Keisha Bottoms, Mayor of Atlanta has strong words for protestors

"This is not a protest...this is chaos," said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a powerful speech to Georgians at a press conference on Sunday.

She said that above all of her other roles she is a mother, "A mother to four black children in America, one of whom is 18-years-old."

She continued, "When I saw the murder of George Floyd, I hurt like a mother would hurt. And when I heard rumours of violent protest coming to Atlanta I did what a mother would do, I called my son and I said 'Where are you?'"

"I said I can't protect you and black boys shouldn't be out today. So you're not going to out-concern me, and out-care about where we are in America. I wear this each and every day I pray over my children each and every day."

"So what I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., this is chaos."

"A protest has purpose. When Martin Luther King was assassinated we did not do this to our city. So if you love this city...this city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs, and people who care about this city where more than 50 percent of the business owners in metro-Atlanta are minority business owners..."

"If you care about this city then go home!"

She went on to say with great emotion, "If you want change in America, go and register to vote. Show up at the polls on June 9. Do it in November. That is the change we need in this country. You are disgracing this city and you are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country."

"We are better than this, we are better than this as a city. We are better than this as a country. Go home! Go home!"

"The same way I couldn't protect my son yesterday, I cannot protect you out in those streets. You are throwing knives at our police officers, you're burning cars. You have defaced the CNN building. Ted Turner started CNN in Atlanta 40 years ago because he believed in who we are as a city."

"There was a black reporter who was arrested on camera this morning who works for CNN, they are telling our stories and you are disgracing their building."

"This is not the legacy of civil rights in America, this is chaos and we're buying into it. This won't change anything. We are no longer talking about the murder of an innocent man. We are talking about how you are burning police cars on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia. Go home!"