Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens disputes Trump's claims at rally: Fact check
Former US President Donald Trump holds up a piece of art, showing moments after his recent assassination attempt, during a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. Trump said he is willing to debate Vice President Kamala Har
ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens had harsh words for former President Donald Trump after his rally on Saturday at Georgia State University's Convocation Center.
Dickens posted a video on Instagram discussing Trump. In the caption, Dickens described Trump as desperate, dangerous, divisive, lying, and senile.
Dickens said that Trump is operating out of "fear and revenge" and that Vice President Kamala Harris has him afraid.
Dickens claimed that the former president spent an hour and a half telling "lie after lie after lie" about Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia State University, Kamala Harris, President Biden, and members of his own party.
Dickens also criticized the former president's remarks in which he said that Georgia is the state that has "gone to hell" and referred to Atlanta as a "killing field." Dickens pointed out that Georgia had the 4th highest drop in violent crime of any major city in the United States last year and that the city has seen an even greater decrease this year.
Although it may be unfair to call Atlanta a "killing field," it is true that shootings and deaths are not uncommon daily occurrences. A review of any local media outlet's website or half an hour spent watching local television news reveals just how many people are shot or shot or killed each day in Atlanta.
What is crime really like in Atlanta and Georgia?
According to the FBI, the state of Georgia hit a high of 400.1 violent incidents per 100,000 people in 2020, which was slightly above the national average. Since then, Georgia's rate has dropped to 367 incidents per 100,000 people in 2022 (the last year of available statistics from the FBI), which is below the national average of 380.1.
The Atlanta Police Department reports there were 157 homicides, 706 shootings, and 870 shooting incidents in 2020; 161 homicides, 752 shootings, and 856 shooting victims in 2021; 170 homicides in 2022; and 135 homicides in 2023. It appears that they stopped providing the number of shootings and shooting victims after 2021.
As of July 20, APD reports there have been 69 homicides citywide in 2024, which is one more than at the same time last year.
Conclusion: Although the rate of violent incidents in the state of Georgia has decreased from a historic high in 2020, it is still well above the historic lows of 2017 (356.5 per 100,000), 2018 (338.9 per 100,000), and 2019 (326.2 per 100,000). It's also important to note that before 2017-2019, the rate of violent crime in Georgia was almost always above the national average, at least back to 2012.
Additionally, the state of Georgia has a high frequency of property crimes, which can include theft/larceny, burglary, robbery, fraud, vandalism, and arson. According to APD's latest report, there have been 10,555 property crimes as of July 20, slightly fewer than at the same time last year.
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Number of attendees at Trump's Atlanta rally
Dickens also disputed Trump's claim that more people would have attended the rally if GSU had let them in.
"If you want more people, you should have been able to attract more people. Kamala Harris packed out the house," Dickens said.
However, Dickens was incorrect in stating that Trump had trouble attracting attendees to his rally in Atlanta.
Although videos and photos posted on social media showed some empty seats at GSU's Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon, thousands were still waiting in line outside when the doors were closed.
Dickens wasn't the only one to incorrectly claim that Trump's rally was not well attended, however. Even the campaign for VP Harris posted a photo on X (formerly known as Twitter) that showed "hundreds" of empty seats. However, it is unclear at exactly what time the photo was taken before the rally began and it may have been the seats reserved for media (as pointed out by many on social media).
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Dickens concluded his video by saying he had spent the day with Black voters and volunteers for Harris, who planned to make phone calls to drum up support for the vice president in Georgia.
Vice President Harris was scheduled to return to Georgia on Friday. Unfortunately, she was forced to cancel the campaign stop because of weather. There's been no word yet if she will reschedule.