South Cobb High students walked out for mass protests against ICE

Thousands of Georgia high school students walked out last Friday to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abuses, following a week of street protests across metro Atlanta and nationally.

At South Cobb High School last Friday afternoon, about 300 students walked out – undeterred by a Cobb County Schools notice that threatened them with suspension. Students said they felt a moral obligation to stand up for their fellow immigrant classmates and speak out after ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. They are also concerned about an onslaught of reported abuses of detainees in ICE custody.

→Read the full story here.

After the student walkouts on the afternoon of Jan. 30, anti-ICE protests sprang up that evening across Atlanta — including one near 3360 Buford Highway, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, that drew several hundred demonstrators before police issued a dispersal order around 7 p.m. 

Organizers were aiming for a general strike with the national Jan. 30 actions. That call has been growing over the past year at anti-Trump and, now, anti-ICE protests. On Jan. 23, an estimated 50,000 people in Minneapolis participated in an “ICE OUT” day general strike to protest the immigration crackdown and an ICE agent’s killing of Good — the first citywide general strike called in almost 80 years.

What is a general strike? It’s when workers in a single city or nationally refuse to work with the goal of forcing change by disrupting the economy. Marketplace recently published this helpful timeline of general strikes in the United States.

Prolific podcaster and NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway is encouraging Americans to “resist and unsubscribe” as part of a mass economic boycott.

Fulton County sues over FBI raid on elections office

Fulton County will challenge the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election records from the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center in federal court — and demand the return of the ballots and voter rolls, Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. announced Monday.

The FBI executed a search warrant signed by a federal judge to seize Fulton ballots and voter rolls on Jan. 28. President Donald Trump continues to claim — against all evidence proving otherwise — the 2020 presidential election in Georgia was stolen. 

“I’ve asked the county attorney to take any and all steps available to fight this criminal search warrant,” Arrington said in the statement. “The search warrant, I believe, is not proper, but I think that there are ways that we can limit it. We want to ask for forensic accounting, we want the documents to stay in the State of Georgia under seal, and we want to do whatever we can to protect voter information.”

Atlanta Press Club condemns federal attacks on free press

The Atlanta Press Club issued a statement on Jan. 31 condemning federal agents’ arrests of journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon on Jan. 29 for covering an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a pastor is also an ICE official. 

“The detention of members of the media while engaged in news gathering raises serious questions and risks creating a chilling effect on journalism nationwide,” the group said. It also condemned the arrests of local activists Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy at the Cities Church protest. 

US Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the arrests, accusing the four of “attacking” the church.

Track Georgia legislation on housing and democracy

The Georgia legislature kicked off the second year of its biennial session on Jan. 12, and Atlanta Civic Circle is tracking bills related to democracy, labor and housing.

We’ll be adding bills to our tracker and updating their progress periodically. For now, here’s a look at what we’re following under the Gold Dome.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Kindred Futures report on climate resilience in Atlanta


If the recent freeze has you thinking about how to better protect your home from extreme conditions, a new report from Kindred Futures is a worthwhile read.


Kindred Futures—whose work focuses on policy solutions to close the Black wealth gap across the Deep South—looks at what it takes for Black Atlantans to lower utility bills and be financially prepared for extreme cold, flooding, and other climate-related disruptions.


For the report, Kindred Futures partnered with Atlanta POV, an initiative of Atlanta Civic Circle and Neighborhood Nexus to survey South Atlanta residents about barriers to participating in the city’s weatherization programs—and how concerned they are about future extreme-weather events.


→ Read the full report here.

E-bike rebate program is returning 

The Atlanta City Council on Monday renewed a successful e-bike rebate program that aims to get Atlantans riding bikes instead of driving. However, the amounts of the city’s rebates this  year to Atlantans buying e-bikes has not yet been determined.

Last year the program awarded income-qualified Atlantans a $1,500 rebate for a standard e-bike and $2,000 for a cargo e-bike. Other residents could receive rebates of $500 for a standard e-bike and $1,000 for a cargo e-bike.

The Atlanta Regional Commission will handle the application process and Propel ATL will handle outreach and education. When applications will open for rebates is still to be determined. 

Today’s Democracy Digest was written by Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and edited by Meredith Hobbs. As always, thank you for reading and supporting local journalism.