The Time is NOW: Close the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC)!

Upon learning of the City’s decision to allocation a whopping $18 Million Dollars towards the Atlanta City Detention Center–a building that is nearly empty and that is slated for closure–and in the current climate of a public health pandemic and the national call to defund jails and the police, Women Watch Afrika and like-minded organizations held a rally on June 10th.

The rally was to a Call to Action, seeking to hold the city of Atlanta to its word (that it would close the ACDC)–it is time to demolish the jail for good.  It is time that the city put action to its words.  Glory Kilanko, Founder and Executive Director of Women Watch Afrika spoke at the rally, calling for the reallocation the $18 Million to the communities affected by mass incarceration and centuries of injustice.  Additionally, in this current climate of police brutality and racial injustice, it is necessary to call for a $0 budget for the Atlanta Department of Corrections for the FY2021.

The City’s commitment to close and repurpose the jail is not enough as just words; moreover, said commitment cannot be reconciled with the City’s decision to allocate millions of dollars to its operation in 2021.

It is imperative now more than ever, that there must be an end tot he criminalization and incarceration of Black people and poor people of color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

#EnoughIsEnough #CommunitiesOverCages #Defund #Demolish #CloseTheJailATL