Franklin comments on raid — in Home Depot paint aisle
For more than a week after a controversial Atlanta Police raid on the Atlanta Eagle gay nightclub in Midtown, us nosy media types have been attempting to get Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin on the record about the incident.
Franklin initially appeared content to ride out the rest of her term without weighing in on the latest APD public relations nightmare.
That all changed Monday when Southern Voice reporter Matt Schafer went shopping for paint at the Home Depot on Ponce de Leon Avenue.
“I looked over and saw this woman wearing a giant red rose,” Schafer told Buzz Tuesday.
He quickly dialed his SoVo editor Dyana Bagby who instructed: “Well, go after her!”
Since Schafer never goes anywhere without his trusty MP3 player with a microphone, the reporter approached Franklin, identified himself and herzonner immediately consented to an interview.
In the Home Depot paint aisle.
Said Franklin to Schafer about the Sept. 10 raid: “If there are any allegations about misconduct, it’s our intention to investigate them and take the appropriate action. I believe that every person who lives or visits Atlanta should be treated fairly and justly. . .I expect to see a fair and independent review of any allegations.”
To read SoVo’s full account, click here.
Post-scoop, Schafer picked out a cream-hued paint for his home improvement project.
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60 comments Add your comment
DAVID
September 22nd, 2009
11:23 am
THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES….there should be
Nativeson71
September 22nd, 2009
11:25 am
I bet she takes a loooong vacation after her term is up.
I don’t blame her for her diplomatic response but I will play the ‘race’ card and say if this happend at sunday services at Ebenerzer she would be up the Police Chiefs A$$ with both hands.
Yes…I understand the difference between a church and a nightclub..nuff said.
DAVID
September 22nd, 2009
11:29 am
GOT’cha Journalism….No “Pulitzer Prize” in journalism}..here.
Snidely Buttright
September 22nd, 2009
11:55 am
David says, “THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES….there should be”
more important than the POLICE engaging in unprofessional and discriminatory conduct, illegal searches, harrassment, and their refusal to explain why they have put innocent citizens face down in broken glass and spilled beverage? And the only infraction to come out of it is a stinking CODE violation?!! You don’t think this kind of abuse of authority is important?
Considering the stories circulating about over-zealous officers arresting folks for ‘contempt of cop’, stories about shooting unarmed suspects, about lying on warrant applications, lying about suspects ‘resisting arrest’, lying about where those bruises came from…I would think that if the law is to be obeyed and respected, those who enforce it should be held to a higher standard. And that standard MUST to be enforced.
Tone
September 22nd, 2009
11:56 am
Look. Here is the skinny on this matter. Franklin could care LESS about Atlanta at this point – much less injustice done to the Gay community. SAD! The facts are: 1. The Chief of Police is gone, 2. Franklin is gone… and all of this will end with the Chief taking full responsibility knowing he is done anyway. This was a case of planned harassment and prejudice. Damn sad folks. So go on Shirley.. keep shopping with your big red rose. You fell flat on your promises to the Gay Community. Shame on you and your failed term.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
September 22nd, 2009
12:37 pm
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Get involved people – next time it could be you!!
Grad student
September 22nd, 2009
12:39 pm
Although regrettable face down on the floor is a regular in the urban community. They have to go through your pockets to make sure you do not have anything that will harm them. if you ask them that is not an abuse of your civil rights. They also have to check everyone’s ID to make sure your not wanted while they have you detained. This is every day business as usual, but because it happened to a different set of people the reaction is different. If this happened at an urban club someone would be getting a medal.
TRUTH
September 22nd, 2009
12:58 pm
She IS the Mayor,after all. But what EXACTLY is her purpose??!! Hasn’t done very much for the city.
Reggie
September 22nd, 2009
1:07 pm
Welcome to our every day life folks!
Jason
September 22nd, 2009
1:14 pm
This happens all the time to young black males and no one says anything. But when injustice happens to a mostly white crowd the world has got to stop and take notice. The Police is often just as much as part of the problem! Sometimes I feel they deserve their furloughs and lake luster salary. May be the should remember who pays their salary. Bunch of ego’s! Let’s fight vigently against injustice and harrasement of all!
miss marta
September 22nd, 2009
1:15 pm
FACT: you can find drugs in any bar in atlanta. we’re talking bars, not churches and temples. furthermore, where are the cops every day/night of the week when degenerate people are prowling up and down ponce, asking for money and loitering?
if the cops raided a black bar, and one cop happened to say “aw man i hate black people,” the mayor would have a much different response. if the police raided a latino bar, and asked for identification from everyone who was handcuffed and laying face down on the ground, maaan, the ACLU would be all over this!
this raid was motivated by homophobia and hate, plane and simple. the problem for gays is that they come from so many different backgrounds, all colors of the rainbow if you will, and not enough people from each neighborhood or community support them.
TEAM EAGLE
Bobby
September 22nd, 2009
1:30 pm
The city that was too busy too hate no longer is, thanks to Mayor Franklin and Chief Pennington. I expect to see Mayor Franklin reinstate the 1956 Georgia Flag before she leaves office.
Melody
September 22nd, 2009
1:34 pm
The first sentence has a grammar error. It should state “we nosy media types” instead of “us nosy media types. It is not correct to say “us have been.”
JAMES
September 22nd, 2009
1:34 pm
If the undercover police officers witnessed sexual activity at the bar they should have made arrests at that time. The raid is questionable. And if the ajc article that stated that there were no drugs found during the raid is correct then the whole thing is questionable behavior by the police.
ryanv
September 22nd, 2009
1:38 pm
Grad student – While face down is normal, is searching someone without probably cause normal? Police did an investigation and in the past they saw people in the club using drugs and engaging in sexual activity. But it wasn’t these people. It’s like they witnessed a crime at a gas station the day before and order everyone the following day to the ground. The police should have arrested the people they saw doing bad when they saw them. I would imagine patrons at a straight club would say the same thing. It’s a business, not a criminal enterprise.
Piso Mojado
September 22nd, 2009
1:50 pm
Shirley Franklin can’t even go to Home Depot without being hounded by the press. These people are pathetic. She should have said she had no comment.
Of course the raid was motivated by homophobia and hate. We’re in the South. Historic ground zero for hate. Hello?!?
sinse
September 22nd, 2009
1:56 pm
reggie it hasn’t just been happening too black males, now days anyone who isn’t in a suit and tie is fair game for these crooked ass cops. Come I-85 through Franklin county 5 miles over the speed limit and see how many charges you rack up
pd
September 22nd, 2009
2:10 pm
I hope that Mayor Franklin follows through on this and that there is a fair investigation and that “appropriate action” is taken, however, the Mayor’s answer is not newsworthy.
Its a canned answer. “We will do a complete investigation adn if any allegations….
Its like asking a football player about their game. “Its a team effort. We all have to go out there and give 100%…
Its only news worthy if they say something unexpected. If they Mayor had said, “Those gays got what was coming to them” or “These cops are crooked as hell”. THAT would be news.
harry balls
September 22nd, 2009
2:10 pm
Enter your comments here
United We Stand
September 22nd, 2009
2:29 pm
I really am getting tired of people saying that when this happens to “the white community”, they expect answers. This happened to the GLBT community and it consists of people from all backgrounds. I think we should all listen to Pastor Martin as his message is important. Let’s all stand up together and support each other.
The BLOCS organization needs more support in order to allow them to protect citizens from police officers who are unlawful. Please go to the website below and become involved so Atlanta can return to it’s status of a city that’s too busy to hate.
Peace
http://www.atlantablocs.org
mike
September 22nd, 2009
2:33 pm
EVERY TIME I GO TO THE BAR ON THE PARK (YOU KNOW WHICH ONE) PEOPLE ARE DOING DRUGS IN THE BATHROOM AND ASKING IF I WANT TO BUY SOME.
kig
September 22nd, 2009
2:38 pm
it is a good thing atlanta is an oasis for the black and gay community, or things could be very bad.
M
September 22nd, 2009
2:38 pm
Then quit going to the bathroom with other people…
Me
September 22nd, 2009
2:40 pm
Seriously? People like you are still out there?
mike
September 22nd, 2009
2:41 pm
FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE BATHROOM DOOR IS ALWAYS LEFT OPEN!
Ryan
September 22nd, 2009
2:50 pm
It’s one very small step to cops busting down the doors to private homes, businesses and churches in the name of “fighting crime.” The police are more interested in creating crime (speed traps, bar raids) than they are actually catching robbers, muggers and child molesters.
I live in Midtown and have reported no less than six crimes to the police in the last 3 months. Only one has warranted a police presence (he showed up nearly 30 minutes after I saw someone get their window based in at 1 in the afternoon on Charles Allen – way too late to do anything about it) and the others obviously didn’t (though I don’t find it acceptable when homeless guys go through my trash every day of the week).
Proud
September 22nd, 2009
2:50 pm
Then choose one of the other 3 bathrooms that are private. Or stop going there. Or say something to a manager. At least DO something about it instead of b*tching about it on an online forum. And quit using ALL CAPS! IT’S ANNOYING!
Uncle Tom
September 22nd, 2009
3:03 pm
The “raid” seems very similar to what happened in the movie, “MILK”.
Uncle Tom
September 22nd, 2009
3:05 pm
They go through your trash everyday? See what happens when you put those Oatmeal Creme Pies in there!? LOL!
Truth will set you free
September 22nd, 2009
3:13 pm
This comment goes out to all the gay haters who hide behind their version of the Bible.
Show me ONE VERSE in your bible that QUOTES JESUS OR GOD about homosexuality???
THERE IS NONE !!!!!! If homosexuality is a sin, why did JESUS say NOTHING about it???
Why is homosexuality not in the 10 Commandments??? I do remember” he who is without sin shall cast the first stone” JESUS SAID THAT !!! How many of the 10 Commandments that you displayed so well in your yards do you follow??? Adultery? (nuff said, hypocrites) Lying? (death panels, Obama is a Muslim, not born in USA, socialism) thou shalt not kill ( Iraq, Afghanistan)
Jesus HEALED THE SICK ( instead of screaming socialism because someone else might get coverage) FED THE POOR ( instead of complaining about food stamps for poor) and clothed
the poor. Ronald Reagan said it best “Why is it those with closed minds always have open mouths?”
@mike
September 22nd, 2009
3:15 pm
mike, maybe you shouldn’t be cruising the bathroom for sex and you wouldn’t run into drug use in the bathroom
Cutty
September 22nd, 2009
3:34 pm
Why wasn’t she shopping at the Home Depot in Southwest? Right down the street from her house.
Tyree
September 22nd, 2009
3:46 pm
Forget the home invasions, carjackings, robbery, drive by shootings, and all the other daily crimes in Atlanta. Just keep those homosexual men dancing in their underwear under control. We have to keep our priorities clear.
JohnF
September 22nd, 2009
3:50 pm
So the APD would rather go bully the boys in the bear bar then face down some teen thug with a gun. The “P” in APD takes on a whole new meaning.
anon
September 22nd, 2009
4:02 pm
I love the victim complex of the Atlanta Gay Community. They get ONE club raided, and they go on and on about how it was all planned harrassment meant to keep the gay man down. Last time I checked, the gay community by and large in atlanta is fairly affluent, live in some of the best in-town neighborhoods…Oh, POOR gay community, being put down by the man. Seriously, shut up. Yeah, that raid sucked, but stop your whining.
Joe
September 22nd, 2009
4:05 pm
Yeah, Tyree…never know when a loose hose might break free…
SPRUCE
September 22nd, 2009
4:05 pm
Enter your comments here
Tyree
September 22nd, 2009
4:06 pm
Another shining example of professionalism from the APD. The same APD that gunned down 92 year old Kathryn Johnson using a no knock warrant on her Neal street home. After shooting her, they left her handcuffed on the floor while she bled to death. Next, they planted Marijuana on the basement floor to justify the shooting. Now it’s time to bully to gay community. We need leadership in the APD and we need it now !
SPRUCE
September 22nd, 2009
4:14 pm
Enter your comments here I HAVE TO THINK THAT MOST OF THE COMMENTS HERE ARE FROM MEMEBERS OF THE GAY COMMUNITY IN WHICH I AM A PART OF . BUT I AM TRULY SHOCKED AT THE RESPONSE FROM THE GAY COMMUNITY I AHVE BBEN TOLD FROM FRIENDS THAT VISITED THE EAGLE THAT THOSE THINGS WENT ON NIGHTLY. AND THOSE OF YOU ARE ARE SAYING THEY DID NOT ARE ALL LIARS. IF HAVE VISITED GAY CLUBS IN ATLNATA WHERE SEXUAL ACTS GO ON IN THE BACK OF ROOMS DESIGNATED FOR SUCH AND EVERYONE IN THE GAY COMMUNITY KNOWS THAT. SO STOP ALL THE DISCRIMINTAION AND IF IT WERE BLACK PEOPLE WHAT WILL HAPPEN CARAP . SHAME ON ALL OF YOU FOR NOT TELLING THE REAL TRUH YOU KNWO THE TRUTH STOP TELLING LIES
United We Stand
September 22nd, 2009
4:38 pm
@SPRUCE – Your ill-informed, incoherent post doesn’t really warrant a response. Although, I’m glad our community was more united in NYC during 1969 or we would not have the few freedoms we have today.
Do you go to Barry’s church?
SPRUCE
September 22nd, 2009
4:50 pm
Enter your comments hereunited we stand the truth is the truth and you know what i have stated is the truth where i go to church has nothing to do with anything get real
United We Stand
September 22nd, 2009
5:07 pm
@SPRUCE – I completely dispel what you call the truth as do the other 1000+ Facebook members who supported last weekend’s protest at City Hall. You should probably educate yourself further regarding the facts of the raid and subsequent investigation rather than relying on your limited network as a source for your unfounded beliefs.
Thoreau
September 22nd, 2009
5:51 pm
The Gay & Lesbian community in Atlanta have become complacent and seriously let-down our guard against homophobia and xenophobia. We’ve failed to learn the lesson of our black brothers and sisters that civil rights are only inalienable as long as they are continuously and agressively enforced.
We ceded to the Piendmont Park grass-brigade when we allowed Pride, a nationally-recognized comemoration of riots that followed a 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Bar in New York’s Greenwich Village and trouncing on civil-rights.
Then we act surprised when the very politicians who feverishly pandedered for our votes, turn a deaf-ear to our pleas for justice and a blind-eye to the bigotry that seethes beneath the surface of local law enforcement?
“Early in the media I recall that there had not been complaints, there had been complaints in the media, but not formal complaints to the Atlanta Police department, so I don’t know what the flow [of information] was,” Franklin said.
In other words “Don’t Ask. Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Thoreau
September 22nd, 2009
5:57 pm
The Gay & Lesbian community in Atlanta have become complacent and seriously let-down our guard against homophobia and xenophobia. We’ve failed to learn the lesson of our black brothers and sisters that civil rights are only inalienable as long as they are continuously and agressively enforced.
We ceded to the Piendmont Park grass-brigade when we allowed Pride to be postponed until Haloween. Ironically, this is a nationally-recognized comemoration of riots that followed a 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Bar in New York’s Greenwich Village and trouncing on civil-rights.
Then we act surprised when the very politicians who feverishly pandedered for our votes, turn a deaf-ear to our pleas for justice and a blind-eye to the bigotry that seethes beneath the surface of law enforcement?
“Early in the media I recall that there had not been complaints, there had been complaints in the media, but not formal complaints to the Atlanta Police department, so I don’t know what the flow [of information] was,” Franklin said.
In other words “Don’t Ask. Don’t know. Don’t care.”
FrugalMom
September 22nd, 2009
6:47 pm
You people are always asking for special treatment. This sort of thing goes on in other sleazy establishments and nobody gets all huffy about it. Get over yourselves. Just because you’re different from the rest of mankind doesn’t mean you get privileges.
Chris
September 22nd, 2009
6:55 pm
@Cutty – I thought the same thing…she must of wanted to be seen out and about. But with no knowledge of what is going on in the city.
A Gay Cop
September 22nd, 2009
6:57 pm
OK, the facts. Patrons were patted down for weapons. Standard operating procedure for all communities. Ok. Patrons were asked for IDs, standard operating procedure for all communites. Ok. Community bar goers had been complaining about adult dancing (employees with their thangs out) occuring @ the Eagle, behavior AKA Adult Entertainment. Ok, another fact: The city is BROKE, and the permits department SURE wants its money for permits! (Even though no more Adult Entertainment Site licenses will be issued in Atl with Shirley in office.) Add up some people who were pissed they went to jail, now they are playing the card, because everyone else plays the card in this city. Note that no patrons went to jail, just the employees who were shakin’ their thang out in public. The arrests were all for permit violations/citations, nothing more. The city’s going to get their money, that’s for sure! Too bad the AJC forgot to mention permit arrests/violations on the asian spas on Cheshire Bridge. Too bad the Asian folks don’t know to play the card yet! LOL
Larry
September 22nd, 2009
7:01 pm
The searching of the customers is a violation of their 4th amendment rights under the Constitution. I’m sure that quite a few of those cops view the constitution as a nuisance and a hindrance to them getting their job done, after all the end justifies the means. Just ask Cathryn Johnston; oh that’s right, you can’t, because the APD murdered her. Anyhow, the 4th amendment stipulates that you are free from unreasonable searches and seizures and while there is an exception if there is probable cause, an action by somebody else a week ago does NOT constitute probable cause to search you for anything. I hope that every one of those patrons sue all the cops because lawsuits and the resulting judgments are the only thing that gets their attention.
AJC - Hello!! Anybody there?
September 22nd, 2009
7:24 pm
Why haven’t you removed Barry’s homophobic bigoted comments yet??
AJC - Hello!! Anybody there?
September 22nd, 2009
7:24 pm
BARRY’S COMMENTS ARE HOMOPHOBIC & BIGOTED. REMOVE THEM ASAP.