The Fight to Stop ‘Cop City’
Atlanta is a unicorn. A predominantly Black city with among the highest percentage of tree canopy of any major U.S. metropolis, the Georgia capital earns its nickname: the City in a Forest.
But some of that greenery is now being threatened after the Atlanta City Council approved a $90 million complex for police and fire officials to be built on 85 acres of Atlanta forest land. The proposed center would be outfitted with a shooting range and a mock city to use for training—a nightmare for activists and organizers who have long been advocating for environmental justice and the need to eradicate racist policing. A group of protesters known broadly as forest defenders have since been camping out in the woods, hoping to stop what they call “Cop City.”