African American studies Ph.D. program to admit first students

and racial justice grounds. However, Atlanta approved plans later that month.

Officers have been deployed to the site multiple times to start construction, but have been unable to begin development due to protesters on the site.

In mid-January 2022, environmental activists living in the forest escorted several workers who had entered the forest with bulldozers to conduct soil boring and geotechnical engineering tests but lacked the paperwork legally required to do so.

Since December 2022, there have been two police raids attempting to remove protesters from the forest.

On Dec. 13, 2022, The Atlanta Police Department and Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested five environ- mental activists, who call themselves “forest defenders,” on domestic terrorism charges. The agencies reportedly found gasoline, explosive devices and road flares. While the forest is public land, it is considered trespassing if protesters fail to leave after being ordered to do so. The same day, law enforcement sprayed the forest defenders who were living in the forest with tear gas and forced them off Weelaunee Forest.

Police attempts to remove the protesters — which escalated to the use of chemical weapons — have resulted in the destruction of the forest’s bike and walking paths, community gardens and installations.

Then, on Jan. 18, police killed a forest defender.

The death of Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Terán

At the time of the Jan. 18 raid, Terán was living in the Weelaunee Forest to protest Cop City, which would be one of the largest police training facilities in the United States. At 85 acres, the complex will include shooting ranges, virtual reality shooting simulations, a burn building, neighborhoods and a mock city. Los Angeles and New York City — cities with two of the top three largest police departments in the country — use a 32-acre facility and 21-acre facility, respectively. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Police Department ranks No. 19 in size.

The moments leading up to Terán’s death have been called into question by activists. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation wrote in a Jan. 18 statement that Terán fired first, hitting a Georgia State Patrol trooper before other officers returned fire. Five days later, the Bureau confirmed that Terán legally purchased the firearm they used to shoot the trooper in 2020.

However, a lack of bodycam footage and contradicting witness accounts led to calls for further investigation. The Bureau responded in a Jan. 23 statement, saying that although the officers near the shooting were not wearing bodycams, footage of the aftermath was captured but has not been released.

In an article about the incident, journalist David Peisner — who spent six months in the forest getting to know Terán — said that although it is possible law enforcement is being truthful, officials have given “erroneous” narratives in the past after killings by police, citing

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