Shelby Swan
Age: 27
Occupation: Marketing
Residence: Cobb County
Community work: Works with The People’s Uprising, a metro Atlanta coalition of organizers as well as ProtectTheVoteGa, a coalition of grassroots organizations in Georgia fighting to stop voter suppression.
The weekend after the March 13, 2020, police-shooting death of a young black medical worker named Breonna Taylor, Cobb County resident Shelby Swan headed to Louisville, Ky., as part of a Freedom Ride contingent.
“I went to march in solidarity with our Louisville brothers and sisters who were protesting Breonna Taylor’s death, Swan told Atlanta Civic Circle. “The march really lit a fire in me. It got me more engaged and involved in community organizing as an effort to speak up for those who can’t or may be afraid to.”
The news and events of the last year — protests, police brutality, and killings — and organizing in the streets and in communities has given Swan an unvarnished view of life in America for people of color.
