells. This mostly happened in the eighties. 391 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 1: Then we the prison and the farming stopped. It just 392 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: became a commercial dumping ground in an area of the 393 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: city that already has some of the worst water quality 394 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: and air quality standards in the whole metro area. UM, 395 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: the South River Forest Coalition and the South River Watershed 396 00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:00,919 Speaker 1: Alliance are the best sources for that. UM. But this 397 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: was stolen land from the at the start, the start, 398 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: the story was stolen land. And then ok, I guess 399 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: the last historical record is social and environmental injustice. And 400 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: now you want to give it to the police in 401 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: this day and age, I guess you could say, like 402 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:33,680 Speaker 1: it's just compounding violence upon violence upon violence. Okay, now 403 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: it's time for the update that I promised on the 404 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: Week of Action that recently took place in Atlanta. So 405 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: near the end of this past July, from the there 406 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: was another week of Action as a part of the 407 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: movement to defend the Atlanta Forest and stop cop City. 408 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: Before things even kicked off, Ryan Millsap of Black Hole 409 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,960 Speaker 1: Movie Studios, just days before the July Week of Action, 410 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: put up concrete barricades around the section of forest that 411 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: currently operates as a public park that protests had previously 412 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: gathered in. He later made an appearance alongside some bulldozers 413 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: in Entrenchment Creek Park where then said bulldozers seemingly accidentally 414 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 1: question Mark damaged a park gazebo. So great work, Ryan. 415 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: We just wrapped up our week of action. Obviously, we 416 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: did a whole bunch of really awesome events, UM writer's workshops, 417 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: we had multiple music festivals, daily A meetings, medic trainings, 418 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: we did an arcan training and distribution daily meals. I personally, 419 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: UM had the fortune to attend to talk by John 420 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: Lash who was incarcerated at what is now called Metro 421 00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: Reentry Center, but at the time was called Metro State Prison, 422 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: which just across the street UM from the south end 423 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:06,160 Speaker 1: of the child prison that's on the south end of 424 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: the prison farm property. This was the most well attended 425 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: week of action there has been so far, especially on 426 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: the first Saturday with the first music festival, like as 427 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: some as folks were leaving, like people not at all 428 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: affiliated with the forest movement beforehand, or like heard about 429 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,760 Speaker 1: the music like the school music festival in the woods. 430 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: They were brought in by the music festival, But then 431 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: we were able to educate them on the fight to 432 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,040 Speaker 1: defend this forest in their neighborhood, which is like that 433 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: is the goal. That was an amazing experience. There were 434 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: three different instances of arrests during this most recent week 435 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: of action. On July, in Cobb County, on the north 436 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: end of the Metro Atlanta area, four people were arrested 437 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: at a noise demo outside of a contractor's residence. Police 438 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: scanner audio has cops discussed thing charges for the people 439 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: who were standing outside on public property to include criminal trespass, 440 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: and also discussed was quote with the eco terrorists happening 441 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 1: in the county, possible domestic terrorist charges unquote, it will 442 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: be a criminal trespasses that will be wrong with the 443 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:27,600 Speaker 1: eco terrorists and happened in the county. Domestic terrorism as well, 444 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: possible domestic terrorism as well. It will be negative onomestic terrorism. 445 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: That last cop they're called a negative on domestic terrorism. 446 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: This was not the first instance of law enforcement referring 447 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: to defend the Atlanta Forest protesters as eco terrorists. On July, 448 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: six people were arrested near the ruins of the old 449 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: prison Farm for criminal trespassing, seemingly just for hanging out 450 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: in the prison Farm area, which has been a well 451 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: known urban exploration hangout spot for decades. These people were 452 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: just taken to jail for being there. In the bail hearing, 453 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: the judge said that he didn't even know why they 454 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: got arrested. They were soon released with signature bonds for 455 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: all and then on Friday, July seven, people were arrested 456 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: at a noise demo at a brass Field and Gory 457 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: construction site. Currently, Brassfield and Gory is the lead contractor 458 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: for the Cops City project. The site was on Georgia 459 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: State University property. The Atlanta Police Department responded as well. 460 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: Unicorn riot footage shows people making a loop through the 461 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: building and chanting before a construction worker aggressively shoves one 462 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: protester out of the doorway. Here's some police scanner audio 463 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:56,719 Speaker 1: Unit three. They're saying that no one's in the building 464 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: now protest wise, but they were inside the building, so 465 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: they all need to be ide. Can you advise on 466 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: a number frost with me fifteen O seven ahead. If 467 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: you still got eyes on the people walking away, can 468 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 1: you snap some pictures. I'm on the way up there 469 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,720 Speaker 1: in case they're calmed before mirror inside the building. So 470 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: I mean that's that's around for ct so we can 471 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: stop just taking pictures you and the three. That's affirmative, 472 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: but we can stop into saying please coffee APT Homeland 473 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: and Zone three is in a route to provide support 474 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: of that location. Coming up on the location now. Atlanta 475 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: police stated that no property damage was done beyond a 476 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: bucket being kicked, and yet seven people are facing a 477 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: slate of felony charges. Yeah, the major says homelands en route. 478 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: So no property destruction, nobody assaulted, nothing, that was the problem. 479 00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 1: They walked back in dead, Thank you, sir. One person 480 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: was hospitalized due to broken ribs sustained during their arrest. 481 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 1: For the first nine hours after the arrests, police refused 482 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: to give jail support, the location or contact info for 483 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: where the arrestees were being sent. The following Tuesday night, 484 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 1: everyone was finally released on posted bond and with that 485 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: that wraps up part one of the three part series 486 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,080 Speaker 1: for the history of the Old Atlanta prison Farm. Before 487 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,759 Speaker 1: I close out, I do want to plug the Atlanta 488 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: Solidarity Fund at a t L solidarity dot org that 489 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: helps protesters with bail and legal stuff, So donate to 490 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 1: that if you have the means. Also in the description, 491 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to leave that link. Also the link for 492 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: the Atlantic Community Press History report that they published last 493 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: year that will also be in the disc option below. 494 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,800 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Check out Atlantic Community Press on Twitter 495 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 1: or the website. See you on the other side. It 496 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 497 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 498 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: cool zone media dot com or check us out on 499 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,239 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 500 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It could 501 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,080 Speaker 1: Happen Here, updated monthly at cool zone media dot com 502 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: slash sources. Thanks for listening.