Atlanta City Mayor Speech [2020 George Floyd Protests]

I didn't want to come and I don't want to
Be here i'm the son of an
Atlanta City police officer
My cousin is an Atlanta City
Police officer and my
Other cousin is an East Point police officer

I've got a lot of love
And respect for police officers
Down to the original eight
Police officers in Atlanta
That even after becoming police had to
Dress in a YMCA because white officers didn't
Want to get dressed with niggas

Here we are eighty years later
I watched a white officer assassinate
A black man and I
Know that tore your heart out and I know
It's crippling and I have nothing
Positive to say in
This moment because I don't want to be here

But I'm responsible to be here
Because it wasn't just Dr king and people
Who dressed nicely who marched and protested
To progress in this city
And so many other cities it
Was people like my grandmother people
Like my aunt and uncles
Who were members of the
SCLC and NAACP and in particular Rev james
Orange, Mrs alice Johnson and Rev love
Who we just lost last year

So I'm duty-bound to be here to simply say
That it is your duty not to
Burn your own house down for anger with
An enemy it is your duty
To fortify your own house so that you
May be a house of refuge in
Times of organization and now is the
Time to plot, plan, strategize, organize
And mobilize

It is time to beat up
Prosecutors you don't like at
The voting booth it is time to hold your
Mayoral officials accountable
Chiefs and deputy
Chiefs atlanta's not perfect
But we a lot better than we ever were
And we a lot better than cities are

I'm mad as hell i woke up wanting
To see the world burn down yesterday
Because I'm tired of seeing black men die
He casually put his knee on
A human being's neck for nine minutes as
He died like a zebra in
The clutch of a lion's jaw and
We watch it like murder porn
Over and over again

So that's why children are burning it to the
Ground they don't know what else to
Do and it is the responsibility of us
To make this better right now

We don't want to see one officer charged we
Want to see four officers
Prosecuted and sentenced

We don't want to see Target's burning
We want to see the
System that sets up for systemic
Racism burnt to the ground

And as I sit here in
Georgia, home of Stephens Georgia, former
Vice President of the Confederacy white
Man said that law, fundamental
Law stated that whites were naturally the
Superior race and the Confederacy
Was built on a cornerstone, it's
Called the cornerstone speech
Look it up the cornerstone speech that
Blacks would always be subordinate that
Officer believed that speech
Because he killed that man like an animal

In this city, officers have
Done horrendous things
And they have been prosecuted this
City's cut different in
This city you can find
Over 50 restaurants owned
By 50 black women i didn't say minority
And I didn't say women of color
So after you burn down your
Own home what do you have
Left but char and ash?

I'm glad they only took down the sign
And defaced a building and they
Not killing human beings like that policeman
Did i'm glad that they only
Destroyed some brick and mortar
And they didn't rip a father from a son
They didn't rip a son from a
Mother like the policeman did

When a man yells for his mother in duress and
Pain and she's dead, he's
Essentially yelling "Please God
Don't let it happen to me"
And we watched that

So my question for us on the other side
Of this camera, is that after it burns
Will we be left with char? Or
Will we rise out like a
Phoenix of the ashes that Atlanta has always
Done will we use this as a
Moment to say that we will not
Do what other cities have done
And in fact we will get
Better than we've been

We got good enough to destroy cash bonds
You don’t have to worry about
Going to jail for something petty we
Got smart enough to decriminalize
Marijuana how smart are we going to
Be in the next 15 to
20 years, to keep us ahead
Of this curve so that, much like when South
Africa suffered apartheid
You had Andy and other politicians
That could make sure that Atlanta
Said, "Coca-Cola, we love you, but
If you don’t pull out of South Africa
We’re going to leave we’re
Not going to drink Coca-Cola anymore"
Coca-Cola jumped on their side
And apartheid ended

So, we have an opportunity now because
I’m mad i don’t have any
Good advice what I can tell
You is that if you
Sit in your homes tonight instead of
Burning your home to the
Ground, you will have time to
Properly plot, plan, strategize
And organize and mobilize in an effective way

Two of the most effective
Ways is first taking
Your butt to the computer and making
Sure you fill out your Census so that
People know who you are and
Where you are the next thing is making
Sure you exercise your political bully power
And going to local elections and beating up
The politicians that you don’t like

You got a prosecutor that sent
Your partner to jail
And you know it was bullshit? Put a
New prosecutor in there now’s your
Election to do it you want a
Different senator that’s more progressive
That’s puts marijuana through? Now is
The time to do that
But it is not time to burn down your own home

I love and I respect you i hate I don’t
Have more to say i hate I can’t
Fix it in a snap i hate Atlanta’s not
Perfect for as good as we are but
We have to be better than this moment we
Have to be better
Than burning down our own homes because if we
Lose Atlanta
What else we got? We lose an ability
To plot, to plan, to strategize, to organize
And to properly mobilize

I want you to go home i
Want you to talk to 10
Of your friends i want you guys
To come up with real
Solutions i would like for the Atlanta
City police department to bring back
The community review board, one that
Alice Johnson was formerly under
Under Chief Turner

We need a review board here because we
Need to get ahead of it before
An officer does some stupid shit we
Need to get ahead of it

That’s my recommendation to my mayor
And my chief let’s
Get a review board let’s get ahead of it
And let’s give them power

We don’t need an officer that
Makes a mistake once, twice, three
Times and finally he kills a
Boy on national TV
And the next thing you know
The country is burning down

We don’t need a dumb-ass
President repeating what
Segregation has said if you start looting
We start shooting
But, the problem is, some officers black
And some people going
To shoot back and, that’s not
Good for our community, either

I love and respect you all i hope that we
Find a way out of it because I don’t
Have the answers, but I do know we must
Plot we must plan we
Must strategize, organize, and mobilize

Thank you for allowing me some time to
Speak i’d like to appreciate our chief
Of what she said on YouTube i thought it was
Very bold to do i’d like to appreciate our
Mayor for talking to us like a black mama
And telling us to take our ass at
Home, and I’d like to thank my friends
For convincing me to come here and
I defer to Joe Beasley now because he knows a
Hell of a lot more than we do

Thank you all