Leaders discuss Cop City: a proposed combat training center open to police forces worldwide

Watch the video: Atlanta leaders meet virtually to express concerns, and reveal interesting facts about the contentious project.

Apr 12, 2023

I don’t “report” on events often, but I think the Cop City issue is important and possibly misunderstood. The virtual town hall meeting I watched on Twitter last night while scarfing down a bowl of shredded wheat was compelling and illuminating, and I wanted to share it with you.

Last night Atlanta activists and journalists met to discuss the proposed militarized police training facility known as Cop City. The panel included Rev. Keyanna Jones with Community Movement Builders, Atlanta Journalist George Chidi, President of NAACP Georgia and attorney Gerald Griggs, and Kyle Bibby with Color of Change.

While the virtual Twitter and Youtube meeting didn’t attract many viewers, there were plenty of compelling arguments from our leaders to stop the contentious project. I learned a lot. For one, did you know that Cop City isn’t just for the APD? Police forces from other states and countries can pay to use the facility. The full weight of that idea hadn’t really hit me until last night. We would endure a constant presence of cops from around the world training for military combat. Such an image reminded me that Atlanta is the most surveilled city in the United States. Both points somehow feel related.

Here are a few quick facts from the meeting:

Cop City’s funding is dependent on and primarily comes from corporations like Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and Wells Fargo. You can sign the petition created by Color of Change to tell corporations: Stop Funding Cop City (I signed it this morning).
A recent Emory poll reveals that Atlanta is split on the issue. However, there are questions about the poll’s reach and demographic.
Cop City would be an international combat base, with 60% of participants coming from police forces around the country and the world. Cop City would then be a revenue-generating facility. Where does that money go? I’m guessing not to build community centers.

Stop Cop City | An MIP and Community First Solutions Town Hall: You can watch the full video on Twitter or Youtube. I also made a 2-minute supercut you can watch on TikTok and below.

My question is, if militarized police forces are training for combat, who, exactly, are their enemy combatants? I don't know about you, but if I just learned how to play the piano, I would want to test out my skills for a crowd.

@jasondotgov I encourage you to watch the full video as there is a lot of nuance to this issue that cannot be explained in a 2 min video. #stopcopcity #copcity

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