Welcome to my freemium newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta to everything else.
My apologies, this was a draft of an article that I was currently reworking. I was attempting to schedule the release of this on my phone and instead of scheduling for tomorrow night, it was sent to all. My apologies.
So I decided to keep the draft version public alongside my more expansive version. - KJW
Is Andre Dickens Atlanta’s Last Black Mayor?
The 2021 Atlanta mayoral runoff is over and Andre Dickens is your next Atlanta mayor. Dickens, the former Atlanta City Councilmember defeated current City Council President Felicia Moore. Dickens, a native of Atlanta, has become the seventh Black mayor in Atlanta. Dickens is also the seventh consecutive Black Mayor in Atlanta’s history; an unprecedented run of success in US history as no major American city has had. At 7-consecutive Black mayors, no major American city ever produced a political run like Atlanta, as its consecutive 48-year run of having a Black person as the highest city leader. But unlike previous years, it seems that this may be coming to an end. Or at least its significance.
The next mayor of Atlanta is Black but the one after either Andre Dickens is questionable. The recently concluded November 30th runoff election between Felicia Moore and Andre Dickens is either the beginning of the end of the Black political machine that started nearly fifty years ago with the election of Maynard Jackson or it’s the start of a new chapter in Atlanta’s history of Black politics. So what does that mean for this election and how did we get here?
I. Is this the end or new beginning of the Black political power structure in Atlanta?
The 2021 municipal elections may be the end of the run of Black political power in the mayor’s seat and on the city council. This has been building for some time now, what was once a whisper as early as the Shirley Franklin era of Atlanta in the early 2000s. The Black political machine was nearly upset both 12 years ago in the 2009 Reed-Norwood race, then again in the 2017 race, by Norwood. The city’s demographics have changed, plus the reputation has taken some major hits, Buckhead wants to secede, the Westside is now ‘West Midtown’, and the biggest blue check boosters couldn’t muster the political support that they used to. The old Atlanta Way of doing things is headed for its sunset, but what does that mean for the most symbolic position in all of America? The mayor of Atlanta.
1) The Black Lives Matter movement and the anti-Black Lives Matter Movement
On May 25th, 2020 George Floyd, a 46year-old Black Minnesota resident was apprehended by four Minneapolis police officers over the use of a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill at a convenience store. Floyd was calmly escorted out of the store then beaten, then held down by four police officers, with one officer placing his knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. The entire murder was caught on camera, then uploaded by 17-year-old Darnella Frazier to Facebook, after that the world had changed. Within one week, from May 25th to June 1st, 2020, the largest incident in the history of the internet happened—the protests of the murder of George Floyd and the resurrection of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Not since the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1968 and tumultuous the 1968 Presidential Election has more political protest ensued. America was on fire, cities like Atlanta became in the crosshairs of a larger conversation on the role of policing in America. But the response to two incidents: First, the May 31st vandalism of the CNN building during the George Floyd protests and second, the June 12th murder of Rayshard Brooks in the parking lot of the University Avenue Wendy’s is how everything has led to the 2021 Atlanta Mayoral Race. Black Atlanta and their allies marched in the streets for justice, their detractors got mad, then got online.
1B - The anti-Black Lives Matter movement is here in Atlanta
Despite the movement against police brutality and violence last summer, the greater white, Republican adjacent, and conservative contrarians were harder at work to dismiss George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery’s life. And judging by how the constant feedback loop of ‘crime’ exists on both social media and local television, since the protests, it would seem as if crime is as bad as it ever has been. It’s not. The data backs this up in Atlanta and across the US. But it does show the power of how crime porn from both traditional and non-traditional media has become the biggest arbiters in producing a reality in Atlanta that isn’t statistically true.
From my article ‘Atlanta is losing the narrative’ - (6/23/2021)
In the last twelve months, Atlanta has undergone one of the most chaotic political and social changes it had in decades. The Atlanta way of doing things in 2020 saw the most fraught testing of the fragility of the bonds between the Black and White elites plus business interests of the city. This trifecta since the aftermath of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riots has been able to typically deal with racial or political strife in more private terms, maintaining the image of the city. But due to the combination of the increasing inequality, gentrification, and a decades-in-the-making demographic shift, the Atlanta of old has met the Atlanta of new. Add in the long-gestating backlash regarding race relations, police brutality, and social justice, Atlanta finally saw that its moniker as ‘the city too busy to hate’ be tested to its limits.
1C - Atlanta and the anti-BLM ecosystem
The biggest change in the overall focus has been the role of crime porn. Crime porn exists in a feedback loop online, where based on engagement with its core and non-core audiences, can spill over into other users’ social media experiences whether they want to or not. While ATLScoop has been the biggest, the most influential, and the account that got the ball rolling on ‘crime’, it’s a reflection of a larger reality that Atlanta’s elite nor its gatekeepers are no longer in control. Overlapping with a demographic reality that Atlanta is no longer majority Black, the newer residents who are moving in are also not liberal in the sense of a simple Blue-vs-Red dynamic happening nationally. But if these accounts + local media keep the feedback loop, it can be. There are more MAGA’s now in Atlanta and they will bring the same toxicity to city politics.
1D- The Buckhead secession movement
Buckhead's secession movement is being led by Bill White. White is a Trump fundraiser and one of the bigger ‘Stop the Steal’ advocates in Georgia. White moved to Atlanta in 2018 after spending a long career in New York City. White has been using the feedback loop of crime in Buckhead to be the dominant reason for separating from the city of Atlanta. White and his secessionist supporters have managed to become a near-ever-present topic or conversation on local television, local journalism outlets, podcasts, and talk radio. Not including his open seat on Tucker Carlson’s #1 show on cable television news show. It’s a 2015/16 Trump strategy of 1) free press and 2) maintaining ‘message discipline’, ‘crime-crime-crime’, that’s working here in Atlanta to a staggering degree of success, add in the likes of ATL Scoop, Nextdoor, Facebook groups, and private messaging services, the strength that was The Atlanta Way is nearly on its death bed. And one of the biggest financial contributors to Atlanta’s success, one of the anchors of The Black Mecca is maybe out of the door this time next year.
2) The Anti-Black political machine is here
Add in voter apathy in most of the city elections, the backlash to Kasim Reed, dissatisfaction on the old Black Atlanta political operandi, the public disapproval towards cop city, or the series of bad real estate deals without moving aggressively in housing or transit, they should be happy that there wasn’t a near revolt. The old Black Atlanta machine has seemingly fallen out of favor with Black people, at least those who don’t have a blue checkmark, moved here last week, or have a financial interest. The anti-Black political machine is building upon a malaise with Black leadership that has seemingly done little tangible for Black people, especially poor ones. The reputation is damaged and now is on display due to the increasing role of social media.
2B-The Backlash to KLB’s handling of police represented two of Atlanta’s
It’s important to note that the backlash to KLB crested over this time last year with mostly white people regarding her not ‘supporting’ law enforcement. KLB did what nearly every Black person wanted which was immediate action against the police for misconduct as well as admonishing those few people who vandalized the CNN Center.
She did both and most of Black Atlanta and Black America cheered her for it. When Rayshard Brooks was killed Black Atlanta and Black America applauded the swift leadership. KLB acted as the mayor of Black America in those moments and was subsequently punished for it. The police stopped showing up for work, but she got the problems with the people regarding the uptick in crime. Blue Lives Matter won, Atlanta lost, and Keisha decided to not run again for a second term. The message was clear, Atlanta, the Black Mecca now has conceded to the anti-Black, anti-Black Mecca crowd. Make Atlanta Great Again is here.
It’s also during this moment of summer-fall 2020 where both ATL Scoop and the Buckhead secession movement begins. And both represent a newer white Atlanta, that is out of step with Atlanta of the social governance of the past. A large portion of White Atlantans, plus their suburban and greater Georgia counterparts since the start of last summer’s protests have used primarily social media to propagate the notion of a ‘lawless’ Atlanta.
3) The White Elephant(s) in the room
The 2021 election will likely be the last election in which the Black population in the city of Atlanta is over 50%. This election is likely to still produce another black mayor, the real question is after this election will this be the end? As Buckhead secession looms and demographic changes are showing more of its own political views, who does mayor-elect Dickens answer to first? Or does the mayor of Atlanta become second fiddle to the mayor of Buckhead?
The white population in Atlanta has grown every year since the 1996 Olympics, but the 2010’s growth was more pronounced in Atlanta than nearly anywhere else. But it should be noted
And what does that mean for candidates such as Atlanta political veteran Mary Norwood? Norwood the former city councilwoman and two-time Atlanta mayoral nominee has become the boogie woman in some circles but could very well finally reach the iron throne of Atlanta politics if she plays her cards right.
Norwood has been used as a lightning rod of the threat of the return to the discriminatory politics of the deep south in addition to her supporting the Trump recount didn’t help her case. Norwood has always been considered to be a Republican in Democratic clothing by many in Atlanta. And having Norwood on the ticket proved to be enough to get both Reed and Bottoms barely over the hill in 2009 and 2017 respectively. Combined with the looming threat of Buckhead becoming its own city, you could have a scenario where Buckhead gets the mayor of Atlanta that they want now in Dickens, then in 2022, still separates from the city.
3B- What is different from this election compared to the last one?
Also, the 2017 election was the highest election total ever for the city of Atlanta, but considering they were only 94,000 out of roughly 300,000 eligible voters there is still room to grow. In some district runoff races candidates, candidates were elected to office by less than 1,000 votes as well. The 2021 election had about the same level of turnout despite nearly 100,000 more eligible voters.
Compared to years prior both the traditional Black Atlanta political machine, business-first politicians, and the old Atlanta guard could be voted out in one fell swoop. This window is really open only in this election and won’t be in the next one. The voters have spoken and some long-term time candidates such as Cleta Winslow and Joyce Shepherd or voted out. Via a groundswell of fed up long-time residents, new residents who came via Cop City for Shepherd, and fed up people in the most rapidly gentrifying areas of the city in Cleta Winslow. The two candidates who won were both black, but campaigned outside of the traditional black Atlanta political machines, with both campaigning on offering more than the status quo of the black Atlanta politic.
IV. The next mayor explicitly answers to White Atlanta first
While the (mostly white) business community is relatively unfazed by these moves, this new group of white resentment also represents a new wrinkle the mayor will have to address. Expect more complaints directed at the city contracting the airport, etc but none at GDOT, the ports, the Secretary of State Board of Education, and none of the other aspects of the state government that are controlled by white conservatives. Whether it be Dickens needing more conservatives in the state House or Senate, Buckhead secessionists, those concerned about the rise in crime, or the rise of new voters in Atlanta, the mayor-elect has to make sure that he is now seen as their mayor. Let it be clear just because there are more white voters in Atlanta, doesn’t mean Dickens will abandon his Black constituents, but the needs of this new base of voters will be different in ways his administration should be concerned about sooner than later. This is in combination that Atlanta’s white voter base will be still Democrat supporting overall but not necessarily enthralled with the social cues that the previous Atlanta mayors have had within the black community.
V. Gentrification in Atlanta has finally crested over
In many ways gentrification in Atlanta was inevitable. The last 25 years of back-to-the-city movements started by Gen Xers and carried on by millennials was a logical step. In Atlanta, that started in the post-1996 Olympics era. Then proceeded by several residential changes on the east side of Atlanta, spilling over into Midtown and now southeast Atlanta.
Decade after decade, Atlanta’s geographical boundaries expanded while its young people, often locked into the suburbs had to go to the city for nightlife and culture.
Culture and entertainment that was pre-internet, which required a different level of experience to gain. The era of cheap oil, cheap land, and government subsidies for silent generation members and their baby boomer children had come to an end.
VI. New Atlanta wants new leadership
Atlanta is in the big leagues now and its political representation must accommodate. For some candidates, current and former, simply being the black candidate will not be enough to win elections, or avoid scrutiny. The Old Atlanta Way of doing things and the Black political machine that was birthed from it produced a lot of great leaders, but it also produced a lot who didn’t bring much to the table. We have to acknowledge this, as well as assert with the caveats of the wealth of Atlanta in 2021 is different than in 1991. The curve is harder to grade on for the last decade because most of the then-current problems (affordable housing, homicides, lack of job opportunities) and future (gentrification, inequality, land speculation) were present. New Atlanta is a lot of things, but what it’s not is complacent, they didn’t have to deal with the decades of economic and poverty-related issues as the last eras of Atlanta had to. They have options, they will and are exercising them.
VII. ‘Old Atlanta’ is dying off, left in adulthood, or is being priced out
I just changed in this election from the last has been the turnout. On the surface, it seems to be on par with the 2017 election, but the black turnout has been rather low, especially in districts that need top-tier representation the most. The last few electoral cycles have seen some elected officials being elected by a single-digit percentage of eligible voters. Old Atlanta no longer lives or votes in Atlanta. It was bound at some point someone will have to come in and take the reins.
In many ways, these are the most neglected parts of the city and have received absolutely nothing from Black Atlanta’s political leadership. They should be seen as an indictment of that rather than a slight at voters. What’s held up often many of these candidates has been the declining block of senior citizens and long-term Black Atlantans. But demographically these areas are also getting older, dying off, moving out, being displaced, and often many of their kids or grandkids are no longer living in these neighborhoods.
Conclusion
It’s going to take something different. There’s nothing wrong with the photo-op or getting rappers to show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but the mayor of Atlanta can’t simply eschew the concerns of Black Atlanta to be just the mayor of Atlanta. As cliché as the ‘Bankhead and Buckhead’ phrase has come, it’s true, the next mayor of Atlanta has to realize you have to be both.
Despite what people in Atlanta think Atlanta is still the gold standard of the idealism of hope. Whether or not the locals here believe it is a different story. The fear of losing a black mayor is both reality and hyperbole.