Six years ago, former Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel proposed a ninety million dollar police academy in West Garfield Park, a majority African-American neighborhood. The facility, also supported by current Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, would include a fake urban block for the Chicago Police Department to practice paramilitary maneuvers. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Foundation has leased 381 acres of the Weelaunee Forest to construct a corporate-funded police training facility, with military-grade shooting ranges. Both construction projects have inspired fierce protests from police reform and police abolition activists. Benji Hart has written for Time, Teen Vogue and In These Times on black radicalism, queer liberation and prison abolition.
West Garfield Neighborhood, Chicago Benji HartPhoto of Welaunee Forest by Crowina, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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