The Rayshard Brooks Peace Center aims to become a community owned home for programs to support local youth, economic development, distribution of fresh food, and peace and strengthening the community said The Sleep-in Activists for the Rayshard Brooks Memorial Site.
For two weeks, the Sleep-in Activists have been canvassing the community to inform them of the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center and to sign a petition supporting the Peace Center, in memory of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who died after being shot by Atlanta Police officer, Garrett Rolfe, in the Wendy’s parking lot.
I met with the activists as they reconvened from the canvass Saturday night, August 8. “Lady A,” the main activist behind the Sleep-in Activists and the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center, said they have collected just about 400 signatures in the two Saturdays they have canvassed in the Pittsburgh and Peoplestown neighborhoods, totaling 1,200 signatures.
“Lady A,” her nickname for safety and security reasons, has lived in the area for over 25 years. She recounted what they have been up to at the Wendy’s after Rayshard Brooks’ death.
According to her and Leonard Dungee, with Cure Violence Atlanta, they reported bearing arms in response to sightings of white supremacist agitators at the Wendy’s.
If you did not get to visit the Peace Center before it was dismantled by order of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, you would have seen outdoor tents, showers for the homeless, a community garden, neighbors grilling up meats to feed hundreds every week. The community space was working as they intended, refuge for homeless Black boys who sought a safer place to sleep and eat.
“But [the media and politicians] won’t tell you the good that did happen when we were at the [Wendy’s],” say organizers Lady A and Dungee, “Only the bad, and that’s why we are canvassing; so far, nobody has heard of it. I’d say almost 100% of the people we have talked to signed the petition after we explained.”
Peoplestown has organized before. On August 18, 2016, Georgia State finalized the purchase of Turner Field stadium with no commitment to the specific community benefits agreement the surrounding neighborhoods were asking for.
As a Pittsburgh resident and Georgia State student, I worked alongside my neighbors and Georgia State students to demand that Georgia State University President Mark Becker agree to the community benefits agreement. Now is the perfect opportunity for Becker to speak up and stand with our Black neighbors. Even just expressing support for the peace center would help elevate the work that “Lady A” is doing.
Alternatively, Becker could also spare a few pennies from the $21 million Center Parc Stadium agreement towards the peace center. If you want to help, attend their rally on August 29 across from the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center, formerly known as Wendy’s at 125 University Ave SW.
“That car has driven past 5 times,” pointed out of the organizers. “The hood is woke – that’s your story!” Dungee said. Shortly after I left, they called and informed me two Georgia State troopers pulled in on them.
