
ALT A graphic that reads I'm bold blue text at the top "Welcome to the Scribner Poetry List." Below the texts are two circles with the authors' photos inside. In the circle on the left is Steven Espada Dawson, a person with short dark hair, well-trimmed beard, and floral shirt. In the circle on the right is Diamond Forde, a person with short cropped hair, large-framed glasses, and a red off-shoulder dress. The author's names are beneath their respective circles. The Scribner Poetry logo is at the bottom of the graphic.

ALT ACTIVISTS REFUSE TO LEAVE CITY HALL UNTIL DEMANDS ARE MET Atlanta, GA, June 26th Atlanta community members are sitting silently inside of their mayor's office, demanding a meeting to air out their grievance face-to-face. Beginning at mid-day on the day before the much-criticized presidential debate, these local activists claiming to be part of "Dickens Versus Democracy" are residing in the lobby of Atlanta's current mayor, Andre Dickens. Mayor Dickens has sparked controversy for refusing to hear his constituents demands about the use of government funds. "Why should I have to request a meeting with the mayor? If he doesn't have time for me, he shouldn't be making my decisions."

ALT Activists in this disruption are choosing to stay silent, citing they have "lost their voice" in the democratic system. One lockdown activist stated anonymously "We're here because Mayor Dickens proves time and time again that he refuses to not only remain accountable to the people he is meant to serve, but he refuses to uphold democracy in the city of Atlanta. We've gone through the legitimate process to bring Cop City to the ballot and allow people to have their say and yet he is doing everything in his power to delegitimize our movement and deny his constituents the right to vote." Critics of the Public Safety Training Facility, known also as "Cop City", gathered signatures over the course of several months on a petition (1) to put the facility up for a local vote, this petition was originally green-lighted by Dickens. As of June, the over 100,000 signatures have not been accepted and the facility is under construction.
















