Demand Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Veto City Ordinance 20-O-1653

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    Demand Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Veto City Ordinance 20-O-1653

    five reasons to oppose the ordinance.

    On 11/2/2020 City Council Members voted in favor of this measure

    We are now demanding that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms veto the ordinance! 

    In response to a reported increase in “street racing” in the city of Atlanta, Councilmember Michael Julian Bond is attempting to roll back the city’s hard-won bail reform and put more Black people in jail. His ordinance 20-O-1653 will label people arrested for certain traffic offenses as “violent,” and it mandates that individuals are held in jail for up to 48 hours and potentially have to pay their own ransom (aka bail) to be released. 

    Nearly 160,000 incarcerated people and staff have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 1,002 have died. 

    Black and Brown communities across the nation continue to be disproportionately over-represented in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths— many of whom died trapped in jails and prisons, and other places of detention. Councilmember Bond’s ordinance is an unacceptable expansion of criminalization, particularly when the city has not tried other solutions first. 

    The ordinance is extremely broad and would give police officers enormous discretion to challenge bail reform through traffic offenses. This measure targets Black residents and if passed, it will certainly lead to more incarceration, financial penalties, and daily hardship for Black people. 

    That’s why we’re making our demand clear to Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, 

    Veto ordinance 20-O-1653, make NO new amendments to bail reform, and stop turning to the criminal legal system to solve every challenge

    Thank you for signing the petition demanding Atlanta's elected officials build a better future for our communities.

     

    Below is the letter we will send to Atlanta's Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottom: 

    Here is the Petition:

    We are calling on elected officials in Atlanta to take real steps to mitigate the public health crisis caused by broken windows policing during the pandemic. As a Black Mayor in a predominately Black city, you have the power to ensure our communities no longer have to suffer through deadly violence, harassment, and continual abuse from law enforcement. 

    The time to act is now. We demand you veto city ordinance (20-O-1653). You have the power to divest from police and invest in our communities. It is crucial to the well-being of all our neighbors and we must create the conditions that support everyone to thrive.

     Sincerely, 

    [Your Name]