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The 2020 police killing of George Floyd launched the largest protests in U.S. history and a nationwide reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality. Now, Georgia鈥檚 Attorney General Chris Carr has shamefully invoked Floyd鈥檚 killing and the subsequent uprising in a sweeping criminal indictment of activists protesting a $90 million Atlanta police training center known as 鈥淐op City.鈥� Carr鈥檚 actions must be understood as extreme intimidation tactics that we need to resist. They must not set a precedent.

On September 5, Carr indictments against 61 people, alleging violations of the state鈥檚 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations () law, over ongoing efforts to halt construction of Cop City. Indicted activists, including a protest observer, face steep penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Three bail fund organizers face additional money laundering charges, and five people also face state charges.

The indictment鈥檚 theory is shocking, and its combination of charges is unprecedented.

Georgia鈥檚 legislature RICO to combat organized crime, not to punish protest, civil disobedience, or isolated crimes. Yet according to Carr, opposing construction of Cop City amounts to a criminal conspiracy under the state RICO statute. To make its case, the indictment relies on people鈥檚 beliefs and community organizing as the connective tissue for sweeping criminal liability. It devotes 25 pages to vilifying (DTAF), the grassroots movement opposing Cop City鈥檚 construction, identifying its 鈥渂eginnings鈥� in the nationwide protests against George Floyd鈥檚 murder and protests in Georgia against the police killing of Atlanta resident Rayshard Brooks, and calling out the movement鈥檚 鈥渁narchist ideals.鈥� It paints the provision of mutual aid, the advocacy of collectivism, and even the publishing of zines as hallmarks of a criminal enterprise. In doing so, it flies in the face of First Amendment protections for speech, assembly, and association.

While Carr wants to prosecute a protest movement as if it were a full-fledged organized crime ring, much of the alleged conduct is far less severe. For example, the indictment鈥檚 list of alleged criminal conduct repeatedly includes: people trying to occupy the forest in which Cop City would be built, reimbursements for protest supplies, and characterization of individuals attempting to join a 鈥渕ob鈥� to overwhelm the police. Even innocuous acts like buying food, writing 鈥�,鈥� or distributing flyers are made out to be the cornerstones of a nefarious criminal scheme.

To the extent that unlawful conduct such as property crimes could be alleged, Georgia prosecutors could have chosen to press those specific lesser charges. Instead, the indictment haphazardly sweeps many forms of opposition to Cop City, including speech, peaceful protest activities, and minor acts of civil disobedience, into felony violations of Georgia鈥檚 anti-racketeering law.

Indeed, Georgia officials have repeatedly chosen to escalate charges beyond any legitimate need. In March of this year, Georgia police stigmatized 42 Cop City activists with arrests for "domestic terrorism.鈥� This is exactly the kind of overreach rights groups and objected to when Georgia鈥檚 legislature amended the domestic terrorism law in 2017 to add a harsher punishment 鈥� up to 35 years 鈥� to property crimes that were already illegal, simply because of accompanying political expression critical of government policy. It鈥檚 chilling to see 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� charges formally levied against five people in the recent indictment.

Taken together, these disproportionate charges send a clear message: Think twice before voicing your dissent. Unfortunately, punitive intimidation tactics against civil rights, social justice, and environmental activists is not new. We do not forget that civil rights movement leaders like Rep. John Lewis and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were labeled and investigated, monitored, and often arrested 鈥� including 鈥� based on their organizing and civil disobedience in the pursuit of equality. If Georgia鈥檚 RICO and 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� laws had been available to prosecutors in the civil rights era, they could easily have been misused to persecute activists.

Today, there is legitimate concern that Georgia鈥檚 sweeping indictment could form a playbook for other prosecutors and state officials seeking to stifle political dissent. Several states now have RICO and domestic terrorism laws on the books. But Attorney General Carr鈥檚 actions must not set a precedent.

Instead, Georgia should honor a better precedent. Atlanta a critical hub of the modern civil rights movement 鈥� and the protection of protest is integral to both our rights and our democracy. Attorney General Carr鈥檚 trumped-up and excessive charges against Cop City activists should be dropped immediately.