Why local protesters blocked a Buckhead intersection

‘The attempts to intimidate, discredit, or threaten us only make our movement stronger’

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  • Eric Cash/CL File
  • Eight protesters connected to each other via lockboxes and laid down in a circle in the middle of Lenox and Peachtree roads.

‘’Around 3 p.m. last Saturday, several-dozen protesters ran into the crowded intersection at Lenox and Peachtree roads and peacefully shut down traffic for more than 90 minutes. The demonstration, which took place near two major Atlanta malls on one of the year’s busiest holiday shopping days, received national attention and drew the ire of Buckhead-bound Christmas shoppers. Atlanta Police arrested 13 protesters on charges related to unlawful assembly.
Local advocacy group Rise Up Georgia, the group responsible for organizing the protest, has issued a statement explaining its motives for last weekend’s protest. The group’s leaders also criticized local law enforcement’s unfair treatment of the arrested protesters as well as the recent killing of two New York police officers. CL has also reached out to both Atlanta Police and Fulton County Jail officials for comment. If we hear back from either organization, we’ll post an update.

On Saturday, December 20, Rise Up Georgia and our allies participated in a peaceful, non-violent direct action, blocking traffic at the corner of Peachtree Rd & Lenox Rd in Atlanta. 13 people were arrested and charged with obstructing a highway, pedestrian in the roadway, and unlawful assembly as a result.

The action was part of nationwide protests and popular resistance taking place in the wake of the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and John Crawford III, within a span of four weeks this summer, and the subsequent failure on the part of the judicial system to hold any of the officers responsible for their killings accountable. These deaths are just the tip of the iceberg— every day, people of color, including women, queer, and trans people of color, experience violence at the hands of the police that goes unreported and unnoticed. We are fed up, and have declared that the militarization of police has led to the destruction of public safety in black communities. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson, New York, and those fighting for justice across the country, but the significance of the south to this movement is not lost on us.

We chose the location of our action based on its proximity to Lenox Square Mall and Phipps Plaza, two of the region’s busiest shopping destinations. Georgia’s brutal history of slavery reminds us that our state’s wealth was built on the backs of black men, women, and children, and despite the progress that has been made, it is this very history that continues to devalue black and brown bodies. The plantations of the past have been replaced by big corporations, who squeeze wages out of workers and use their wealth to dominate the political system. “Black Codes” and “Jim Crow” laws have been been replaced by the “War on Drugs” and “Quality of Life” policing, which continue to criminalize our communities and fill our prisons with people of color. Our action yesterday took place just a few miles from the location of the 1906 race riots in Atlanta, one of the most brutal massacres of black life in the 20th century. Between 25-40 black people were murdered, though the exact number remains unknown since only 10 death certificates were issued by the city— a declaration that in life or death, black lives were not even worth keeping track of.

We also recognize that this is not the only history that exists in our city. In the 1960s, hundreds of students with Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) participated in lunch counter sit -ins at the Rich’s downtown and locations across the city. These acts of non-violent civil disobedience were designed to disrupt commerce, shake up the status quo, and force the people of Atlanta to recognize and face the struggles experienced by African Americans in the city. There were undoubtedly many who felt inconvenienced by those actions, or encouraged the students to take a less disruptive approach, but such actions didn’t relent until changes were made. Indeed, the actions that proved most effective in actually creating change, were precisely of that more disruptive ilk.

It is in this same spirit of non-violent resistance that we took action on Saturday. We recognize now, as they did then, that in order to change the system we must shine a spotlight that cannot be ignored— one that challenges the status quo, and threatens the pocketbooks of the powerful. As holiday shoppers bought gifts for their loved ones this weekend, we remembered the families who will be without their sons and daughters for Christmas this year. We chose to sacrifice our freedom and safety so that for 90 minutes, shoppers were forced to question to value of black life, instead of spending money to line the pockets of corporations. As we laid in the street, we declared that all black lives matter, including black women’s lives, black queer lives, and black trans lives. On our arms, we displayed the names of some of those killed— Tamir, Oscar, Aiyana, John III, Kathryn, Tarika, Kendrick, Rekia, and Ervin— though sadly, we recognize that there are many, many more. We remained entirely non-violent and peaceful throughout, despite the violent reactions we received by some bystanders, including attempts drivers made to run over, or otherwise physically harm participants.

Shortly after the arrests, we were informed of the senseless murder of two NYPD officers in New York. We want to stress that we do not condone those murders and that the acts of the person who committed them are not a result of the movement we are fighting for. Our fight is not with the police, but with systemic racism and institutions that devalue the lives of our people. When we declare that “black lives matter”, we are demanding that the value of black life be recognized alongside the lives of all others in this country— including police officers. Our hearts are with the officer’s families, who will also be without their loved ones for the holidays, a pain that too many in communities of color are familiar with and that we don’t wish upon anyone.

For those of us who were arrested, we were disappointed in the city’s treatment, and certain law enforcement officers’ attempts to scare and intimidate us. We were held at the zone 2 police station for over four hours, handcuffed in zip ties, causing injuries to wrists and shoulders. We were denied access to make phone calls, while members of our group were singled out and interrogated by officers, in an attempt to intimidate them and gather information without due process. Our charges, which began as minor municipal violations, were suddenly, and without explanation, multiplied and changed to more serious state violations, and we were not told what we were charged with until we were booked at the Fulton County Jail, well after midnight. When we were finally transported, the officers divided us into groups of men and women without taking into consideration gender preferences within our group.

Once we were at the jail, we were held for an excessive amount of time after our bond had been paid, while our loved ones, waiting for our release, were refused access to jail property. Deputies specifically stated that they were directed not to allow our loved ones in, even to use the restroom, or to ask for information, rights normally granted to any member of the public, because they were identified as “protesters.” Inside the jail, we were confronted with the harsh reality of the very racist criminal justice system we were rallying against. Almost all of the other inmates we came in contact with were black. As we waited for hours in cramped and cold cells, some shared their stories of profiling, harassment, abuse, or wrongful arrest at the hands of the police. They worried about loved ones who didn’t know they had been arrested, children left home alone, losing their jobs, or whether they could afford to get out. We witnessed the dehumanizing, unjust, and in some cases illegal treatment of inmates by police and guards at the jail. As protesters, we knew we had supporters outside rallying the media, raising money, and waiting for our release. Sadly, those same luxuries are not provided to those who are incarcerated every day in our state, and instead what’s often left are broken communities and families devastated by the cycle of criminalization that’s almost impossible to break.

Atlanta’s legacy as the cradle of the civil rights movement is in part what inspired us to take action on Saturday, and our experience in the process is what inspires us to continue. The attempts to intimidate, discredit, or threaten us only make our movement stronger. It’s up to the people of our city to decide now, as they did before, which side of history they wish to be on.’’