What’s next in the battle over Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’?

On Tuesday, January 31 at 19:30 GMT:
Public opposition to a proposed police coaching centre close to the US metropolis of Atlanta is rising, as individuals demand solutions concerning the police killing of an environmental rights activist on the deliberate web site.

Group and environmental activists have for months sought to dam building of what they name ‘Cop Metropolis’. The $90m facility will sit on 85 acres of land inside the South River forest in Atlanta’s unincorporated DeKalb county.

The long-running dispute over the centre made nationwide and worldwide headlines after police shot lifeless environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán (often called “Tortuguita”) whereas attempting to clear the location of forest defenders on January 18. A state trooper was additionally shot and injured within the incident, which is now the topic of an unbiased investigation. Activists from throughout the US have in latest days travelled to Atlanta to  be part of protests.

The Atlanta Police Basis, the company spearheading the centre, says the power will “set a nationwide normal for group engagement, neighborhood sensitivity and devotion to the civil rights of all residents by regulation enforcement”, and also will “welcome the group to its public areas”. Main firms together with Wells Fargo and Delta Airways are invested within the undertaking, however individuals dwelling within the instant proximity of the forest say it’s going forward regardless of a transparent majority of public opposition.

Area people leaders are sad that the centre will probably be constructed on land that town council initially put aside for a public park, and social justice activists say the choice to construct the centre subsequent to majority Black neighbourhoods is an insult to individuals in marginalised communities who’ve confronted police brutality and aggression. Environmental teams who’re towards the coaching centre say the South River forest is a key a part of Atlanta’s tree cover that stops stormwater flooding.

On this episode of The Stream, we’ll have a look at opposition to “Cop Metropolis” and ask what might occur subsequent.

On this episode of The Stream, we’re joined by:
Kamau Franklin, @kamaufranklin
Government Director, Group Motion Builders
communitymovementbuilders.org

Jacqueline Echols, @SouthRiverGA
Co-founder, South River Watershed Alliance
southriverga.org

Anna Kook, @annakook
Discipline Producer, AJ+
annakook.com