Project South

With everything unfolding this summer in Atlanta and across the country, our priority is simple: keep our people safe.

Project South alongside the ATL Get Ready Team is building a network of Sanctuary Zones, which are spaces committed to protecting community and not policing it.

In partnership with local businesses, churches, and community centers, we’re working toward 100 Sanctuary Zones across the city.

These are places that refuse to cooperate with ICE and will not call the police to criminalize or detain people for simply existing.

We hope to create a coordinated network that can respond in moments of crisis with care instead of harm.

We are stronger together. And together, we will win. ✊🏾

To sign up to be a Sanctuary Zone, visit: bit.ly/sanctuaryzone-atl

For more on the ATL Get Ready Team: https://atlgetready.my.canva.site/

📢 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: WHAT YOUTH SHOULD KNOW 📢

Atlanta, the World Cup is here, and while everyone is excited to be outside all summer, the city of Atlanta is gearing up by heightening youth policing and curfew enforcement.

If you're a young person attending events, it's important to know your rights.

📍 Know Atlanta's youth curfew rules.
📍 Be aware of increased social media monitoring.
📍 Know that Downtown Atlanta will have a no-drone zone during World Cup events.
📍 Remember: you have the right to remain silent, the right to ask if you're free to leave, and the right to a lawyer if arrested.

Community keeps us safe. Knowing your rights is one way we protect ourselves and each other.

📥 Download our YOUTH Know Your Rights Factsheet here: bit.ly/PSKYRY

❤️ Stay informed. Stay connected. Stay ready.

⚠️ Atlanta, the World Cup is here! ⚠️

👉🏾 Flip through this carousel for three important rights to know if you are stopped by a law enforcement agent!

🔗 Download our full Know Your Rights factsheet for more info on what to do if stopped by an officer: bit.ly/PSKYR

✊🏾 If you’re interested in recruiting or becoming a Sanctuary Zone this summer, visit: bit.ly/sanctuaryzone-atl

Alongside the matches, Atlanta and cities across the United States are hosting dozens of events, watch parties, and celebrations throughout the month. But with this increase in activity comes an increase in policing.

Atlanta has expanded its law enforcement presence, adding nearly 1,000 additional officers to the streets, including local, state, and federal agencies.

It's important to remember our city's history with large-scale sporting events. In the lead-up to the 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta experienced a dramatic increase in police raids, aggressive sweeps of unhoused communities, and the criminalization of poverty. More than 9,000 unhoused people were arrested, and thousands of low-income residents were displaced as the city worked to present a "world-class" image to the world.

As the World Cup unfolds across the United States, host cities are responding with expanded police presence, increased surveillance, and the deployment of militarized equipment in public spaces.

History shows that when large crowds, heightened security measures, and politically charged conditions converge, marginalized communities often bear the greatest impact through increased harassment, criminalization, and policing.

Atlanta is already one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the country. That's why it's critical for our communities to know our rights, look out for one another, and be prepared to respond when those rights are challenged.

At Project South, we know that community keeps us safe – that we keep us safe – and knowing your rights is the first step you can take to protect yourself and your community.

As part of the ATL Get Ready Team, we’ve been organizing Sanctuary Zones across the city, spaces that are committed to protecting our neighbors and people in our communities from criminalization, creating ICE-free and police-free spaces. Sanctuary Zones are another way we keep us safe.

Whether you're attending a match, gathering at a watch party, participating in an event, or simply moving through the city, being informed helps us care for one another and respond collectively when our rights are threatened.

This month let's make sure our communities are informed, prepared, and looking out for one another. ❤️

It’s the anniversary of the murder of Rayshard Brooks, and we're looking back at how his death changed our neighborhood.

This video from Project South's Juneteenth 2020 documents the caravan and park meet up we orchestrated to show solidarity with Brownsville and our surrounding South Atlanta community. It was the start of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Rayshard Brooks had just been murdered down the street from the Mutual Aid and Liberation Center. With the weight of it all, Project South wanted to spread love and light.

Six years later, we're working to orchestrate Sanctuary Zones that push back against the culture of criminalization that led to Brooks's murder.

You can learn more about Sanctuary Zones in the link in our bio.

Also, this year, the same as every year, we are celebrating Juneteenth. Join us Saturday, June 20th 1PM–4PM.

Remember Juneteenth! MALC Atlanta Caravan 2020 It was a beautiful afternoon as we spread love to our n...

On SATURDAY, JUNE 20th, come on down to South Atlanta and join Project South and the Hunger Coalition of Atlanta (HCA) for our Annual Juneteenth Celebration at our Mutual Aid Liberation Center @ 9 Gammon!

This year, as every year, we know the importance of celebrating together and uplifting the stories, history, and creativity of Black liberation movements.

Please register here: https://bit.ly/4v4j7uJ

Congrats to Project South's Azadeh N. Shahshahani!

This year, the Spirit of the IRC Award for Human Rights & Immigrant Justice Leadership will be presented to Azadeh N. Shahshahani. Serving as the Legal & Advocacy Director at Project South, Azadeh’s advocacy defends dignity, protects rights, and advances justice for immigrant communities. Her leadership reflects the courage and conviction that drive meaningful change, and we look forward to honoring her.

Today Georgia organizations sent out a press release saying "Not in Our Town or Anywhere: Social Circle Sues to Keep ICE Warehouse Out Of Community."

Organizations that signed on include:

Asian American Advancing Justice Atlanta
Detention Watch Network (DWN)
El Refugio
Indivisible Boldly Blue
Indivisible Georgia 10
North Decatur Action
North Georgia Community Action Network
Project South
The Rainbow Collective
50501 Georgia

La lucha sigue! No ICE here or anywhere!

Download the press release here: bit.ly/4tTkxXY