100 signatures reached
To: Mayor Keisha Bottoms and the Atlanta City Council
#FreeTrapbone in Atlanta and DefundthePolice for Arts Over Arrests
-Enact policies to ensure the freedom and safety of local street musicians. Require training for all officers on Freedom of Speech/First Amendment, racial harassment, and anti-blackness.
-Create and demand accountability for officers that violate the rights of street musicians.
-Defund the Atlanta Police Department that currently receives 30% of the people’s money of the city’s budget. Reinvest the money into youth development, arts, culture, and creative emergency response support for the people during the pandemic.
-Apologize for the historical perpetuation of Black cultural criminalization. The state of Georgia first banned the drums and horns of enslaved Africans in 1755, and this act committed cultural genocide on our people. END BLACK CULTURAL SUPPRESSION! #FreeTrapbone
Why is this important?
Thousands of Atlanta taxpayer dollars have funded the criminalization of Black musicians and culture.
Eryk “Trapbone” Radical has been arrested over 20 times for playing his trombone in the public streets of the Atlanta metro area He has been harassed hundreds of times by police and interactions include physical assaults, K-9 searches, and irreparable damage to his 40-year-old trombone that’s an heirloom gift from his father.
Trapboneis a husband, father, and professional street musician who has performed around the world and on stages with legends like Jay-z and Rakim. Yet the harassment and brutality from several police departments prevent him from freely playing in his own community. Trapbone has been making the city of Atlanta smile, laugh, reminisce, celebrate, commemorate, and reminding ourselves how valuable our past is for 10 years. Noone deserves the wrongful arrests, unlawful detainments, humiliation, aggravation, aggressive agitation, financial devistation, and family harm that has resulted from Trapbone simply playing his horn.