Watching the Police
In Atlanta, a Race to Kiss the Ring of Police
The D.A. race in the ‘Black mecca’ reveals the cozy relationship between prosecutors and police unions, no matter how diverse
“Watching the Police” is a new GEN column about the movement to rethink policing in America. Malaika Jabali will examine how plans to defund, abolish, or otherwise reform the police are playing out in cities and police departments across the country.
“It’s basically Alien vs. Predator down here.” Brandyn Buchanan, chair of the Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America, was talking about the two remaining candidates in the race for district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, and he couldn’t find anything good to say about either of them.
Fulton County has jurisdiction over the city of Atlanta, where former police officer Garrett Rolfe fatally shot 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks twice on June 12 after Brooks had fallen asleep while allegedly inebriated in his car, blocking the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant. Two months later, the choices in the Democratic primary runoff came down to six-term incumbent Paul Howard, who was the first Black DA elected in Georgia, and Fani Willis, a Black woman who worked as a prosecutor in Howard’s office…
