The indictment of 61 protesters in Atlanta, Georgia, on racketeering charges last month sparked instantaneous outrage. The protesters were part of a movement known alternatively as Stop Cop City and Defend The Forest — aimed at blocking the development of a $90 million police training facility that would have destroyed acres of the Weelaunee Atlanta forest.
In the first part of our reporting on this case, we focused on the unprecedented nature of using an organized crime statute in a civil disobedience case and the surprise appearance of George Floyd in the indictment. But there’s another name in this indictment that set off major alarm bells: Thomas Webb Jurgens.
Who Is Thomas Webb Jurgens, and Why Does It Matter?
Jurgens, 28, a civil rights attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), was indicted along with the other 61 protesters as an alleged co-conspirator. During the Cop City protests, Jurgens was serving as a legal observer, someone who advises organizers on how to stay within the bounds of the law and works to protect protesters from law enforcement and document their actions.
Janie Williams, an organizer and former criminal defense attorney based in New York City, says Jurgen’s indictment should be a “wake-up call” that no one is safe from prosecution. “They are being indicted for standing there and doing their job,” says Williams. “They’re saying anyone, I don’t care who you are, I don’t care if you have a constitutional right to be here and observe our actions, you too will be indicted for just standing there watching our violence. We will indict you as a wake-up call for many, a reminder for others, no one is safe.”
The fact that Jurgens was arrested while doing his job as a legal observer, is unheard of, says Paul Henderson, a former San Francisco Prosecutor. “That is not something I’ve ever seen before,” he says. “I’ve never seen a role like that challenged.”
The fact that even local authorities (who aren’t exactly progressive) disagreed with this indictment says everything you need to know, says Henderson. “It’s telling to me that local authorities, who have the authority to charge him, did not charge him, and questioned his charging,” says Henderson. “That is a big deal.”
The concern, says Henderson, is that it could deter people from providing critical aid to protesters. “It has an absolute chilling effect,” he says.
This Is An Escalation
Williams, says this indictment is a clear escalation. “If anyone has a question about where the government is overtly headed, this indictment spells it out very very clearly,” she says.
Throughout the United States, lawmakers have been steadily passing laws aimed at targeting racial justice protesters. Over the last five years, 21 states have enacted 42 laws restricting the right to protest, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law. While many of these laws have targeted the Black Lives Matter movement, others have gone after Indigenous-led environmental movements.
“[The indictment] is an escalation,” says Williams, but it didn’t come out no-where. “Anytime we see in history that we link up and we find ourselves together to fight the same thing... they go after the movements, they go after it with force.”
Citizens in Atlanta deserve the right to question an investment of this scale, says Henderson, who serves as Director of San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability.
“We’re talking about specifically in Atlanta city, they are making a [$30 million] investment to train cops in one of the cities with the broadest income inequality in the country,” he says, “while ignoring so many other needs and demands being made by the community.” Instead of addressing those concerns, the state is using a law enforcement-first approach.
What Happens If This Succeeds?
ACLU of Georgia Policy Director Christopher Bruce says this indictment isn’t just an issue for Georgians. If Georgia can get away with this, prosecutors will use this against Black Lives Matter protesters, LGBTQ+ protesters, and women’s rights protesters. Bruce says the possibilities with this tactic for dismantling civil rights are limitless.
“I cannot express this enough,” says Bruce. “Anytime the government is going after civil rights and civil liberties, you need to fight like hell, because it’s hard as hell to get it back.”