Tonight we are in the streets demanding justice for our comrade Tortuguita, murdered in the Atlanta Forest during the #StopCopCity action.
"I remember Tortugita as one of the softest and most generous people in the woods, a perpetually positive presence, ready with a smile and anything else they could offer to brighten your day. They were an optimist, assuming the best of people and demonstrating through their own actions just how good humans can be. I miss them already. Condolences and solidarity to all their family, friends, and comrades. We lost one of our best." (source)
The actual information about how Tortugita died is unclear and blatantly false. They fought for a new world, free of the brutality of policing and embracing the possibilities of returning land to nature. We wish this were a unique story, but it is not. Many environmental activists have been murdered in the past ten years as global capitalism beings to understand that its days are numbered.
Via friends on the ground:
NYC2ATL Stop Cop City Solidarity Statement
We remember the indigenous murdered by police and military
We remember the black and brown people murdered by police and military
We remember the activists murdered by police and military
We remember the immigrants murdered by police and military
We remember all people murdered by police and military
WE ARE HERE TODAY TO SAY NO TO COP CITY
WE ARE HERE TO SAY THE TIME IS NOW TO ABOLISH THE POLICE
Police have always murdered in our communities, and we want a community grounded in care, not murderous policing.
In New York City, those in power claim new jails will make cages humane. In Atlanta, the heads of Fortune 500 companies, Delta, Waffle House, Home Depot, Georgia Pacific, Equifax, Carter, Accenture, Wells Fargo, and UPS, tell us that Cop City will make policing humane. Capitalism demands the 90 billion training facility and Hollywood studio be built, to capture our lives and imaginations in the carceral state. Humanity is not present in the acts of caging, traumatizing, and murdering our neighbors. Reform is impossible--the institution of policing is only capable of committing continued violence against our communities. Abolition of policing and the carceral state is the only path to our collective safety and freedom.
From Tibbet's Tail in the Bronx to East River Park to Riker's Island to Jacob Riis Beach, new york city - the unceded land of Lenapehoking - feels the pressure of state-capital forces devouring our space and lives. The battle in Weelaunee Forest resonates deeply with new yorkers who understand the desperation to protect the spaces where animals, plants, fungi, soil, and water entangle to make worlds together. The loss of Tortuguita, who spent their life protecting these spaces and making homes for their Queer & Trans & Black & Indigenous kin wounds us deeply. We will carry their legacy, woven into the history of all who struggle to birth our new world. Police abolition and community land stewardship are the inevitable futures we are building together. Tonight, we mourn and rage together against the police, military, and the state whose existence is fueled by the destruction of our spaces, our comrades, and our kin. ¡Tortuguita vive, la lucha sigue!
Support Tortuguita’s family at this tragic moment: https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-family-of-manuel-tortuguita-paez-teran
Little Turtles War: https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2023/little-turtles-war-cop-city-atlanta
The Forest for the Trees: https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/the-forest-for-the-trees-atlanta-prison-farm
