While many Atlanta families were getting ready for church or preparing Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday, Jimmy Hill stood alone in protest outside one of Atlanta’s fastest-growing houses of worship, 2819 Church. Located in southwest Atlanta — and boasting 800,000 followers on YouTube and nearly half a million on Instagram — the church went viral […]
Atlanta
Posted inIncarceration, Policing, Politics & Policy, Public Safety
Overcrowded and Understaffed: Fulton County Jail Gets Money to Hire More Deputies
Fulton County commissioners voted on Wednesday to allocate additional funding to staff Sheriff Patrick Labat’s office, following a scathing November U.S. Department of Justice report that cited understaffing as a cause of rampant, unchecked violence at Fulton County Jail. Vice Chair Bob Ellis introduced the resolution, which will support the hiring and retention of new […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Judge to Decide Whether to Move Forward With Trial in Fatal Police Shooting of Jimmy Atchison
Jimmy Hill became visibly emotional on Monday as he watched retired Atlanta police officer Sung Kim testify for the first time in federal court about fatally shooting Hill’s son, Jimmy Atchison. Hill told Capital B Atlanta after the evidentiary hearing that he got caught up in the moment during Kim’s remarks, which he characterized as […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, State Politics
Why Jason Esteves Puts Georgia’s Housing Crisis at the Center of the Governor’s Race
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Esteves recently voiced support for the growing Target boycott, as he and other state Democratic Party leaders continue working to mend fences with Black Georgia voters. “My wife has had a [Target Circle 360] subscription, and she canceled it as a result,” Esteves said during an April phone interview with Capital […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
A Georgia Father Claims He Didn’t Kill His Infant Son. Will the State Supreme Court Believe Him?
Ester Clark has been living a nightmare for the past 22 years, ever since her grandson Danyel Smith was sentenced to life behind bars for the death of his infant son — a tragedy they both say he did not cause. “They never tried to find out what really happened,” Clark, 81, told Capital B Atlanta […]
Posted inGentrification, Housing
Atlanta’s Largest Homeless Encampment Is About to Be Cleared
Atlanta’s largest homeless encampment is scheduled to be “decommissioned” on Monday as city officials continue working to clear potentially hazardous tent cities in the wake of the January tragedy that resulted in Cornelius Taylor’s death. Up until recently, the encampment located downtown beneath Interstate 20 on Pryor Street was home to as many as 80 […]
Posted inCity Politics, Cop City, Policing, Public Safety
Inside ‘Cop City’: What Atlanta’s Controversial Training Center Looks Like
The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center — the southern DeKalb County facility colloquially known as “Cop City” — officially opened its doors Tuesday after four contentious years of development. The 85-acre campus will serve as the training grounds for the city’s police and firefighters, yet it has received strong pushback due to its environmental impact, $67 million […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
Atlanta Mom’s Nonprofit Helps Teens With Incarcerated Parents Stay on Track
When Tiffany Gibson left home in 2008 to serve a nearly four-year prison sentence, her oldest son, Telly McGuire, was well on his way to pursuing a college education. Then 14 years old, McGuire had stellar grades and was active in extracurricular activities, according to Gibson. But through his tenure at Benjamin E. Mays High […]
Posted inBlack Businesses, Economic Justice, Money, Politics & Policy
As Target Boycott Continues, Local Black Businesses Reap the Benefits
What began in Atlanta as a 40-day “Target fast” in March has evolved into a full-blown economic movement aimed at making corporate America pay for broken promises — and uplifting Black-owned businesses in the process. “It is time for us to stand 10 toes down about something,” said Pamela Booker, a 46-year-old Stone Mountain resident, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
How Michelle Morrison Turned a Wrongful Conviction Into a Purposeful Life
Michelle Morrison heard the judge’s ruling: Life plus five years, for a murder she didn’t commit. But the Atlanta native says she never believed she’d spend the rest of her days behind bars. “I said, ‘I don’t have a life sentence,’” she remembers. “I never claimed the sentence.” Morrison did not fire the gun nor […]