Before “Riots”: Black Dissent, Policing in Atlanta, and the Myth of the “City Too Busy to Hate,” 1968-1981 公开
Perron, Hannah (Spring 2022)
Published
Abstract
Before “Riots”: Black Dissent, Policing in Atlanta, and the Myth of the “City Too Busy to Hate,” 1968-1981 examines Black dissent to police abuse, overreach, and neglect in Atlanta, beginning with the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and culminating with the Atlanta Child Murders. This thesis argues that in response to continuous police abuse, unnecessary intervention, and neglect, Black Atlantans employed a multitude of nonviolent means to raise awareness about and end police oppression, but these efforts were actively suppressed by local police and government. This thesis will examine Black Atlantans’ pushback against racist policing through protest, small rebellions, litigation, and self-defense initiatives. This work will argue that the police and city government did not simply fail to respond to Black dissent, but rather played an active role in silencing and suppressing it. This suppression took on many forms, including legal punishments, physical injury, attempts to gaslight, and liberal rhetoric designed to quell criticisms of racist policing. This thesis argues that rhetoric bolstering the “city too busy to hate” myth worked to perpetuate the myth for a favorable public image, which required the termination of Black dissent drawing attention to racism and policing problems in Atlanta. The myth of Atlanta as a “city too busy to hate” itself played a role in the suppression of dissent, distracting from the oppression of Black Atlantans by police and serving as a counter and silencer of valid criticisms of policing. By exploring Black pushback against policing in Atlanta, this thesis endeavors to come to a new understanding of urban unrest as preceded by and the result of the persistent suppression of Black dissent.
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….…1
1) The City Too Busy to Care: Police Brutality, and the Failures of Peaceful Protest, 1969-1973…………………………………………………………………………………………….23
2) A Pendulum Swings: Black Self-Advocacy, Intervention, and the Failures of Small Rebellions………………………………………………………………………...……………52
3) Carte Blanche: Courts as a Means of Challenging Police Abuse and the Implicit Endorsement of Unbridled Police Power………………………………………………………………………. 81
4) The Atlanta Child Murders: The Limits of Black Leadership and the Opposition to Self-Defense…………………………………………………………………………………………106
Conclusion………………………………………………………………..……………………129
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….………..134
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Before “Riots”: Black Dissent, Policing in Atlanta, and the Myth of the “City Too Busy to Hate,” 1968-1981 () | 2022-04-29 15:47:32 -0400 |
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