Starting Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will be working at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, to assist Transportation Security Administration personnel as the partial government shutdown continues. Mayor Andre Dickens announced the news Sunday in a statement, while assuring residents that the agents will not engage in immigration enforcement during […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, HBCUs, Sports
After Viral Arrest, Tuskegee Coach Announces Lawsuit Against Morehouse
The viral arrest of Tuskegee University’s basketball coach after a Jan. 31 game at Morehouse College has now resulted in a lawsuit against the all-male HBCU. Morehouse had just beaten Tuskegee 77-69 and were preparing for the end-of-game handshake line. Reports indicate that Morehouse College football players attempted to disrupt that process, and Tuskegee coach […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, History
Palmetto Massacre: Black Men Arrested at Sundown, Lynched by Midnight
Palmetto, Georgia, was, by all accounts, a quiet and growing town in the final years of the 19th century. Located 25 miles southwest of Atlanta, it had a cotton mill, two warehouses, a hotel, churches, and slow, steady commerce. Its Black residents were part of the working and worshipping community that white newspapers would later […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Voting
She Spent 26 Years in Prison, Now She’s Registering to Vote in Georgia
Kareemah Hanifa just registered to vote for the first time in her life. As a juvenile, Hanifa, now 48, was sentenced to life in prison and spent 26 years incarcerated before she was released on parole in 2019. “I’m feeling nervous, I’m also feeling anxious and a little bit scared,” Hanifa said just before she […]
Posted inCapital B Atlanta, Courts, Criminal Justice
‘My Husband Crawls to Shower’: Rodney Taylor’s Wife on His ‘Horrific’ ICE Detention
As Georgia ranks as one of the top states for Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, immigrants, families, and advocates on the front lines share their fears and the fight for freedom in a series of interviews. January marked one year since Mildred Danis-Taylor had seen her husband, Rodney Taylor. “We speak every day if he […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Policing
World Cup Sparks Fears of Unhoused People Being Jailed
With just over 100 days remaining until Atlanta hosts its first World Cup match, activists and local officials are pushing the city not to repeat the same “cleanup the streets” program that led up to the 1996 Olympic Games. An estimated 30,000 Atlantans were displaced from their homes in the six years prior to the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
Under New Ga. Law, Abuse Survivor Gets Second Chance but Finds Few Safety Nets
In 1999, an 18-year-old new mother in Marietta stabbed her then-boyfriend and father of her infant son during an argument that turned physical. Despite immediately calling 911 to save his life, she was convicted in 2002 of felony murder and aggravated assault and sentenced to life in prison. What the judge didn’t hear about was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Young Thug Ruling Reveals How Asset Forfeiture Hits Black Georgians
The final chapter of the longest trial in Georgia history has finally come to an end now that a Fulton County Superior Court judge has ruled that law enforcement must return the property they confiscated from Young Thug during his 2022 arrest. The Atlanta rapper had spent more than 300 days on trial between November […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Clark Atlanta Student Speaks Out After ‘Humiliating’ Classroom Arrest
Sierra Morrison remembers the first time she stepped onto the campus of Clark Atlanta University. She traveled from her Minneapolis high school to tour colleges, and something just felt right about the Georgia HBCU. “Just being in Atlanta and seeing so many people that look like me, in so many different spaces, spaces that I […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, HBCUs
Clark Atlanta Police Chief Responds after Officer Arrested Student in Class
In a letter posted Monday on Facebook, Clark Atlanta Police Chief Debra Williams announced that the police officer who arrested a female student last week for not having her college ID has been placed on leave. Seeking accountability, students at the Atlanta University Center called for answers last week after the incident. An Instagram post […]