Protesters gathered outside Fulton County Jail and Fulton County Courthouse on Thursday demanding change and accountability in response to a 97-page report released by the U.S. Department of Justice last week that exposed inhumane conditions at the facility. “I want them to know and to hear that this is not normal. Not all jails operate […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Jimmy Atchison’s Family Hopes Justice Is Served Five Years After His Death
A preliminary hearing began Tuesday in the case against retired Atlanta police officer Sung Kim, who is charged in the 2019 shooting death of Adamsville resident Jimmy Atchison. Kim was one of multiple APD officers on an FBI fugitive task force that was pursuing Atchison for allegedly stealing a woman’s purse and cellphone at gunpoint. […]
Posted inClimate, Criminal Justice, Education, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy, Reproductive Health
The Dawn of a New Trump Era Begins. What It Means for Black Atlantans in 2025.
The dread many Black people in Atlanta feel about Donald Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential election isn’t misplaced: He organized his reelection campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris around revenge — around how he and his allies can inflict the greatest amount of suffering on vulnerable groups and on those he considers enemies. Making […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Safety, Voting
Some Black Georgians Fear What Could Happen After the Polls Close
Ace Bennett-Fludd has bad memories of what happened last time Donald Trump lost an election, and fears a similar aftermath in Georgia if the latest White House race doesn’t go the former president’s way. “I would not want to hear another story about riots happening and people being hurt,” Bennett-Fludd, a married resident of Hapeville, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics & Policy
How Formerly Incarcerated Georgians Are Reclaiming Their Voting Power
Denise Ruben is getting ready to vote in a presidential election for the first time in 16 years. Back then, in 2008, a young Illinois senator named Barack Obama was preparing to make history as America’s first Black president. This year, Kamala Harris — the first Black woman to serve as vice president — hopes to follow […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Mental Health
New Atlanta Diversion Center Offers a Different Vision of Public Safety
Atlanta and Fulton County officials on Monday took a major step toward reducing local arrests with the launch of a facility intended to serve people experiencing behavioral and mental health issues. The Center for Diversion and Services is a rehabilitative hub open around the clock, seven days a week, where law-enforcement officers and community response […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Politics & Policy
The Georgia Law That Causes Women to Serve Time for Other People’s Crimes
This story was published in partnership with The Appeal, a nonprofit newsroom covering the criminal-legal system. A law in Georgia allows prosecutors to charge people for crimes they never committed. I know this firsthand — I was charged under this law and have been incarcerated for the last 20 years. In 2004, I was with […]
Posted inCourts, Mental Health, Reproductive Health
Georgia Is One of the Most Unsafe States to Give Birth. Abortion Limits Make It Worse.
In spite of recent reporting that directly links Georgia’s abortion restriction with the deaths of two Black women, the state Supreme Court’s decision earlier this month to temporarily reinstate the law while an appeal is in progress did not surprise leaders at the forefront of the state’s reproductive justice movement. Last month, ProPublica reported on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Two Months Later, Family of Man Fatally Shot by Off-Duty APD Officer Is Searching for Answers
Two months have passed since Devon Anderson, 38, was killed by off-duty Atlanta police officer Melvin Potter, yet the victim’s family has had barely any communication from law enforcement authorities regarding the status of the investigation, according to his mother. Potter, who is still employed by the Atlanta Police Department, has been relieved of duty […]
Posted inCourts, Elections, Politics & Policy, Voting
How Georgia’s Black Voters Could Be Impacted by the Election Rules Decision
A Fulton County Superior Court judge is expected to decide before Election Day whether two of the state’s controversial new election rules should be allowed to stand ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump — a case that has major implications for Black voters in Georgia, according to voting […]