Chanting "No justice, no peace! No racist police!" the marchers were greeted by many supportive honks from cars passing by on the busy street during the late-evening action. Peachtree Street includes a busy strip of nightclubs and restaurants that are frequented by a mostly white clientele. While many Blacks also go there, Black youth are routinely subjected to police harassment in the area.

Ward was shot July 14 at 3:30 a.m. while driving his mother’s SUV with five other youths as passengers. Officer Bunn claims he shot Ward when Ward tried to run him over. Supporters of Ward say he was trying to get away after Bunn, who had not identified himself as a police officer, got out of his unmarked car, and approached Ward with a gun. The five surviving passengers face criminal charges for allegedly trying to break into a parked car in the area. Bunn is on administrative leave.

The Buckhead protest was the second action demanding justice for Ward. On July 25, 250 people rallied outside City Hall East in Atlanta. Both protests were attended by family and friends of Ward, including many of his high school classmates. Also participating were many others with their own stories of police abuse.

One was Ylia Lavender, who suffered a broken eye socket from Bunn in September 2000 after he ordered her to turn down her car stereo. She is considering filing a joint suit with Ward’s family. She was introduced to the participants in the Buckhead march.

In previous incidents, Michael Jascomb had suffered a retinal hemorrhage during an arrest by Bunn; Mark Norfleet claimed that Bunn hit him in the head with a nightstick during an arrest; and Joe Summers accused Bunn and a group of other officers of taking him in an alley and beating him. All of these charges were dismissed.

Bud Watson, president of the Georgia Police Benevolent Association, said of Bunn: "He is the kind of officer we need.... He is an aggressive, young, hard-working police officer. And when you are aggressive, people say you are excessive."

Rev. Markel Hutchins, a central organizer of the protests, said to the Buckhead rally that Corey Ward’s "only crime was being young, Black, male, and in a new SUV. We have come to say to Police Chief Pennington: ‘Fire R. S. Bunn and fire him right now,’" Hutchins said. "We have come to say to District Attorney Paul Howard: ‘Call for a grand jury indictment. Put this rascal behind bars right now.’ In Stone Mountain, the Ku Klux Klan once wore white robes. Now they’ve moved a little north to Buckhead and put on blue uniforms. We don’t want to see what happened to Corey happen to any other young person," he said. "Every time a trigger-happy police officer gets ready to shoot, we want him to think about the hundreds who marched in Buckhead."

Eleanor García, the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, participated in both protests. "We demand that the cops responsible for the murder of Corey Ward be suspended without pay and prosecuted and jailed to the fullest extent of the law," García told the Militant. "To win a victory in this fight will take an organized and sustained movement in the streets, and will advance other fights against police brutality."

Many working people in Atlanta are following this fight closely. Edward Cooper III, a 24-year-old meat packer at Hormel, said he knew Ward. "I didn’t realize he was so young," he said. "The police get suspended with pay. If it was one of us, we would be getting the death penalty--no questions asked."

Bill Arth is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1996 and works at Hormel. Arlene Rubinstein, also a member of UFCW Local 1996, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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