Mayor reviewing list of demands from local protestors h

By Collin Kelley

Mayor Kasim Reed is reviewing a list of 25 demands submitted by ATLisReady, the organization that fronted five nights of protest marches and demonstrations in the wake of the killing of two black men by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota.

The demands were submitted during a contentious closed-door meeting Reed held on July 18 at city hall with various civil rights organizations involved in the marches and demonstrations. ATLisReady said the meeting should have been open to the public and vowed to keep protesting after representatives claimed Reed ignored the list of demands.

Reed told the media that the ATLisReady representatives wanted “yes or no responses to their list of demands, which I declined to give.”

Reed said he would review the list of demands, which include an overhaul in training of the Atlanta Police Department; the end of “Operation Whiplash” (an Atlanta police operation to crack down on guns in neighborhoods the protestors say leads to racial profiling); ending a training exchange with “apartheid” Israeli police; abolishing no-knock warrants; and the diversion of APD funding to equitable housing solutions. You can read the full list of demands at atlisready.black.

“This meeting wasn’t about getting a deal, but having a conversation,” Reed said. “What I heard most often was that folks want a different relationship with their police department,” he commented.

Reed said he didn’t “want to make another city’s problem Atlanta’s problem” and said many of the concerns from members of Black Lives Matter organization were already being implemented by the city.

Sir Maejor, who represents Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta, called ATLisReady actions “bullying” against the mayor and officials, and said no progress would be made if both sides couldn’t sit down and listen respectfully to each other’s opinions.

“There’s a diplomatic way of going about things and then there’s shouting, making demands and using bully tactics,” Maejor said. “The mayor heard our concerns. We want our police officers to be more engaged with the community and de-escalate vs. escalate.”