On June 12, 2020, in Atlanta, GA, Rayshard Brooks was murdered in a Wendy’s parking lot as he was running away from two police officers. The following day, in a demonstration of rage, mourning, and resistance, the same Wendy’s was set aflame. It is no accident that the Wendy’s Sit-In Activists arose in the midst of a need to heal and find peace. Geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore once said, “abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.” Now is the time to dismantle the life-draining to build the life-affirming.

On June 13, 2020, Wendy’s was engulfed in flames and left a pile of scorched rubble, but what emerged in the following days was a process of building community and creating a space that affirmed Black life rather than neglected it. Thus the Rayshard Brooks Memorial and Peace Center was born in the midst of so much loss.This memorial space has created life in a space of so much death

So today, we stand ready to envision, design and build our own future of what this site at 125 University Avenue can be for future generations. Out of the ashes, we aspire to rebuild a stronger community that supports black-owned businesses, local youth programs, economic development, fresh food,  legal aid, entrepreneurship classes, parental counseling, Black empowerment and a memorial to black lives loss to state-sanctioned violence.

The time is now to heal black communities, lift up black voices and honor black lives. The people are ready to move. The place is here at 125 University Avenue.