Despite the organized opposition of the people of Atlanta on the construction of Cop City, on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, the Atlanta City Council approved its construction and funding. 

From the rampant racial capitalism and global militarism suffocating and oppressing our people in Atlanta, Georgia, to the environmental destruction and suppression of revolutionaries, Cop City is a microcosm of the struggles progressives face today. For these reasons and the ones listed below, the GPAM vehemently opposes Cop City’s construction:

• Cop City is a multi-million dollar project spearheaded by the Atlanta Police Foundation, a dark money funded non-profit, which continues to raise funds to support the militarization of the Atlanta Police, increase surveillance in what is already the most surveilled city in the US, and is currently furthering the gentrification of Atlanta.

• Cop City will destroy almost 90 acres of forest land, which has been the treasured lands of the Muscogee Creek People, prior to the walk of tears. It has since hosted a dairy slave plantation, and a prison dairy farm, which currently continues to incarcerate underage persons.
  • Cop City will result in the destruction of the “Lungs of Atlanta”, which includes a canopy of trees that currently removes approximately 19 pounds of air pollutants yearly from the city, reduces urban heat island effects, and reduces stormwater runoff to the surrounding communities.

• Cop City will continue to damage the South River Watershed, which is the headwater of the largest freshwater system, leads to the state’s largest river and eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Cop City was planned and approved despite being part of the Atlanta City Plan of 2017, which identified specific lands as a conservation corridor intended to be a public greenspace, allowing educational opportunities for the residents.
  • The Atlanta Regional Commission released a report in February 2023 which refers back to the 2017 city plan and recommends the forest be saved as a public greenspace.

• Cop City’s approval was against the voiced concerns of the residents of Atlanta. Prior to the city council’s vote on the facility, over 700 residents spoke out during public comment against the facility.

The state of Georgia is currently unjustly holding dozens of activists opposing the construction of Cop City, without bond and under false allegations of domestic terrorism. The police state of Georgia executed Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, “Tortuguita” the forest defender with 57 bullets while he sat unarmed in a tent with his hands up.

The Global Pan African Movement, North America recognizes that increasing policing does not decrease crime and police training does not positively impact racist police violence. Further the destruction of one of only two urban forests still in existence in the US will only serve to damage the environment of Atlanta, further poisoning the air and the water in a community for which the majority of residents are descendants of Africa.

Finally, the #StopCopCity movement has stood against the building of this facility and seeks the support of organizations interested in improving the material conditions of all African descendants around the diaspora. GPAM stands with the #StopCopCity movement against the building of this facility.