Manuel Esteban Paez Terán. Born April 23, 1996, to Venezuelan parents, Terán lived their life as a passionate environmental activist with eager ambitions to protect the forest. Nicknamed Tortuguita, they became well-known in local activist groups and brightened spirits whenever possible. In fact, their efforts to heal the people around them went as far as hosting an aid group and a shelter for the homeless. Any person who knew Tortuguita on a personal level would agree that their soul reflected a beautiful one. Unfortunately, law enforcement cut their life short on January 18, 2023, when police officers shot Terán 14 times. Despite the Georgia Bureau of Investigation claiming that Tortuguita shot at a trooper first, body-cam footage revealed that the trooper suffered from friendly fire and their autopsy later revealed that they died sitting in a cross-legged position with their hands up. At the time of the shooting, Terán stood their ground in trying to stop the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as Cop City. Tortuguita died at 26 years old.

The construction and ideation of Cop City remain detrimental to nationwide activists and local Atlanta residents. In the midst of national protests and demands for police reform, the Atlanta Police Foundation began to curate plans for a training center in 2015. After 6 years of deliberating, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a plan that would turn the Weelaunee Forest into an 85-acre training center that would include a shooting range, a horse barn and a mock village with a nightclub and excessive housing. Despite immediate retaliation from environmental activists and racial justice groups, the Atlanta city council greenlit the $90-million project in September 2021.

Although the majority of Atlanta residents disagreed with the initial proposal of the training center, with around 70% of surveyed citizens opposing its construction, the minority group still prevailed in their opinion. A large number of supporters for Cop City generally live in the Buckhead and Northeast Atlanta area and wanted to stop an “uptick in crime” or else they would leave the city entirely. However, their line of reasoning seems distorted as Buckhead remains disproportionately White and wealthy in comparison to neighboring areas of Atlanta. Whereas police use of force remains staggeringly low in the Northeast Atlanta area, the rest of Atlanta combats instances of police brutality on a daily basis.

Ever since the training center began as an idea in 2015 and sprouted its way into construction in 2022, Cop City has acted as an issue that intersects with a variety of marginalized groups. For example, investing $90 million into a center primarily used by police officers seems unnecessary. The Atlanta Police Department already receives the highest amount of funding from the city with $235.7 million, yet it still needed approval and additional funding for the construction of its unique training center. Sure enough, the police department fundraised $60 million as it begged for corporate funding from the likes of Delta, UPS, the Home Depot, Waffle House and several other Atlanta businesses.

Instead of providing proper funding for other important issues such as Atlanta’s widening wealth gap and its housing crisis, it allows the proposal of a training center that several describe as Six Flags for Cops. In fact, Cop City may actually push away residents from local neighborhoods due to its noisy environment and its shooting range. The surrounding neighborhoods would suffer from additional noise and air pollution, but the possible pollutants remain far from the only reason environmental activists remain outraged about the Training Center.

Described as one of the four “Lungs of Atlanta”, the South River Forest (SRF) acts as a vital necessity for greenspace expansion in Atlanta. From its preserved natural areas to its significance in culture and ecology, several environmental activists view the protection of this forest as a way to tackle the impacts of climate change. Yet, in addition to excessive spending and potential police enforcement, the proposal of Cop City violates greenspace requirements and will breach SRF property. Local activists such as Manuel Terán continue to protest the protection of the SRF property and stop Cop City by setting up treehouses and tents near its construction.

“First of all, it’s detrimental to the environment. It’s based in a forest in Atlanta and our planet is already dying and Cop City will only add flame to a fire. Forests help combat climate change and there’s a niche community of forest goers in Atlanta. Yet, they’ve already destroyed valuable resources, water, and human life. Secondly, it’s built near a predominantly Black neighborhood and it’s being funded by Conservatives,” North Paulding High School sophomore Jordan McFadden said.

Due to the aforementioned history of the South River Forest, Native Americans also feel challenged by the destruction of their stolen land. According to the history of Muscogee Creek peoples, their tribe resided in what they call the Welaunee Forest, located in the same forest Cop City supporters want to place their amusement park. In the early 1900s, lawmakers stole this land from its original owners, used it as a plantation and later rebranded it as a prison farm. Now, current lawmakers want to place a large training center for police officers on the same land, showcasing how history acts as a continuous loop rather than a straight line of progress.

If the first phase of the Public Safety Training Center successfully opens late 2023, the number of residents and oppressed groups it would negatively harm remain shockingly high. Yet, in order to successfully combat the evils of Cop City, protestors and Welaunee Forest defenders need to maintain peace in order to garner positive publicity for their outstanding cause. Due to the actions of a handful of people, the Atlanta Police Department unfairly charged 23 people with domestic terrorism for clashing with a construction site of the upcoming center. Although their call for action will positively help a plethora of people, protestors around the nation need to raise their voices and demand a change within the system.

“The money being used to build Cop City could be used for other purposes like helping homelessness. Also, the training demonstrations they plan to institute are very unnecessary, like bomb ranges and helicopter pads. I think that Cop City will further the rationalization of police brutality within the US. If there’s one ‘Cop City’ built, how many more will there be,” junior Brenna Schmoock said.

On March 25, 2023, forest defenders and protesters held a powerfully symbolic form of protest outside the Georgia State Capital. At the protest, people sat down on Liberty Plaza pavement in a cross-legged position with their hands raised up to the sky. Event staff members went around to every participant in the rally to mark a red X on their hands in order to symbolize the exit wounds found in Terán. As protestors sat down in the same way Tortuguita did before their unfortunate death, several speakers such as Belkis Téran, the mother of Manuel Téran, and the mother of a 12-year-old boy killed by Paulding County deputies talked about their personal experiences with police officers. While these people sat down under a blazing sun for over two hours, a myriad of people showed up to protect the Welaunee Forest and seek justice for Terán and other victims of police brutality. In this peaceful form of rallying against the controversial training center, Welaunee Forest defenders emphasized their call for justice as they chanted “Viva Viva Tortuguita” and claimed that the world wanted to deem them as rioters. The successful construction of Cop City not only impacts mothers and fathers, but it remains detrimental to local working-class Black citizens, Native Americans, environmental activists and the environment itself. Cop City acts as an institution that harms an intersection of marginalized communities in Georgia and its influence will impact the nation.

¡Viva Viva Tortuguita!