City of Atlanta mayoral candidates Mary Norwood, second from left, is surrounded by a field of black candidates including Lisa Borders, left, Peter Brownlowe, right, Rod Mack, second from right, and Glenn Thomas as they make final preparations before facing off in a debate, August 6, in Atlanta.
(John Amis/ AP)Photos (1 of 1)
Was Atlanta’s ‘black mayor first’ memo racist - or just blunt?
The uproar suggests that new dynamics – both politically and demographically – are at play in Atlanta and beyond.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ September 1, 2009 edition
Atlanta
Bigoted. Racist. Divisive.
Those are some of the reactions from Atlanta mayoral candidates to a “hijacked” secret memo forwarding a “black mayor first” strategy for Martin Luther King Jr.’s old hometown.
But in a press conference Tuesday, the authors of the memo said that, politically speaking, Atlanta’s blacks would be well served by uniting behind one black candidate to defeat white frontrunner, Mary Norwood. They added that the uproar over the memo highlights how race discussions “put politicians in a straitjacket,” and how the realities of the Atlanta mayoral election are similar to changing demographics and election dynamics in cities all across the US.
The authors – Clark Atlanta University political science professors Keith Jennings and William Boone – say that electing a white mayor in Atlanta would be as historic as the 1973 election of Maynard Jackson, the city’s first black mayor. The election became a mile marker in the South’s civil rights struggle.
In that light, they say, the need for blacks to band together today to elect a black mayor – or at least someone highly sympathetic to black issues – are equally important in order to forward a “black agenda.”
“Time is of the essence because in order to defeat a [Mary] Norwood (white) mayoral candidacy we have to get out now and work in a manner to defeat her without a runoff, and the key is a significant Black turnout in the general election,” they wrote in the proprietary memo, which was written for the city’s Black Leadership Council.
On Tuesday, the professors said media coverage had been incendiary and misleading and called claims of racism “a red herring.”
“We stand by our belief that a black agenda would enable African-American interests to be respected by any administration,” they said. “The interests of African-American voters are just as legitimate as other Atlanta voters, and the notion that we must apologize for highlighting those interests is absurd.”
Professor Jennings, however, added, “The idea that we’re instructing African-Americans how to vote is wrong. They’re capable of making up their own minds.”
But that’s not how many of Atlanta’s black and white leaders saw it. Mayor Shirley Franklin bluntly called the memo “bigoted” and hardly in the spirit of former Mayor Jackson, who ran on a platform of racial inclusion to win in 1973. Top mayoral contenders Jesse Spikes, Kasim Reed, Lisa Borders, and Mary Norwood, the sole white candidate and front-runner, all distanced themselves from the memo, calling it, among other things, racist and divisive. [Editor’s note: The original version gave an incorrect last name for Atlanta’s current mayor.]
Jennings said the dustup shows that “people don’t have the language to talk about race.” Professor Boone added: “Race has been turned on its head and is now seen as a pejorative. Race has been turned into racist.”
But the authors said their observations are grounded in fact. They pointed to a Pew Study that lists Atlanta as one of the most segregated cities in the country, and noted that 60 percent of Atlanta’s young blacks grow up in poverty.
Yet Atlanta – and the country – has changed. There’s a black president. And in increasingly diverse Atlanta neighborhoods like Kirkwood – unlike in previous contests between white and black candidates – many blacks are sporting campaign signs for the white candidate.
“There’s new dynamics at play,” says Jim Welcome, publisher of Newsmakers Live, which broke the story.
Arguments can also be made that black mayors haven’t been able to make significant gains for the black community, and that race has moved from a primary to secondary qualification among the city’s voters. There’s also the question of whether black voters want to be seen as members of a special interest group – or individual voters looking for the best candidate
It’s one thing to tell us what to think,” the Rev. Mitzi Bickers told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It’s another thing to tell us how to think.”
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Comments
2. Sean | 09.01.09
Sadly this is why raciasm will never go away. AS long as a Group/Race of people soley focus on nothing but race we’ll never move forward. This memo is nothing but racist. Its states that Blacks should vote for a black candidate becuase there black. AS a White man(that most hate group in the world). If I where to release a memo stating that ALL whites should vote of the White Candidate, how would the world view that. Racist or how they put it looking out for the white agenda. Its all grabge we must look for the best agenda the Candidate who will do what best for Alanta not whats best for one group or thet other.
3. Al | 09.01.09
Deb ,
I could not agree with you More . I do understand “”GROUPS”" wanting to get THEIR problems solved , that has never changed but , to judge it by a Candidates race is just as wrong as Hanging a man just for his skin color . SHAME ,SHAME, SHAME , on whoever is guilty of such .
4. Dev | 09.01.09
It would be naive to think that African Americans didn’t hold their own prejudices and tend to be racist. We see it in cities like D.C., Detroit, Philly and unfortunately what the people who are living in poverty get is corruption and more poverty. It’s a shame and hopefully there is a shift in thinking now that the best candidate should win. I can’t back the white candidate because I don’t know her platform, but it’s a shame Atlanta is still corrupt and probably always will be. I hope they can find a Mayor like Mayor Williams who turned D.C. around. Unfortunately Fenty is having a hard time following in his footsteps as he tries to appease the black majority and gets called an Uncle Tom if they don’t think he has enough of a black agenda. The people who lose out are the racist, but more importantly the innocent kids who deserve more.
5. Sean | 09.01.09
Dev
You total missed the point. “I can’t back the white candidate because I don’t know her platform” statments like that is just adding fuel to the racist fire. So you’ll vote for the black candidate just because thier black? Wow.
What is the “black agenda” why can’t it just be a “agenda” Anyone who only looks out for there own race/creed/color Fail as a Human. The goverment is for the people “all the people” once we can get to that understanding we can move forward. Sadly to much money is made in the Race Buisness
6. SecondHandSmoke | 09.01.09
This letter is not racist, bigoted, or divisive if the authors (Jennings & Boone) would agree that a similar letter written by white professors asking whites to band together to elect a white candidate to move the white agenda forward is OK. But they would never do that - they would identify the whites as racists.
How is it (as they claim) that Atlanta as one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. when they have had black mayors since Sam Massell (white & Jewish) lost to Maynard Jackson? Have all these black mayors not been focused on the black agenda?
Instead, the professors should look at the root cause - the failure of the policies of the “Great Society”. In an effort to eliminate poverty and racial inequities as only democrats believe only government to be capable of implementing, and instead causing generations that have been left to depend on the federal, state, and local governments for handouts rather than be responsible, independent citizens.
Atlanta Clark University should lift up these professors as race baiters and ethnic separatists. Shame on you!
7. sm | 09.02.09
” Professor Boone added: “Race has been turned on its head and is now seen as a pejorative. Race has been turned into racist.”
I wonder which group of people are responsible for that.
8. bebahru | 09.02.09
Memphis has a similar situation. The result: poverty and corruption. The nation’s first major city “black” mayor was elected in Memphis. After nearly twenty years in office this man recently resigned mid-term to run for congress and he’s nearly seventy years old. We have a ten candidate special election in October at a cost of nearly one million dollars so that this person can run for congress. The victor will be “black” because in Memphis it’s all about race.
9. Jon Carlsten | 09.02.09
Racism will evaporate from our consciousness once we acknowledge our past, apologize for the sins of our fathers, accept that we are “them” in “their” eyes as “they” are to us. It is time to get over fear filled selves. All of us have greater issues to address than the color of our skin.
10. clay | 09.02.09
Everyone knows it was a racist statement to it’s purest definition. If you vote this way though and not for the best candidates, you are free to. Just be ready for the sad consequences. I could care less who or what you are as long as you’re the best person for the job.
11. Sean | 09.02.09
Sean, I agree with you. I just had to state that I wasn’t informed about the white candidate so I wasn’t pretending to back her. Racism is racism and what is going on here seem to be just that. In this day and age we shouldn’t have a black, white, hispanic, Asian or any kind of agenda. It should be an agenda geared to all the people.
12. NotASheep | 09.04.09
As usual..if this had been a memo saying to vote for a white person with a black person running, all people associated with this would be fired. Why do we keep tolerating this racism. Black people can be racists too, and some of them are. It is time we hold them accountable for what they do. I was not here for slavery or Civil Rights and I’m tired of hearing blame for white people. I wonder..the movie “White Chicks” was made by black people can you imagine the backlash if a movie called “Black Chicks” was made? How about BET? Why is this continuallyt allowed. The only to overcome this hostility is to just be people, and stop identifying yourself only by your color. This sickens me
13. NotaSheep2 | 09.04.09
Another thing, we don’t have a black president, we have a president who is as white as he is black. One reason a lot of black people in ATL live in poverty, is their own choices. The unwillingness to break the cycle of having multiple out of wedlock babies and these babies being brought up only by mothers and then there are drugs. I have no sympathy for the people who make poor choices and blame everyone else. It’s about time people take responsiblity for their choices.
14. Greg | 09.09.09
Remember blacks are still a minority in this country? Minorities tend to vote for people that will stand up for their community’s issues and fight against the racism from the majority. Don’t think there is racism anymore because there is a multi racial ,conservative, corporate president? Look at the difference between Crim and Grady high schools in the author’s area of Atlanta. The 30307 zip code is split along the racial divide of the CSX tracks. Majority white neighborhoods Candler Park and Lake Claire go to Grady. Kids in Edgewood and Kirkwood go to the 97% black Crim. Crim is the JROTC magnet school for Atlanta and has its headquarters on school property. Children are required to take JROTC class there. Grady is majority white and is the journalism magnet school, and among other programs has robotics club. Crim has day care on site. The education statistics you can find yourself (if you like facts) and make your own comparison of the two. Seem like kids in one place might have some factors limiting the “choices” they get to be punished for in later life?
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1. Was Atlanta’s ‘black mayor first’ memo racist – or just blunt? « The Cantankerous Old White Guy | 09.03.09
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1. Deb | 09.01.09
I would think it would be obvious that the best candidate should be the candidate who is the best qualified to run the city, not the best qualified and black or the best qualified and white. It is a shame that this type of discussion is still going on.