Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Smash Kop City Atlanta: A Hub In The National White Supremacist Bulwark for White Minority Rule
Efia Nwangaza
01 Nov 2023
STOP COP CITY

Atlanta's proposed Cop City project is just the latest iteration of militarized policing which enables state repression.

The proposed Atlanta Cop City uber police militarization training base and headquarters is a reincarnation of antebellum South Carolina's Citadel, 1842. The Citadel traces its origins to an arsenal constructed by the state of South Carolina to defend white Charlestonians against possible slave uprisings following Denmark Vesey's thwarted rebellion of 1822 which was preceded by the Stono Rebellion and Haitian Revolution.

Originally the Citadel consisted of the Citadel Academy in Charleston and the Arsenal Academy in Columbia. The Arsenal was burned by General Sherman's forces during the U.S. Civil War and never reopened. But the Citadel Academy, occupied by Union troops in 1865, was reopened in 1882 with military training. Today its graduates cover the planet and like the U.S. Military major contribute to war, environmental pollution, and climate change.

From its inception, the United States of America is an ongoing criminal enterprise built with stolen labor on stolen land. To ensure control of the land and labor force, it was and continues to be held together and run with full spectrum dominance, from coercion to terror and murder.

Despite democratic rhetoric, appearances, and pretensions, the U.S. is a classic colonial, racialized, and patriarchal authoritarian police state. The U.S. Constitution, a commercial pact with the ruling class, secured by the Electoral College, insures smooth operation, protection and promotion of white power and commercial interests.

Cop City is designed to join Michigan's Camp Grayling, founded in 1913 when local lumber baron, Rasmus Hanson, donated over 13,000 acres to the State of Michigan for military training. Camp Grayling has since grown to 147,000 acres that spans over three counties of maneuver area, state-of-the-art ranges, and modern support facilities, making it the largest National Guard training center in the country.

Camp Grayling is a premier, world class “Joint Maneuver Training Center.” It is a leader in providing efficient, unparalleled customer-focused service and the highest level of modern training. Support resources are scheduled year-round to provide a wide range of high-quality training service members, emergency responders and private-sector customers worldwide. Training sites have unique combinations of resources that provide a wide variety of training scenarios to meet unit readiness requirements. Large artillery, mortar, tank ranges and maneuver courses are among the highlights of Camp Grayling.

Atlanta's Kop City is a harbinger of far more than destruction of the forest, will of the people be damned, even a militarized police training center and headquarters, it is an esculation of the war on the people and the planet. #ShutKopCityDown #SmashKapitalism

Efia Nwangaza is a South Carolina based attorney. She is Director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination and Founder and Coordinator of WMXP-LP Radio. She is also a member of the Black Belt Human Rights Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, a veteran of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and a proud daughter of Garveyites. 

Stop Cop City

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Rise of Militarized Policing in Response to Black Dissent
08 May 2024
The United States continues to grow the police state to serve as a bulwark of counterinsurgency.
BAP Atlanta Says Free Them All!
Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta City-Wide Alliance
BAP Atlanta Says Free Them All!
20 September 2023
The state of Georgia has doubled down on criminalizing protest against the Cop City militarized policing project.
A Justice System That Is Not Fair and Just For Everyone Is Not Fair and Just For Anyone
Jacqueline Luqman
A Justice System That Is Not Fair and Just For Everyone Is Not Fair and Just For Anyone
13 September 2023
A Black Proud Boy gets the Black people treatment in court, Stop Cop City activists are punished for supporting the Atlanta Black community, an
Georgia Attorney General Brings RICO Indictments Against 61 Activists
Atlanta Community Press Collective
Georgia Attorney General Brings RICO Indictments Against 61 Activists
06 September 2023
The state of Georgia is using the RICO organized crime statute to crush Stop Cop City protests.
11th Circuit Court Issues Stay in Favor of Atlanta in "Cop City" Referendum Case
Dyana Bagby
11th Circuit Court Issues Stay in Favor of Atlanta in "Cop City" Referendum Case
06 September 2023
The petition process to put Cop City on the ballot in Atlanta continues, despite Atlanta public officials' insistence on building a so-called p
Atlanta’s Appeal of ‘Stop Cop City’ Referendum Denied as Petition Nears 80,000 Signatures
Dyana Bagby
Atlanta’s Appeal of ‘Stop Cop City’ Referendum Denied as Petition Nears 80,000 Signatures
16 August 2023
The grassroots movement to put a Cop City referendum on the ballot came closer to becoming a reality when a federal judge denied the city of At
State Repression Targets the Stop Cop City Movement
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
State Repression Targets the Stop Cop City Movement
07 June 2023
Cop City is an effort to ensure that state violence will bring the most draconian methods to bear against Black people.
Abolish the GILEE Program and Stop Cop City: A Statement From the Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta Citywide Alliance
Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta City-Wide Alliance
Abolish the GILEE Program and Stop Cop City: A Statement From the Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta Citywide Alliance
24 May 2023
The purpose of U.S.
This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City
Micah Herskind
This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City
10 May 2023
Cop City is the culmination of years of "Atlanta Way" neo-liberalism intended to advantage corporate interests and affluent white people.

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LETTER: Thank you, Mr. Howe, Ama Ata Aidoo, 1967
    07 May 2025
    Ama Ata Aidoo lands a knock-out blow to white neocolonial anti-African revisionism.
  • Jon Jeter
    The Only Language the White Settler Speaks: Ohio Police Say Grieving Black Father Avenges Son’s Slaying By Killing One of Theirs
    07 May 2025
    The killing of Timothy Thomas in 2001 ignited Cincinnati’s long-simmering tensions over police violence. This struggle continues today, forcing a painful question: When justice is denied, does…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
    07 May 2025
    "DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brittany Friedman’s Book, “Carceral Apartheid”
    07 May 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Brittany Friedman. Friedman is assistant professor of sociology at the University of…
  • Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Black Politics and Mutual Comradeship: A Manifesto
    07 May 2025
    From Gaza to Sudan to the streets of America, the oppressors of our time demand mass resistance. Not just protest, but an organized, unrelenting struggle. Black radical politics remind us that only…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us