From the lantern laws of colonial New York to the COINTELPRO surveillance of the Civil Rights Movement, monitoring and controlling Black movement has never been accidental. It’s been policy.

Today that policy has a supposed new leader. Flock Safety license plate readers log your car, your location, and your timestamp every time you pass any one of their thousands of cameras across metro Atlanta. A recent study found that Black neighborhoods experience this surveillance at nearly four times the rate of white neighborhoods. In Atlanta, residents mapped nearly 500 Flock cameras in a single-majority neighborhood. During the 2020 protests, more than 50 law enforcement agencies ran Flock searches tied to demonstrators. The technology is new. The intention is not.

On Sunday, October 18, the ACLU of Georgia and Red, Bike, and Green invite you to ride through parts of Atlanta’s surveillance state.

The Tour de Flock is a community cycling ride through some of Atlanta’s historically Black neighborhoods where surveillance infrastructure is densest and the history of over-policing runs deepest. We ride not just to see it, but to name it, and to demand that Atlanta City Council pass a surveillance ordinance that includes council oversight and gives communities a say in whether and how this technology is used in our neighborhoods.

All levels welcome. All are welcome to ride.

Staging: 11:30 a.m.
Rollout: 12 p.m.
Finish: 2 p.m.