Southern organizer and occasional union boss • they/she • Jewish with opinions • abolitionist, garlic advocate • tweets/views are all mine, but they’re good
A reminder that if you're ever transphobic, homophobic, generally rude, or a TERF in my mentions, I'm going to steal your gender and wear it like a silly hat at inappropriate times
I am watching a toddler die on a table in a field hospital in Rafah with half her face blown apart while listening to college students fight tears reporting on a police assault on their campus for protesting that, and I feel like I am losing my fucking mind.
Tonight at midnight, Atlanta Medical Center will close its doors for good. For over 100 years, it has served GA residents - critically, as a stroke unit and Level 1 Trauma Center. There will now be only ONE Level 1 trauma hospital in ATL and North GA. Brian Kemp has failed us.
Unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever opened a history book, the violent arrests of students this morning have backfired deeply, with easily 500 students on the quad now.
The most incomprehensible time overlap is watching both of these play out on the same social media feeds, where my entire feed is alternating between horrific injuries from Israeli bombs and one post below it watching the NYPD use armored vehicles to storm a college green.
What does this mean?
- worse outcomes for patients
- longer wait times and travel times for care
- stress on GA’s already overburdened remaining hospitals
Kemp’s refusal to expand Medicaid and address GA’s hospital crisis is deadly. In ONE WEEK, we can vote him out.
As a Jew, I am scared. I am not scared of my neighbors who are Palestinian or Muslim. I’m scared my faith & the horrific killing of innocents are being used to justify a genocide in Gaza. I’m scared, truly, of the people cheering it on, who so easily forget our shared humanity.
I’m back at Emory - a Palestinian-owned coffee shop, Majlis Mocha, is set up on the quad providing (amazing) coffee, tea, and lemonade to the encampment tonight. Someone else has brought a massive amount of Mediterranean Grill takeout for everyone.
Here’s
@staceyabrams
addressing a huge overflow crowd right now in North Georgia, just 30 miles from where a small white supremacist rally took place last weekend. We are organized, we are standing up to hate, and we are ready to help Dems win in 2020!
#gapol
Transportation: $36.11
Water infrastructure: $0.50
Parks and rec: $800
Operations: $318.40
Police: $250,000,000
Someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. My Atlanta city infrastructure is dying
The “check on ur Jewish friends” fills me rage. Sure, go ahead. I am filled with pain and fury because we are being used to justify slaughter, genocide, & ethnic cleansing. Our “safety” is being used as a weapon to silence and attack us. I am not your shield to murder families.
Back at Emory for Shabbat tonight. Easily 1500 people on the quad now I’m a cop-free and very chill rally. Lots of faculty who are self-identifying by “faculty observer” signs taped to their chests.
BREAKING: The City is refusing to start the verification process for
@CopCityVote
petitions, citing advice from outside counsel fighting to disqualify the referendum in court. The memo was released in a closed, virtual press conference held by the mayor's office. Updates tk
Alyssa is what happens when famous white women get more of an activism platform than experienced, strategic activists who have years of experience doing actual advocacy work
Today in the AJC: Atlanta’s tree canopy in danger. Meanwhile, cops continue to repress, intimidate, and kill those who want to
#StopCopCity
and protect the forest that helps our city be environmentally resilient in a warming climate. These are not separate stories.
Raise your hand if the City of Atlanta Municipal Clerk doxxed you this morning. I’ll go first. ✋ Fun fact: I don’t appreciate this because I pay for identity protection since my family and I have been violently threatened and doxxed by neo-nazis in the past. Happy Friday.
Good morning from Georgia, where Athens hospitals are full, hospitalizations have doubled since the beginning of July, and Governor* Brian Kemp is banning cities from requiring face masks because he'd rather have thousands of needless deaths on his hands than do anything.
#gapol
The UGA Dean of Students, Eric Atkinson, was on site for EVERY student arrest, and stood next to the campus chief of police when he threatened students filming with arrest. Atkinson also helped dismantle the encampment while arrests were ongoing.
🚨 Police arresting students now @
#UGA
for criminal trespassing on their own campus. University of Georgia had set up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment hardly an hour ago.
HAPPENING NOW: In the wake of the ATL city council approving over $67 million for Cop City, organizers and community leaders are announcing
@CopCityVote
, a new ballot referendum campaign to put Cop City on the November ballot and let ATLANTA decide.
#stopcopcity
#gapol
Ruwa not only represents a newly blue district but is a tireless fighter in GA’s legislature on every single issue. To say she is not worthy of the DNC stage is pure racism. We cannot pretend to want a stronger party and at the same time ceaselessly attack the ones building it.
My speech urged us to unite behind Harris, criticized Trump, and spoke about the promise of this moment. The only reason we’re doing this is to save the soul of our party and prevent bad actors from using our pain in an ongoing voter suppression campaign.
Absolutely profound thank you to
@Ruwa4Georgia
for being on the ground and, as seen in this photo, being physically between cops and students while things dispersed tonight. Incredible example of how electeds who are disturbed by Emory response can tangibly help keep folks safe.
For the second time this year, GA Republicans have held a hearing on a classroom censorship bill - then, mid-hearing, cancelled public comment after students took time off school and community members made the trip to the capitol and planned to testify. Unacceptable.
#gapol
For anyone considering packing up & moving to GA:
1. It’s a pandemic, lots of out of state travel to GA puts our people at risk.
2. Sometimes donating is the best thing to do!
3. Follow in-state leaders & orgs, period. Don’t parachute in thinking you’re our savior. We know us.
The
@CityofAtlanta
confirms their intent to use signature matching during verification of
@CopCityVote
petitions, a tool of voter suppression litigated extensively in GA & removed from the mail ballot process because of its harm to voters and resulting mass disenfranchisement.
Atlanta's only strategy for dealing with unhoused residents remains: destroying the shelters they've made for themselves to force them out of view, so that everyone can pretend they don't exist, and so that Atlanta can continue to criminalize them to fill beds in jails.
Absolutely fascinating that the AJC front page this morning mentions absolutely nothing about an autopsy confirming that police murdered a Cop City protestor in cold blood.
BREAKING: At least three people have been arrested after Atlanta voters occupied the dais of
@atlcouncil
after Howard Shook and Andrea Boone forced re-introduction of signature matching into the signature verification process for the
@CopCityVote
referendum.
As a UGA graduate and an alum who took President Morehead and Dean Atkinson's freshman seminar when I was a student, I am APPALLED at UGA's arrest of their own students for protesting this morning. Shame on
@universityofga
. Drop the charges, stand with your students.
The UGA Dean of Students, Eric Atkinson, was on site for EVERY student arrest, and stood next to the campus chief of police when he threatened students filming with arrest. Atkinson also helped dismantle the encampment while arrests were ongoing.
I’m in my local coffee shop and ran into a canvass launch. They’re ALL first time volunteers. They’re going around the table saying why they’re here and I’m gonna CRY folks
Organizers and ATL residents returned to City Hall today to collect the approved petition from the City Clerk. It was still not ready. The Clerk’s office was unable to tell
@CopCityVote
when it would be ready.
Yesterday,
@CopCityVote
took legal action against the City of Atlanta Clerk for stonewalling the approval of the referendum, filing a writ of mandamus in the Fulton Superior Court. The people of Atlanta will be heard - even if litigation is needed to force the city to do its job.
Excellent news from the bond hearings this morning - after sustained pressure,
@EmoryUniversity
general counsel requested no special conditions on bond (like bans from campus). Judge and prosecution agreed - so all bonds for staff and students will be without special conditions.
Unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever opened a history book, the violent arrests of students this morning have backfired deeply, with easily 500 students on the quad now.
So to recap, Andre Dickens thought it was a good idea to lie about his conversations with both
@SenatorWarnock
AND
@staceyabrams
, resulting in BOTH of them making public statements in support of the
@CopCityVote
referendum. Things just going swimmingly in the Mayor's office I see
if y'all see a georgia organizer please buy them coffee because we went straight from a presidential election to 2 us senate runoffs with no pause for breath, i promise we will need caffeine
Update: Michael Smith, the Mayor's press secretary, complained about this tweet to my employer, for reasons I will not be speculating on considering the city already has my personal email and phone.
PS: if none of the press have heard about your press conference, it's closed 🫶
BREAKING: The City is refusing to start the verification process for
@CopCityVote
petitions, citing advice from outside counsel fighting to disqualify the referendum in court. The memo was released in a closed, virtual press conference held by the mayor's office. Updates tk
JUST NOW: Jews demanding a
#CeasefireNOW
march on the Atlanta office of Senator Jon
@ossoff
. Security informed us we would be subject to arrest if we remained on the property; heavy police presence w/ vans, APD and GSP. The building locked the doors, and staff did not let us up.
To recap: Atlantans took action to let the people decide on Cop City, so the city stonewalled, limited who could sign, argued that it was unconstitutional and that the referendum should be eliminated entirely, and then completely lost a federal lawsuit in spectacular fashion.
HUGE NEWS: a judge just ruled in FAVOR of the Cop City Vote coalition, meaning: the 60 day clock to collect signatures will restart, ANYONE can collect signatures, and signatures already collected will still count!!!
APF and Andre Dickens are quaking in their fucking boots!
This morning I’m grateful for GA organizers who killed 2 anti-voting bills, a don’t say gay bill, cash bail bills, a bill criminalizing protest, abortion restrictions, anti-trans bills, attacks on public Ed & more. Organizing is an act of love & hope. So much love for you all.💜
Gillibrand getting pretty good here talking about white privilege and her duty as a white woman to talk to other white women about institutional racism!
#CNNDebate
#DemDebate2
Hinkle took over a planned event with Norman Finkelstein, a nationally renowned scholar on antisemitism and the Holocaust, at Emory Law. Emory's repression of protest & student speech has now created a fertile ground for rightwing grifters like Hinkle to cause violence and chaos.
Adviso to Emory:
Jackson Hinkle, a far-right influencer who identifies as a “MAGA communist” (using leftist language to pull people into the far-right) is at Emory.
He is not an ally, he’s a grifter bigot who will likely try taking footage/doing interviews to push his agenda.
Jesus.
@atlcouncil
is using photos of Belkis Terán, Tortuguita’s mother, to promote an event she intentionally disrupted to protest Cop City and the murder of her child. At best this is a horrific error, at worst inconceivably cruel. Immediate removal + apology is a minimum.
For those unfamiliar: in 2018, a federal judge ruled that signature matching served no legitimate interest and disenfranchised Black and brown voters disproportionately:
Really striking the way Georgia's legacy of repressing protest has manifested on campus, and how the extreme militarization practiced against folks in 2020 and Cop City opponents is being used on college students. Emory, UGA — the *speed* of violence is unlike anywhere else.
I hope they don’t only mean “white conservative rural diner” voters, they better also mean progressive rural voters, nonwhite rural voters, non christian rural voters, etc. “Rural” isn’t a monolith - rural voters are just as diverse as “urban” and “suburban” voters.
What a front page. Doctors begging for people to get vaccinated, and the obituary of a Gwinnett science teacher killed by COVID - and in the middle, Brian Kemp blocking new safety measures against the virus while infections surge and hospitals are overwhelmed. Ghastly.
#gapol
These fearless GA legislators have stood and tuned their backs during the presentation of HB 481 (6wk abortion ban). Spkr. Ralston has said “they will be dealt with” for breaking decorum. I have a feeling they’re not scared of him. These are so powerful, I have chills.
#gapol
✊🏿
Just a reminder for no reason at all that AIPAC has zero problem endorsing and actively funding over 100 election deniers in 2022, but draws the line at black and brown people apparently
THREAD:
@andreforatlanta
has responded to
@SenatorWarnock
in an 11-page screed that alleges fraud by canvassers, says voter suppression claims are overblown, & uses "out of state interests" arguments to call his own residents liars. Let's do a read-thru!
At the
@atlpressclub
luncheon, Mayor Dickens describes the public safety center as a crucial training site for police and firefighters. “When you hear people say it’s a place for police militarization, it’s not.”
#gapol
#atlpol
To recap: today the Clerk stonewalled, then apparently lied to
@CopCityVote
organizers, and then left at noon without finishing the job they were legally obligated to do by yesterday. Which was to review and approve a half sheet of paper.
Good morning from City Hall at the Atlanta City Clerk’s office. The office declined to tell organizers when the
@CopCityVote
petition will be approved, after passing the 7-day approval window. The building also sent 2 police officers to stand outside the office, coincidentally.
@Ed_Setzler
@elenaparent
@HaroldJonesII
Once again, all 3 Dems (
@elenaparent
,
@HaroldJonesII
, and Rhett) on this committee just voted to make running over protesters with their car a legal act. I know it’s late but that’s inexcusable no matter which way you cut it, and a slap in the face to organizers.
.
@WNBA
should stand for and unite around the American Flag — not divisive political movements like BLM that unapologetically seek to defund the police.
#gapol
#gasen
Chris Hayes going after John Yoo is giving me life!!! Please keep holding people who did extreme damage to our democracy accountable even when they're no longer in power!!!! Quit whitewashing ex-administrations!!!
The sheer difference between Beto and Cruz is best exemplified by the fact that Beto actually praises Cruz, but Cruz just took that chance to call him a tax-grabbing socialist who hates freedom. The difference is dignity and class.
#TXSenateDebate
Shame on
@universityofga
, which can apparently only tolerate about 41 minutes of protest before calling the police - even after seeing GSP violently attack protestors on Emory’s campus last week.
The
#UGA
Gaza Solidarity Encampment has hardly been up for an hour and the university has already issued a dispersal order. Organizers are asking supportive professors, alumni, community members to show up ASAP. 📍Old College Quad
#GoDawgs
THREAD: Today at 7:30 am, the GOP-led GA Senate Ethics Committee is hearing
#SB241
, a bill that would ban no-excuse mail voting, add witness requirements to vote by mail, add new photo ID requirements - one of the most devastating voter suppression bills in the country.
#gapol
Just now,
@CopCityVote
organizers picked up the first 3,000 copies of the referendum petition to put Cop City on the Atlanta ballot. “This is a City ready to transform.”
Brian Kemp signed
#SB140
behind closed doors because he knows it is cruel & indefensible.
They are a party of cowards, attacking children in the hopes of keeping their seats. Calling policies like this evil is too kind.
Trans and queer Georgians: you are loved. Today and always.
i regret that we all have to remind the nation of this AGAIN, but Brian Kemp is still a bad person who actively hurts queer, black, brown, immigrant, young, disabled, and many other Georgians, and just because he didn't break the law does not make him a hero. Signed, Georgia.
I just... feel like the debates around colleges reopening ignore the existence of immunocompromised students? Just bc it’s “young people” doesn’t mean some students aren’t high risk. If I were still in college there is NO way I could go back without literally risking my life.
I feel, as I think many Jews do, a bone-deep fear of the language of genocide & mass persecution. It is truly chilling to hear it echo so loudly from so many governments & leaders, and so many of my own people. Let us not forgo shared humanity in grief, or we will lose our own.
Rep
@Ruwa4Georgia
has done Georgia proud. I love the Georgia that embraces our Palestinian community and challenges our leadership to be better and do better. I love the Georgia that pushes justice to the forefront and challenges power. Georgia is proud and lucky to have Ruwa.
.
@GaSecofState
is spending $$ trying to deny voters early voting when he could be using those same dollars to help counties cover the costs of Saturday voting.
I’m at Manuel’s Tavern, where
@andreforatlanta
is set to speak. APD is reacting totally normally to the situation and has quite literally 6 cruisers stationed across the street, 2 in the back, and 2 circling. Cops currently outnumber attendees. It’s very funny. Thread:
With all the attention lately on Georgia’s State Election Board, I think it’s important to draw a clear history on how it got this way, to a 3-2 majority of election deniers with direct ties to Trump, Cleta Mitchell, and more. 🧵 on the last 5ish years, from firsthand experience:
After Republicans passed a bill banning gender affirming care for trans kids, some Dems are still attending playing a friendly bipartisan game of kickball tonight. The trans kids and parents who were sobbing in the hallways today may, respectfully, had a slightly different view.
HR 1 passes the House tonight and I'm thinking about a voter I spoke to over text in November, who waited in line for hours to vote. At the end of our conversation, she said "Thank you for caring about me." There is much left to do, but it makes a difference. The work continues.
Time for an update: August was EXPENSIVE. The $137,000 bill means Atlanta has spent over $283,000—over a quarter million dollars—in legal fees alone fighting the
@CopCityVote
referendum. That’s over 1.5x the annual pension fund of the *entire* Atlanta Public Defender’s office.
Update: my latest ORRs from the
@CityofAtlanta
just came back, with updated legal bills. The city has now spent over $146,000 fighting the
@CopCityVote
referendum in court, including hourly rates of $610 for one of their outside counsel:
Everyone, ESPECIALLY if you are a community leader or elected official, needs to be EXTREMELY cautious with what they post right now. No theories. No commentary. Cross-verified facts ONLY. Sit down until we know what is going on. For your safety and for our collective safety.
In addition to arresting their own students for a protest,
@universityofga
is also suspending them. What an absolute mockery of their "support for freedom of expression". What a total disgrace.
Athens /
@universityofga
friends:
I am learning that (at least some of) the students arrested at the encampment today have been suspended. 🤦🏼♀️ Any recommendations for low-cost legal counsel?
The person who made this comment is the CEO of a staffing company who holds contracts with the
@CityofAtlanta
,
@NAACP
,
@TheKingCenter
, and others. That... may be something people may want to evaluate.
A pro-cop city commenter just told the asian american woman holding a "stop cop city" sign to "go back where she came from". Absolutely revolting, racist, and profoundly uncalled for.
Minutes ago, on July 4th, 15+ cars of APD and Georgia State Patrol forced reproductive justice activists to disperse from the Georgia Capitol steps under threat of arrest. What a horrible and perfectly clear image of our nation on this day.
A few months ago, Ari cold-called me and asked if I was aware of a "file" on me from a surveillance company contracted by Kennesaw State - in 2017. I wasn't. Read about Social Sentinel, campus surveillance, and how it puts organizers under a microscope without their consent:
THREAD: The biggest story of my life is finally out.
Since 2019, I’ve been investigating a monitoring tool called Social Sentinel. They bill it as a way to help save students’ lives.
I found it had another purpose — surveilling campus protests.
This was my 7th legislative session in GA. Heard from a lot of folks I work with day to day (and I also felt) that this had been the hardest one to date, just like the one before it and the one before that. Some thoughts on extremism, normalization, and how it’s manifested in GA:
Andre Dickens continues to block the 116,000 voters who want a vote on Cop City. Meanwhile, APD drag people by their hair and photograph topless residents in predawn SWAT raids - and then he has the gall to say we’re not protesting “the right way.”
A pro-cop city commenter just told the asian american woman holding a "stop cop city" sign to "go back where she came from". Absolutely revolting, racist, and profoundly uncalled for.
My contribution to the chalk art on the quad this afternoon, plus some of my favorites that others have done. Day 3 of the Emory encampment is quiet - no sign currently of the police helicopter that’s been circling other days.
NOW: 10 mins before a committee vote on referendum legislation,
@WestmorelandATL
& allies of
@andreforatlanta
snuck a substitute, putting
@LilianaforATL
's name on it w/o their approval—or knowledge. The sub *re-adds* signature matching, a non-starter for voting rights experts.
@EmoryUniversity
Meanwhile, faith leaders have barricaded themselves inside Candler School of Theology in protest of both the ongoing genocide and arrests. Earlier, cops tried (and failed) to tear gas their way in with gas and pepper balls earlier
THREAD: Bridget Thorne, an election denier-turned Fulton Commissioner, runs a Telegram channel that harasses election workers, pushes election disinfo, and has the end goal of undermining Fulton’s elections. I’ve watched it for 3 years. ⬇️🧵
#gapol