Coverage by Gabriel Ossa, Ricky Sweeting, Joshua Crump, Judith Y. Kim and Hagen McMenemy
Editor’s Note: We published an earlier version of this story that was inadequate and substantially diminished. We added more information and important details into this story and have made the following changes:
“Rioting is the language of the unheard.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On Friday May 29, 2020, organizers for #AtlForUs intended a peaceful protest and march to the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The plan was to meet downtown at Centennial Olympic Park around 3 p.m., rally up, then begin the march to the Capitol at 3:45 p.m.
At 4:20 p.m., the crowd held a brief moment of silence, then began marching back to Centennial Olympic Park around 5:30 p.m.
The original protest, which ended in Centennial Olympic Park around 6:30 p.m. was successful. The organizers said their final thoughts, prayers were exchanged, people hugged each other, and then the crowd dispersed.
Unfortunately, a large crowd that gathered around the CNN Center metamorphosed into something else. The air shifted once someone threw a brick through a window of the CNN building. You could hear the shattering of the building’s thick glass.
Law enforcement officers apparently boxed off the building’s entrance to the best of their abilities, but the numbers eventually overwhelmed them. At the same time that officers tried to shut down the CNN center, their vehicles were destroyed by protesters of all races, which resulted in one cop car catching fire.
What do you do when every cry for change and peace are not heard? What do you do when your frustration from oppression boils out of control?
The Atlanta riot that occurred on May 29 materialized from the recent decades of pain and hurt Black people have suffered through seeing many of their own people murdered without justice. Rioting is a specific type of reactionary protest that materializes when more peaceful forms have been deemed inefficient or ineffective. While we do not condone violence, we do understand why these riots are occurring.
Closer to 7 p.m., the shatter was heard ’round the city as people either took off to their homes or stayed. What followed thereafter became a night of chaos, violence, tear gas and fire – but more importantly felt – of utter rage and despair.
The city was loud with burglary and fire alarms alike going off, people screaming, gunshots firing into the sky and shouts of protest and tear gas grenades hissing.
The looting of businesses across Atlanta was rampant Friday night, as protestors of all races broke in and destroyed stores at Lenox Mall, Phipps Plaza and areas around downtown. Many people say that the riots aren’t helping anything. They’re right.
However, many Black people do not care about being right anymore. Being “right” did not help Breonna Taylor when she was murdered in her own home by the police while she was sleeping.
Combine the racial frustration with the COVID-19 pandemic that has millions unemployed, and you have chaos.
Will the protests and riots end anytime soon?
We don’t know, but we do know it’s possibile that if true justice is served for Ahmaud Arbery, Taylor and George Floyd, Black people may put some faith back into the system. True justice [in case people forget] is a fair trial and ultimately an actual conviction.
By about 12:10 a.m., the streets were clear of many rioters; the fires, extinguished. Every now and then you’d hear another thundering shatter of glass, an after-effect of broken building windows.
An ambulance siren or law enforcement horn would ring about twice an hour, but for the most part, Atlanta could sleep.
Though the rioters and looters were an unintended consequence from the protest itself, at least this much is ensured: Not only were they heard – loud and clear – they were felt, too.
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3 Comments
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