The South River Forest, originally known as the Weelaunee Forest by the Muscogee Creek people, is one of the largest urban forests in the United States with over 400 acres near Atlanta, Georgia. It has been at the forefront of the #StopCopCity and Defend the Atlanta Forest social movements as forest defenders protest the police training facility funded by the Atlanta Police Foundation and its corporate patrons like Delta Airlines, the Koch brothers, and Home Depot, to name just a few.
The police training facility is set to destroy 381 acres of the Weelaunee Forest, and Blackhall Studios plans to destroy another 40 acres for a sound stage. Cop City will be the largest police training facility in the United States and is slated to include a mock city where police will train with firearms, tear gas, helicopters, and explosive devices to repress protest and mass unrest, much as they did during the 2020 George Floyd protests.
Throughout the community’s efforts to stop Cop City, activists have been arrested, detained, and even more recently killed by the police.
How does this connect to Houston?
It’s all in the funding of the Atlanta Police Foundation. StopCopCitySolidarity.org has outlined in an interactive map highlighting the following:
- The contractors who are planning to build Cop City
- The donors and board members of the Atlanta Police Foundation (who is funding Cop City)
- Targets related to Ryan Millsap who is trying to destroy the forest to build a movie studio connected to Cop City
In this map, there are ties to donors and Atlanta Police Foundation board members in Houston. Below is the information they have found. The organizers in Atlanta are requesting:
Organize an action against these targets and demand that they cut all ties with the Cop City project and the Atlanta Police Foundation.
Organizing can be as simple as giving the offices a call and letting them know. Please be kind to the workers behind the desk who receive your call. They may not know about their company’s ties to Cop City or even what it is.
Jones Day
Jones Day funds the ATL Police Foundation and one of their lawyers, Bryan Davis, is on the Foundation’s executive committee.
717 Texas Suite 3300
Houston, Texas 77002–2712
+1 832 239 3939
Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig funds the ATL police foundation and their co-president Ernest LaMont Greer is on the Board of Trustees of the foundation.
1000 Louisiana Street
Suite 6700
Houston, TX 77002
+1 713 374 3500
King & Spalding LLP
ATL police foundation funder, Josh Kamin, one of their executives, is on the foundation’s Board of Trustees.
1100 Louisiana
Suite 4100
Houston, TX 77002
+1 713 751 3200
I looked to see if there was a connection with Josh Kamin and Abbie Kamin, Houston City Council District C, but did not find one. If you find a connection for this one or any others, let me know and I’ll update it (osers1115@gmail.com).
Womble Bond Dickinson
Womble Bond employs Joe Whitley out of their Atlanta office, who is a member of the Board of Trustees as well as a former US Attorney General.
811 Main Street
Suite 3130
Houston, TX, US 77002
+1 346 998 7801
Invesco
Invesco is a major donor to the Atlanta Police Foundation — the entity that is funding, and pushing forward, the Cop City project. An Invesco executive also serves on the Foundation’s board of trustees.
11 Greenway Plaza
Suite 1000
Houston, Texas 77046
+1 713 626 1919
Atlas Technical Consultants
Atlas Technical Consultants owns many smaller companies, such as Long Engineering, which has done work with Brasfield and Gorrie and the Cop City project.
2501 Central Pkwy
Ste A4
Houston, TX 77092
+1 713 331 8016
Side note: They also have an office in League City
Houston has a police training center too
The Tilman Family Tactical Training Center (44,000-square-foot, two-story facility) broke ground back in 2019. You can take a tour through the facility with this video, Houston Police put together.
This tactical center was funded by the Houston Police Foundation, which also has corporate representatives on the board.
Police training centers or foundations are not isolated from one city to the next. They all have a common goal of protecting capital and property from the masses.
Get involved
Besides doing the solidarity action as requested by the forest defenders above, you can get involved locally. Even if you’re in a suburb, you can participate from home. Everyone has a place in the movement.
https://twitter.com/defendATLforest/status/1624588151569121280?s=19
