Houseless man’s death fuels demands for immediate change

Atlanta

Cornelius Taylor’s funeral was held on Feb. 3 in the prestigious Ebenezer Baptist Church, once pastored by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and now led by Rev. Rafael Warnock, also a U.S. senator representing Georgia.

This institution is a key part of the famed section of Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. that includes the birth home of Dr. King and the King Center where the crypts of both Dr. King and Coretta Scott King are located. The historic Black neighborhood is visited by tourists year-round but is the focus of national attention on the federal holiday honoring Dr. King’s birthday.

Hundreds of people attended the services of this 46-year-old unhoused man who was killed while sleeping in his tent just a short distance from where the annual King Day celebrations take place at Ebenezer Baptist and the King Center. People gathered behind a horse-drawn wagon carrying Taylor’s casket, marching to City Hall to make clear the inhumanity of the years of sweeping the homeless encampments. 

On Jan. 16 an Atlanta Public Works sweep was ordered for this encampment, only steps away from Auburn Avenue.

According to witnesses, city workers showed up with a front-end loader and, without checking to see if anyone was in a tent, began to destroy the encampment. They say that tent occupants were given mere minutes to rescue all of their belongings and get out of the way. 

Taylor’s autopsy details his deadly injuries, including a split pelvis as well as grievous lacerations to his spleen and liver as a result of being run over. No drugs were found in his system, despite inferences in the police report on the incident suggesting that drug use was the reason why he didn’t evacuate the tent.

Taylor’s friends speak of his friendly and helpful manner. He had just gotten a full-time job and was looking forward to getting a home.

Such sweeps are not unusual in Atlanta, and it is possible that other people have died after losing their tents, blankets, clothing, medicines and documents. But Cornelius Taylor’s body was shattered under the weight of a bulldozer on city orders to protect Atlanta’s image.

Mass outrage at police killings 

The outrage has been expressed at vigils at the campsite where the debris of broken tents remained for days and in demands at City Council meetings for an immediate stop to these sweeps.

Atlanta’s City Council will meet on Monday, the same day as Cornelius Taylor’s funeral, to vote on an ordinance to address the issue of how to shelter the thousands of houseless adults and children living on the streets.

Following the funeral services, Taylor’s casket was accompanied by a march of family and community members to City Hall to underscore the demand for immediate and humane policies to eliminate homelessness.

Taylor’s death at the hands of the police before the second anniversary of Welaunee Forest defender Manuel Esteban [“Tortuguita”] Paez Terán’s killing by Georgia State Patrol officers – as they sat in their  tent. Police from multiple jurisdictions were conducting a sweep of the public forest area  designated to be the site of the proposed militarized “Cop City” training facility. Tortuguita, as they were known, had been shot at in his tent dozens of times.

These deaths were crimes perpetrated by a system that glorifies capitalist order and violence — but that drives masses of people to demand change.

Cornelius Taylor lives!

Tortuguita vive!