Beaten, Bombed, and Buried: the Decade-Long Persecution of Forest Defenders

Funded by taxpayer dollars and the Atlanta Police Foundation, some of Atlanta’s last forest canopy would be cut down and replaced by Cop City. During the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War, this area was a dairy farm and later the Old Atlanta Prison Farm. From 1920 to 1989, prisoners endured brutal conditions and lynchings there while they raised food for Atlanta’s other prisons. Cop City was initially given a green light by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms. This was despite a 70% disapproval rating by the general public; and many think this project and the extreme reaction to protests against it are a perverse police reaction to counter the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements which took root after the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020.  More

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