Atlanta Public Safety Groups to Join First Crime Survivors March on Washington
A near-death experience helped Aswad Thomas understand the connection between those who enact violence and their victims — and the many ways America is failing both.
"There's this false dichotomy that victims and quote-unquote perpetrators are different. No, we're often in the same household," Thomas said earlier this month, during a southwest Atlanta event for local crime survivors hosted by the organization Mothers Against Gang Violence . "I'm a victim of [gun] violence, and my brother is serving life in federal prison."
In Atlanta — where Black residents make up 89% of homicide suspects and 94% of homicide victims — Black people are getting the short end of the stick on both ends. Recently passed anti-bail reform legislation keeps more offenders incarcerated in a notoriously dangerous jail where half of all inmates are unindicted . Meanwhile, victims are left without any legal protection if they need to miss work to recover or break their lease early to find a safer environment.
Thomas is national director for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice , a network of more than 200,000 crime survivors who want to see a new approach to public safety that will disrupt the cycle of violence by centering victims' needs.
On Tuesday, Thomas will travel with dozens of other Atlantans to the nation's capital to meet with legislators about their mission, which includes prioritizing violence prevention and trauma recovery. Dubbed the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington, it will be America's first national mass mobilization of crime survivors to advocate for safety and justice reform, according to a press release .
Thomas found his calling 15 years ago, when he was shot twice while leaving a corner store in Hartford, Connecticut, in a 2009 armed robbery gone wrong. He had been on his way to Europe to play professional basketball, a career he hoped would improve his family's financial situation. After the shooting, he had to completely reimagine his future.
Thomas said he later discovered that one of the teens who shot him had been a victim of gun violence four years earlier — and was saved by the same doctor.
"Just like me, he was released from that same hospital back into the same community with no support, no mental health services, no housing relocation support," Thomas said. "I strongly feel like his unaddressed trauma played a huge role in my shooting years later."
A path to healing
Georgia's capital city has one trauma recovery center at Grady Memorial Hospital, which is the city's only Level 1 trauma hospital since the Atlanta Medical Center closed in 2022 . Thomas said this is insufficient for a city of Atlanta's population, especially considering the racial gap in support for domestic violence and sexual assault, which he said women of color don't traditionally access.
Thomas, who is based in Atlanta, travels around the country on behalf of his organization to meet and strategize with other victims of violent crime. He said he hopes next week's D.C. trip will spur the federal government to redirect some of the bloated budgets earmarked for policing and incarceration toward organizations like Mothers Against Gang Violence, which are already doing trauma-informed work.
Founded in 2017 by Tekesia Shields, Mothers Against Gang Violence focuses on gang violence prevention, also providing outreach to gun violence victims and education for parents and teens on healthy communication strategies.
"I work a full-time job still, because I've been trying to build a budget to be able to go to court and work with individuals who are being incarcerated," said Shields, whose organization will travel to D.C. with Thomas' next week to advocate for change.
Shields estimates her organization — made up of three staff members and a few volunteers — serves about 400 people each year, with an annual budget of $70,000.
Earlier this year, Mothers Against Gang Violence moved into its own building on Cleveland Avenue with the help of District 12 Atlanta City Council member Antonio Lewis, who was a victim of a violent crime that took his mother's life.
"I don't think we can lock up our way out of this," Lewis said. "I think we are at risk of losing an entire generation of young Black men."
His solution? Invest in the people in the community already doing the work.
"I ran for office to find programs like this," Lewis said of Mothers Against Gang Violence. "My goal is to be what I needed."
