The state of Georgia has doubled down on criminalizing protest against the Cop City militarized policing project. Domestic terrorism charges and a statute meant for organized crime prosecution are being used to silence Stop Cop City activists.
Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.
Statement on Cop City Indictments
On September 5th, 2023, Georgia's Attorney General Chris Carr issued RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) indictments against 61 individuals who they allege to be part of a “criminal” conspiracy related to the Stop Cop City Movement. Many of those indicted face concurring charges related to domestic terrorism or money laundering.
At the core, these charges are both fraudulent and tyrannical. In the indictment, these charges were indicated as beginning on May 25, 2020 – the day George Floyd was murdered. How can that be anything but a warning shot to not only local Atlantans, but to everybody across the country fighting against police and state terror. Our history tells us that the State, when threatened, will drop all pretense of “rule of law” in order to crush resistance. Our current moment tells us this.
Compared to two years ago, the Stop Cop City Movement has spread far and wide into a burgeoning popular mass movement, no longer confined to the city limits of Atlanta, and our fire is getting bigger and they are doing everything to snuff it out! We must be vigilant if we are to stand against these tried-and-true methods of oppressions. We must be determined in freeing all of the political prisoners created from this struggle.
And we won’t let anyone off the hook. Reports are saying that the same grand jury used to indict Donald Trump was also used to indict these activists. While we are not distracted by the Trump Trials, this context must be investigated. Therefore one must ask what level of collusion was there between Fani Willis, the Fulton County DA, State AG Carr, and of course the City of Atlanta? Grand juries are selected by prosecutors to virtually guarantee indictments. This must mean the Fulton County DA and State AG agreed to use the same group of people to rubber stamp both the Trump indictments (indicted under the same Georgia RICO statute) and these Cop City indictments.
We will not be distracted from what's happening in front of our eyes. It wasn’t just the Georgia State Patrol who carried out the extrajudicial murder of Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran in the Weelaunee Forest this past January, a murder they continue to cover up in these very indictments! And we can’t forget the City of Atlanta with Mayor Andre Dickens at the helm, spending the better part of his summer trying to sink a constitutional and legal referendum against Cop City with bogus legal challenges, leveraging some of the same legal tactics he slams his Republican opponents for!
The soldiers of the pan-European, patriarchal white supremacist system are in a United Front against Us, the People. It is imperative now more than ever that we strengthen our United Front against them.
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BAP Atlanta demands that all charges against Stop Cop City protestors are dropped,
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BAP Atlanta demands that the Mayor Andre Dickens resign and the City of Atlanta cancel the Cop City lease,
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BAP Atlanta demands that all political prisoners incarcerated in the state of Georgia be pardoned and released. FREE THEM ALL!
No Compromise, No Retreat!
BAP-Atlanta
bapatl@blackallianceforpeace.com
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Dr. Jemima Pierre is a Black Agenda Report editor and contributor.
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