I’m not sure why we should be so against “cop city,” especially in a social justice sense. It seems that a facility to train police better would serve us all.
The issue is Cop City is not designed to encourage more just policing. but rather an even more militarized policing model than the one we are trying to move away from. It features bomb testing sites, dozens of shooting ranges, tear gas deployment facilities, and a Black Hawk helicopter pad, a training ground for urban warfare and warrior-mindset cops rather than guardian-mindset cops. It was proposed in the wake of the George Floyd protests, and racial justice activists in Atlanta are concerned it's essentially Atlanta's answer to those protests, that they will be criminalized rather than heard. The excessive charges and force used against Cop City opponents have, naturally enough, worsened those concerns.
In addition, supporters intend to level a rare urban green space to build the project, and the majority-Black neighborhood around it is resoundingly opposed to the idea.
I’m not sure why we should be so against “cop city,” especially in a social justice sense. It seems that a facility to train police better would serve us all.
Perfectly reasonable question!
The issue is Cop City is not designed to encourage more just policing. but rather an even more militarized policing model than the one we are trying to move away from. It features bomb testing sites, dozens of shooting ranges, tear gas deployment facilities, and a Black Hawk helicopter pad, a training ground for urban warfare and warrior-mindset cops rather than guardian-mindset cops. It was proposed in the wake of the George Floyd protests, and racial justice activists in Atlanta are concerned it's essentially Atlanta's answer to those protests, that they will be criminalized rather than heard. The excessive charges and force used against Cop City opponents have, naturally enough, worsened those concerns.
In addition, supporters intend to level a rare urban green space to build the project, and the majority-Black neighborhood around it is resoundingly opposed to the idea.