Monthly Archives: May 2019

Image via Facebook.

Demonstrators are planning to organize tomorrow at the state capitol to protest the passage of the so-called “Heartbeat Bill,” which critics say effectively outlaws abortions in the state of Georgia.

On Tuesday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp singed into law a bill that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected – around 6 weeks, according to CNN. This is before most women realize they are pregnant.

Pro-choice activists across the country were outraged by what they say is a gross infringement of women’s rights. To make their voices heard, protesters are planning to meet at the capitol building at 9 a.m., on Saturday, May 11, according to their Facebook event. At 10:30, a march will begin to Centennial Park with the intention of terminating in front of the CNN building.

At the time this story was posted, 195 people responded on the Facebook event as “going” and approximately 1,100 said they were “interested.”

One of the group’s organizers, Clara Ember, notes the protest does not have a permit, and as such encourages protesters to not block streets or intersections, and to not impede movement through sidewalks.

“If we are asked to leave or stop by police, we will do so and disperse immediately. Do not engage with counter demonstrators at all,” Ember wrote in the group. “This is a peaceful protest and engagement only makes things worse.”

On Tuesday, Kemp lauded the moral virtue of the new law. “[It] is very simple but also very powerful: a declaration that all life has value, that all life matters, and that all life is worthy of protection,” Kemp said, per CNN. “I realize that some may challenge it in a court of law. But our job is to do what is right, not what is easy. We are called to be strong and courageous, and we will not back down. We will always continue to fight for life.”

Clearly, not everyone agrees with Kemp’s sentiment. “This law not only attacks women, but blatantly disregards rights guaranteed to us 50 years ago by the Supreme Court,” the protest group’s post reads. “We will not let the work of our sisters be so easily undone. Women of all background and walks of life have been fighting for our rights for years. This weekend, we join them.”

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signing the executive order permanently ending immigrant detention at ACDC. Image via Welcoming Atlanta.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be welcoming representatives of Cities for Action, (C4A) a coalition of over 175 local government leaders advocating for pro-immigrant federal policies and promoting inclusive community-level legislation and programing, to City Hall on Thursday, May 9.

The meeting will bring 30 national and 10 local leaders to discuss immigration strategies and how local governments can protect communities against anti-immigrant federal policies, according to city materials. The keynote speaker will be Sarah Stillman, a staff writer at the New Yorker who focuses on immigration policy and the criminal justice system.

“In a time when certain segments of our society are targeted for their country of origin or nationality, Atlanta must send a strong signal to all its residents that they indeed have a seat at the table,” Bottoms said in a statement.

The meeting is hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ Welcoming Atlanta Initiative, an effort to expand the city’s efforts for inclusion of immigrants and refugees, according to program materials. Atlanta has the second-fastest growing foreign-born population in the U.S., and the initiative partners city government and community leaders to support them.

Bottoms made headlines last summer when she signed an executive order prohibiting the city’s jail from accepting new detainees from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The move was polarizing, drawing both praise and ire locally and nationally.

Topics of discussion for Thursday’s meeting will include developments at the southern border, the 2020 census, establishing offices of immigrant affairs and how to maintain relationships with immigration enforcement officials, according to city materials. The meeting will commence at noon, with Bottom’s remarks beginning at 2 p.m.

Fulton County District 6 Commissioner Emma Darnell passed away on Sunday, May 5. She served on the county commission in 1992. She was 84 years old.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports Darnell had been absent from governmental activities over the past few months while recovering from a foot surgery and contending with an undiagnosed illness, but was present at a commission meeting on Wednesday, May 1.

In her last actions as a commissioner, she voted to provide cost of living increases to retirees whose pensions didn’t increase automatically, and to continue to fund a pre-arrest diversion program, the AJC reports. She had a long history of activism and standing up for the rights of minorities, and seniors both in and out of official government positions.

While serving as a city official in the 1970’s, Darnell authored the Atlanta’s first minority business plan, according to Fulton County materials. As a Fulton County Commissioner for 27 years, she was a vocal advocate for senior citizens.

“Commissioner Darnell has been a true example of a servant leader, whose body of work establishes a legacy to be revered. She spoke truth to power and courageously fought for the least, the lost, and the forgotten without hesitation,” City Council President Felicia Moore said in a statement. “Ms. Darnell was a champion for our senior citizens and a protector of the health of all in her fight for environmental justice. She will forever be remembered for her decades of service and leadership to the people she loved in the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, and beyond.”

Her funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, May 13 at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church, 534 Fairburn Road, Atlanta City Councilwoman Andrea Boone said in Darnell’s obituary.

Image via Facebook.

City Council President Felicia Moore will be holding her first “Conversation with The Council President” tomorrow, May 4, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Grant Park Coffee House.

The meeting will give the public an opportunity to speak with Moore in an informal setting, according to program materials. Constituents are welcome to ask questions and raise concerns in a relaxed, conversational atmosphere.

The Grant Park Coffee House is located at 753 Cherokee Avenue. For more information about the event, click here.

Image via Fridays for Future Atlanta.

Atlanta-area high school students will be congregating at the capitol building tomorrow, May 3, demanding state policymakers take action on climate change.

The protest is part of the Fridays For Future global climate strike student movement that originated in Europe and is growing in cities across the county, protest materials indicate. Organized by Decatur High School freshman, students from numerous Atlanta-area high schools will be participating.

The gathering will include a mass letter-writing campaign to the Georgia General Assembly’s Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee as well as the Natural Resources and Environment Committee chairmen, protest materials indicate. The students are demanding 100 percent renewable energy in Georgia by 2035, and speakers from local high schools will be presenting on relevant topics.

“A report published by the United Nations and verified by more than 250 climate scientists found that unless immediate action is taken, Earth will experience an irreversible temperature rise of 2-degrees Celsius by 2050, killing all coral reefs and making Earth ultimately uninhabitable,” protest materials read. “The United States has the power and money to create change now; policymakers simply don’t want to.”

The event will be held in Liberty Plaza, directly behind the capitol building from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., according to protest materials. For more information, visit the group’s Facebook page.