The Georgia State Assembly has sent a clear message to organizers in the movement for Black lives growing in our city of Atlanta. Amid the backdrop of heightened activism around Stop Cop City and the Palestinian liberation movement, we are now seeing aggressive efforts by lawmakers to criminalize all aspects of the resistance. 

For instance, House Bill 30 was just signed into law that strengthens the state’s ability to criminalize anti-semitic rhetoric in public institutions, such as governmental bodies, and colleges. The definition provided for anti-semitism is:

a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

On the face of this definition, I must agree that the abolition of anti-semitic hatred and violence is mandatory for any true liberation. As many of my friends know, I have recently traveled to Poland, toured Auschwitz, and learned much more of the great historical horrors founded on the Jewish people.

As a social scientist and a policy researcher, my worries lie in the power state officials grants themselves in HB 30 to interpret this law, particularly in contexts of resistance to Palestine genocide.

I have already seen the ripple effects in my own professional life.

Folks (largely moderate whites) are terrified to speak on the humanitarian crises forged by imperial militaristic forces in the West, such as Israel and the U.S. Myself and several others, largely Black women, trans folk, and other womxn of color, have recently been silenced from speaking openly about the genocide.

Even as we pleaded publicly that we must fight for our human right to free speech, and to stand against oppression, we still remain censored. And allegedly, I have been reported to an institutional superior multiple times for my “erratic behavior.”

I know this isn’t exclusive to my institution, and worry that interpretations of this law will lend itself to silencing oppressed peoples who want truth and justice. I stand in solidarity with Palestinians organizing in our city, and my beautiful Arab friends who are courageous in defense of their people.

In another recent signing, Republican state legislatures passed along party lines a bill to tighten the cash bail system. Senate Bill 63 limits any “individual, corporation, organization, charity, nonprofit corporation, or group” from bailing any more than three people per year, while also adding close to 30 new categories that will require cash bail – over half for “non-violent” quality of life offenses.

No doubt this policy will be felt most by poor Black folks in our city. Already Black Atlantans account for 90 percent of arrests in the city, and half of all APD arrests are for minor offenses (per the Police Scorecard). In a recent report made by WABE radio, a policy such as SB63 will likely lead to folks sitting in jail unnecessarily:

In 2022, Sherry Baird and her beloved Shih Tzu named Onyx were giving a friend a ride, when police pulled her over and then booked her into the DeKalb County Jail.

“[Onyx] went everywhere with me and she would cry if she couldn’t come with me,” Baird said, describing their relationship. 

A judge granted Baird a $10,000 bond, but she couldn’t afford it. So, Baird spent the next five weeks behind bars. 

When she was finally released, officials allegedly told Baird that Onyx had been taken to a local animal shelter and adopted. She says she’s still distraught about it. 

“That’s not the way that it was explained to me,” Baird said. “I’m overwhelmed with guilt that I let her down.”

Court records show Baird has still not been indicted for the crime she was accused of; however, the now-60-year-old woman believes that if the national nonprofit Bail Project hadn’t posted her bail, she’d still be in jail two years later.

Ask yourself, are you made safer by laws that degrade 60 year old women in this way? To target efforts by collectives, such as non-profit bail funds is an act of state-sanctioned violence, as it limits the ability of the community to free our people from unjust processes. This is a clear threat ending mass incarceration in our city. 

Senate Bill 359 has also been introduced to the docket, which will expand the number of charges punishable under the “Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act,” to include several petty issues, such as trespass, littering, distributing posters, signs and leaflets in restricted areas, disrupting a funeral or memorial service and loitering or prowling. Testifying against the measure, Ben Lynde, policy counsel with the ACLU of Georgia, argued that civil disobedience may be interpreted in ways that favors the agenda of the conservative state legislature.  

Certainly, just another blatant attempt to silence the intersectional movement that Atlanta is now leading across the country and beyond.