Race, Class, and Conspiracy: The Atlanta Child Murders and the 'Atlanta Spirit'

1. Race, Class, and
Conspiracy: The
Atlanta Child
Murders and
the ‘Atlanta
Spirit’
Leandra Colley

2. “The city of Atlanta loathed us
as much as did the state of
Georgia but couldn’t afford to
keep lynching us.”
2
James Baldwin, “Atlanta: The Evidence of Things
Not Seen,” 1981

3. 3

4. 4
Lee Brown,
Atlanta’s Public
Safety
Commissioner
1978- 1982
Dr. George
Napper,
Atlanta’s first
Black Chief of
Police 1978-
1982
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archives. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
Maynard Jackson,
Atlanta’s first Black
Mayor 1974-1982
Forward Atlanta, the City Too Busy to
Hate, and Black Mecca

5. ❑ Who is getting killed?
❑ What is being
published?
❑ Local government and
police response
“It is being said that if the
present administration were
white, the Black community
would have descended
upon City Hall in a storm of
protest, accusing the Mayor
and his Commissioners of
racism.”
Roy Patterson, “An Open Letter to the Mayor and
Citizens of Atlanta,” 1981
5

6. ❑ Camille Bell and the
Committee to Stop
Children’s Murders
(STOP Committee)
❑ Techwood Housing
Project and Bat Patrol
“If white people don’t care
about black people[,] that’s
bad, but if black people
don’t care about black
people, that’s deplorable.”
Camille Bell, 1981
6

7. Where does conspiracy come
from?
❑ Tayari Jones, Leaving
Atlanta
❑ Chet Dettlinger, The List
❏ Aaron Wyche
❑ FBI and Black Police
❑ CDC and Tuskegee Syphilis
Experiment
❏ Interferon
“As it pertains to issues of
power, class and Black
leadership, the Tuskegee
syphilis experiment is a
tragic illustration of how a
hunger for status combined
with economic dependence
can result in a suspension
of moral agency.”
Kevin Kelly Gains,”Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership,
Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century,” 1996.
7

8. “The city too busy to hate
was charged with hating
so much it would stand
by while its children were
being murdered. Let the
record show that this
city, this beautiful
marvelous city I love,
stood trial before the
world. And was found not
guilty.” 8
Lewis Grizzard, “Williams Trial Verdict: The City is
Not Guilty,” 1982

9. 9
Thank You
Want to know more about the
murders?
❑ The Atlanta Monster podcast
❑ Mindhunter season 2
Any questions?