Death of Atlanta protester sparks climate activism debate

BY SARAH GRINNELL ’26 STAFF WRITER

Content warning: This article discusses police brutality and racialized violence.

On Jan. 21, 2023, peaceful protests on the streets of downtown Atlanta saw widespread demonstrations following the police killing of 26-year-old environmental activist Tortuguita earlier in the week, NPR reported. According to CBS News, in the wake of anti-police protests, vandalism, assaults on officers and a myriad of arrests, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has officially issued a state of emergency.

The activist, whose pronouns were they/it, was a “forest defender” associated with the grassroots organization Defend the Atlanta Forest, CBS described. According to Fox5Atlanta, in September 2021 the forested land was leased out to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build a facility.

Since then, this network has been fighting against the construction of a new $90 million public safety training facility for the Atlanta Police Department, which the activists dub “Cop City,” ABC News said.

On the Defend the Atlanta Forest website, members of the movement describe their motivation as being driven by the fact that “climate change and police violence are two of the most pressing issues affecting our society today, and they will only worsen if this facility is built.” According to CBS, the project requires the clearing of sizable portions of the surrounding Weelaunee Forest — which the activists emphasize is an ecosystem of “wetlands that filter rainwater and prevent flooding” and a rare “breeding ground for many amphibians in the region.” Additionally, the project would result in the expansion of law enforcement, an- other major concern of the activists.

According to ABC, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms asserted that the facility will “help boost morale, retention and recruitment of our public safety personnel,” ensuring that officers “are receiving 21st-century training, rooted in respect and regard for the communities they serve.” However, the activists argue the training facility “would not help the city’s crime problem and further hurt relations between police and communities of color,” Fox5Atlanta reported.

Atlanta local and Mount Holy- oke student Molly Malloy ’26 is no stranger to the notoriety of the Atlanta Police Department, they explained in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. According to Malloy, the deadly altercation between Tortuguita and the state trooper “sadly isn’t surprising.” They went on to explain that “policing in Atlanta has historically been racist, frightening and threatening, and this has been evidenced even further by recent tragedies like the murder of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of the Atlanta Police Department.” Brooks was a 27-year-old man who was shot and killed by the Atlanta police in a Wendy’s parking lot in June of 2020, as reported by 11Alive Atlanta. “This training environment would be a slap in the face to [people from Atlanta]who have made their stance clear that defunding the police and reducing the police force is what the people want,” Malloy said.

According to NPR, resistance to the training center by the forest defenders has been going on for over a year now, taking shape in camping out on platforms built in the surrounding tree cover, as well as staking out the construction site of the facility. In December 2022, five activists were arrested with charges of “domestic terrorism,” and convicted of crimes including carjacking, destruction of property, arson and physical altercations with police officers, ABC detailed.

These demonstrations culminated in a deadly apex on Wednesday’s raid when Tortuguita allegedly injured a police officer and was subsequently killed by other police officers nearby, Fox5Atlanta reported.

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