Atlanta, GA – On Saturday, February 22, over 40 organizations and vendors came together for Community Connect Fest in the West End. Hundreds of community members kept the venue full throughout the time of the event. Attendees got to meet and learn about dozens of the organizations working to make a difference around Atlanta. 

The event, organized by the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, aimed to connect fighting organizations to people who want to get involved. 

“Our movements are important in giving the people a voice. We’re expecting more attacks on working and oppressed people in the coming years. We have to be organized to fight back against these attacks and the Trump agenda,” said emcee David Jones. 

Participants had the opportunity to learn about various organizations focused on mass incarceration, reproductive rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ rights, and other important struggles in Atlanta. Local vendors showcased crafts, food and plants while local artists performed on stage.

In addition to the entertainment, leading organizations gave speeches introducing the work they do to the attendees. David Jones, a member of the Atlanta Alliance, spoke about the campaign to shut down Fulton County Jail and how people can get involved. Community Connect Fest strengthened ties between the community and important local organizations fighting for change.

#AtlantaGA #AtlantaAlliance #AARPR #CommunityConnectFest #Trump #WestEnd

Atlanta, GA - On Thursday, October 24, in Brunswick, Georgia, dozens of family, friends and community members gathered at Glynn County Courthouse as the defense counsel for the three men who have been imprisoned for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery pled their case for a retrial.

Background to a Georgia lynching

Ahmaud Arbery was a 25-year-old Black man who was jogging in his Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores on February 23, 2020, when three white me – Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan – killed him. The McMichaels were in one vehicle, armed, while Bryan was in another vehicle. The men used the two vehicles to block Arbery in. Bryan stayed in his vehicle while recording on his cell phone. Travis McMichael exited his vehicle and stood on the driver’s side holding a shotgun while Gregory McMichael stood in the bed of their truck holding a handgun.

As Arbery approached their truck from the back, he attempted to run past their vehicle while avoiding Travis by running on the passenger side. Travis advanced around the front of the vehicle toward Arbery. Ahmaud Arbery attempted to defend himself before being fatally shot three times by Travis McMichael as they struggled over the shotgun.

This murder case brought national headlines for two main reasons: the public release of the video that Bryan took on his cell phone and the racial motivation of the crime that came out clearly during investigation. 911 dispatch recordings show that two 911 calls were made on Arbery that day. The first was a neighbor complaining that he had stopped jogging to examine a construction site. The second was Gregory McMichael who said, ”I'm out here at Satilla Shores...There's a black male running down the street.“ In statements to the police, Gregory McMichael explained that he and his son were attempting to perform a citizen’s arrest on Arbery for thefts in the neighborhood.

Initially, the Waycross Judicial Circuit district attorney did not intend to arrest or charge any of the three men involved in Arbery’s murder, saying that his death was a “justifiable homicide” based on Gregory and Travis McMichael’s claims that Arbery initiated the physical altercation.

It wasn’t until the release of the video on May 5 to a local news station and the subsequent uploading of video clips online that public outcry forced the state to press charges on the McMichaels, and both father and son were arrested on May 7. On May 8, Roddie Bryan sought legal counsel and was interviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) on May 11 and 13. Two weeks later, Bryan was also charged and arrested.

Bryan’s statements to police included the fact that Travis McMichael had called Arbery a “fucking n***er” while standing over his dying body.

18 months later, each of the three men was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment. The McMichaels were sentenced to life without parole and Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

In addition to these state-level convictions, the three men were also convicted of a federal hate crimes charge in 2022. This past March, the 11th Circuit heard their appeal of that hate crime conviction, but it has yet to issue a decision.

Throughout 2020 during the George Floyd Rebellion, Ahmaud Arbery’s name was chanted alongside George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless other names by millions of people in the streets demanding an end to racist violence. In Georgia, Arbery’s death led to the creation of a state Hate Crimes law which remains on the books today.

Killers pushing for retrial

This week, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan appeared in court while their attorneys used increasingly outlandish tactics to get a retrial. The younger McMichael’s attorney, Pete Donaldson, headed up most of the day’s proceedings for the defense.

As he repeated himself at length, Donaldson’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-worthy performance drew laughs of disbelief from the gallery and led a nearby reporter to write “filibuster??” on his notepad.

In the case of all three men, their argument hinges on the assertion that members of the jury received “extraneous information” about the case that clouded their ability to carry out their duties without prejudice against the McMichaels and Bryan. To prove this, Donaldson called Juror 380 (jurors were only referred to by number to protect their anonymity) to the stand.

This was a controversial move among the gathered crowd as Juror 380 was the only Black person on the jury.

Donaldson’s questioning of Juror 380 went from strange and confusing to bizarre and groan-inducing over the course of the 45-minute exchange. Highlights included more than 50 individual uses of the phrase “hot dog” and asking Juror 380 to recount conversations in prayer with “the Lord.”

Juror 380 lives just a few short blocks from the courthouse where rallies took place in support of the Arbery family before and during the trial. Donaldson’s questions were intended to accuse Juror 380 of an inability to be impartial because, first, Juror 380 walked past a rally to order a hot dog at a local stand, and second, Juror 380 is a deeply religious person who prayed to “the Lord” about their role as a juror and admitted to feeling sorry for the Arbery family, imagining what could happen to their own children.

Bizarre arguments to get racist murderers off the hook

William Bryan’s attorney, Rodney Zell, took it a step farther and attempted to make a few additional arguments. Zell called Bryan’s original trial attorney, Kevin Gough, to the stand. During this exchange, the arguments by Bryan’s attorney centered on three major themes.

First, Zell attempted to paint a picture of improper communication between attorney Gough and law enforcement and/or prosecution by rehashing a timeline of events leading up to Bryan's eventual arrest.

Second, he attempted to establish the lack of mental fortitude of his client. During this section of examination, Gough used “stupid” and “lil dummy” in reference to Bryan, claiming that if Bryan had better verbal skills, he would not have made such incriminating statements to the police that led to his conviction. Incredibly, Gough said, “it’s not like he’s retarded,” but still had “very little” comprehension and was a shy man who was more likely to have just been going along with the stronger personality of Gregory McMichaels.

Finally, appealing attorney Zell revealed, through his examination of attorney Gough, that the latter had intended to make a ‘mistake of fact’ defense in the original trial and simply forgot to do so in his closing arguments. Under oath, Gough claimed that he “bungled it” and that clearly the new attorney intended to try to make a similar argument for retrial.

“Mistake of fact” is a legal defense when a defendant's mistaken belief negates the mental state required to commit a crime. The example Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski used to illustrate this defense was if Person A gave Person B’s credit card to her, and told her that Person B said it was okay for her to put a charge on the card, that she could then use a mistake of fact defense if she was later charged with theft.

Throughout the questioning and the rest of the court appearance, however, it was never made clear what “mistake of fact” Bryan might have been operating under during the murder that would then negate his guilt. The judge clarified for the court that assumptions cannot be used as basis for mistake of fact. Thus, Bryan’s assumption that Arbery was guilty of robbery or Bryan’s assumption that the McMichaels were not armed would not negate his guilt.

The day ended when the defense attorneys agreed to submit written briefs for the rest of their arguments. No date for continuing the hearing was scheduled.

Family and community react

Ahmaud Arbery’s father and aunt - Marcus Arbery and Diane Jackson - were among the gathered friends, family and community in attendance at the hearing on Thursday. The general attitude was that this hearing was cruel to the family and a waste of everyone’s time.

“They can tell they ain’t got nothing to stand on,” said Diane Jackson, referring to the defense attorneys, “but all they doing is opening wounds for the family. We tired of this...leave us alone, that’s all we ask.”

Many in the crowd shook their heads with disgusted dismay, lamenting that Juror 380 was singled out because of their status as the only Black juror. “If that don’t show you that racism is still strong!” Jackson declared, “It’s wrong.”

Laith Abdel Hader, an organizer with the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, left Atlanta at 4 a.m. to make the five-hour journey to Brunswick. They were joined by a dozen other concerned community members from the Atlanta Alliance and Black Lives Matter Grassroots Atlanta. Abdel Hader shared that their attendance at the rally was to support the Arbery family and ensure that the “white supremacist killers stay in prison where they should be.”

#AtlantaGA #JusticeforAhmaud #AhmaudArbery #AtlantaAlliance #BLM #Feature

Atlanta, GA – On Saturday, August 10, around 70 protesters and the family of Christon Collins gathered in front of DeKalb County Jail demanding accountability from Sheriff Melody Maddox. Christon Collins was a 27-year-old veteran who died in the DeKalb County Jail after being denied medical treatment. Recently released video footage of Collins’ last hours was made available to the public last week, which showed him lying on the common floor for three hours with no help from the guards.

The rally started in front of the jail with passionate speeches from community activists and families impacted by police terror. Jonia Milburn, the mother of Christon Collins, said to those listening “It is happening to my family today but tomorrow it could be yours. That is why we’re here taking a stand for accountability and for change. There has to be change.” Folks inside the jail waved through broken windows in support as protesters chanted “Whose lives matter? Their lives matter!” pointing up at the inmates.

“We're seeing countless deaths at the DeKalb and Fulton County Jails. Over 30 deaths in the past year. If these jails can't take care of people in their custody, then we demand that they let them go,” said Laith Abdel Hader, member of the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “We will keep fighting alongside the family to make sure they get the truth and accountability they deserve. We will keep fighting so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Protesters marched down to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office, where they were met with over a dozen cops. The protest continued despite the intimidation, with more chants and speeches in front of the sheriff’s office. Before marching back safely, the crowd released balloons in memory of Collins as they chanted “We demand change in Christon’s name!”

The protest was organized by the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and attended by Black Lives Matter Atlanta, DeKalb NAACP, Strike Black, Atlanta Radical Art, and the Angelo Herndon Club. The organizers of the event vowed to keep up the fight for Christon Collins and continue to demand compassionate release from the jails.

#AtlantaGA #AAARPR #AtlantaAlliance #ChristonCollins #DekalbCountyJail

Atlanta, GA – Over 150 students from Georgia State University and members of the broader Atlanta community converged in Hurt Park downtown Friday, May 3, in a protest against the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Of primary focus were calls for the end of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) program, which promotes reciprocal training between Georgia police and Israeli occupation forces, with a particular focus on urban warfare and control of crowds.

The GILEE program at Georgia State University (GSU), funded as a nonprofit through the university foundation, has drawn widespread criticism from activists for its officer exchanges between the U.S. and Israel. Under the auspices of “international cooperation,” police from Georgia and other parts of the United States train alongside the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in brutal crowd control techniques and use of force against protesters. This criticism has intensified amid broader condemnations of U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.

The protest drew active participation from a range of groups including GSU Students for Justice in Palestine, Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta, Dissenters, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, and the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Erica Kadel of the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression opened the protest with a fiery address to the crowd. Kadel was one of the 28 people arrested by police at Emory University on April 25 while protesting the genocide in Gaza. Energizing the crowd with the chant, “From Palestine to Emory, stop the U.S. war machine,” Kadel linked the struggle against local police militarization with global peace efforts.

“A lot of naysayers say that what we do here could not possibly have an impact in Palestine,” said Kadel. “We know how intimately linked our struggles here in Atlanta and in Palestine are – a prime example being the GILEE program. If people still don't get it, all you have to do is look at the videos, photos and statements coming from individuals and organizations in Gaza and the West Bank thanking the U.S. student encampments. In fact, Bisan Owda, a journalist in Gaza said, 'The voice of U.S. student encampments is louder than the bombs in Gaza,' and that should give us heart that what we do here matters.”

The protesters then marched through the largely urban-based university campus before arriving at the GSU complex that hosts the GILEE offices. There, Atlanta police blocked the crowd from getting close to the building and attacked them. Officers ripped signs and umbrellas out of people’s hands and threw objects forcefully into the crowd. Referring to the Atlanta Police Department, the crowd chanted during these attacks: “APD, KKK, IDF, They’re all the same!”

As the demonstration dispersed, student activists called for further protests at GSU in the coming days.

#AtlantaGA #GSU #GILEE #AAARPR #AtlantaAlliance

Atlanta, GA – In a powerful display of solidarity with the people of Palestine, over 400 Atlantans gathered for an emergency protest on February 13 to condemn the recent Israeli bombings in Rafah, which have claimed the lives of approximately 100 Palestinian refugees.

The demonstrators convened in front of the Israeli Consulate, their voices echoing demands for a ceasefire now and Palestinian self-determination. Chants included ”Free Palestine in our lifetime” and “Every time the media lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies.”

As the protest gained momentum, the crowd’s chants drew the attention of pedestrians and motorists alike on the busy city streets. Most of these onlookers reacted positively to the protest’s message, which supports the findings of the most recent polls that show a majority of Americans want a ceasefire in Palestine.

Speakers at the event passionately denounced the indiscriminate violence perpetuated by the Israeli military. Many speakers were Palestinians who shared their personal heartbreak given the impact of Israel’s actions on their families. They also emphasized the urgent need for international solidarity and collective action to hold Israel accountable for its egregious violations of human rights and international law, as recently affirmed by the ICC.

The protest was organized by Demilitarize Atlanta to Palestine, the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and various other Atlanta-based community organizations.

Erica Schneider from the Atlanta Alliance stated, “Here in the U.S. and around the world, those of us who rise up and oppose U.S./Israeli terror are threatened with violence, arrested by police, expelled from school, fired from our jobs,and sometimes even killed. But this kind of intense repression also tells us that we are striking a blow at the center of our common enemy’s power. It means that us gathering out here today is more vital than ever. We must continue to take heart and remain firm in our conviction that Palestine will be free in our lifetime.”

#AtlantaGA #FreePalestine #PYM #Rafah #IsraeliApartheid #AtlantaAlliance #DA2P