Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms (D) excoriated those causing violence in Georgia’s capital city as protests turned to riots, stating that rioters are “disgracing” their city and “the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”
Angry demonstrators flocked to cities all around the country — from New York City to Louisville to Atlanta — in protest of the death of George Floyd. However, many of the protests have descended into violent chaos as protesters loot and vandalize buildings and businesses, set fires, assault police officers, and attempt to storm buildings – including the CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
Bottoms addressed the city’s descent into “chaos” on Friday, bluntly telling rioters that they are not acting in the spirit of the Civil Rights movement and are “disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”
“What I see happening on the street of Atlanta is not Atlanta,” Bottoms said, declaring that “this is not a protest.”
“This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose. When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn’t do this to our city,” she said, noting Atlanta’s legacy of minority leaders and business owners:
So if you love this city — this city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs and people who care about this city, where more than 50 percent of the business owners in metro Atlanta are minority business owners — if you care about this city, then go home.
“You’re not protesting anything running out with brown liquor in your hand breaking windows in this city. T.I., and Killer Mike own half the west side, so when you burn down this city, you’re burning down our community,” she said of the entertainers, who accompanied her during the presser.
“If you want change in America, go and register to vote. Show up at the polls on June 9. Do it in November. That is the change we need in this country,” she continued.
“You are disgracing our city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country,” she added. “We are better than this. We are better than this as a city, and we are better than this as a country.”
Bottoms emphasized that the rioters’ actions are “not the legacy of civil rights in America.”
“This is chaos, and we’re buying into it. This won’t change anything,” she stated:
Violence continued to erupt in Atlanta Friday night as protesters swarmed CNN’s headquarters, burning flags, destroying police vehicles, and spray-painting graffiti messages including “fuck Trump,” as Breitbart News detailed.