Angela Davis says she now regrets receiving an official proclamation from the Atlanta City Council because of its position on the “Cop City” public safety complex project.
The prominent activist says she will return the honor in protest of the council’s support “of a massive, militarized police training facility.”
On March 24, Davis was tasked to deliver the keynote address at the 20th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium held on Morehouse College’s campus at the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel. While there, Atlanta Councilman Jason Dozier bestowed on her an official proclamation as a part of the planned ceremony.
Now, according to a video statement, the freedom fighter wishes she would have declined the recognition.
“I did not consider the implications of my acceptance of the award at the time, given the fact that the City Council voted in favor of the construction of a massive militarized police training facility in the South River Forest,” Davis said.
Davis said her place is to stand with the protesters fighting against the construction of the $90 million public safety training center in DeKalb County.
Davis said she regrets that she did not use that symposium in honor of the Guyanese political activist to add her voice “to the rising chorus of demands to ‘Stop Cop City.’”
“In the first place, if the attempts by the Atlanta police to build the largest police training grounds in the country are successful, this will represent a major setback for the movement for radical democratic futures … not only throughout the U.S. but globally,” the professor stated, who reminded viewers she has fought against causes like this “for far longer than a half-century,” she said.
Davis said she wanted to “salute all those who are involved in the “Stop Cop City Movement” and urges others “to find ways to generate support for…
Read the full article here
