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. For my dad, stay strong! I love you!
Events:
Jazz Matters at The Wrens Nest is this Friday, August 19th, from 7:30-10pm, tickets can be purchased here.
MODA is hosting a free tour at Serenbe on Saturday from 11am-1pm, sign up here.
The Little 5 Points Alliance is hosting its annual People Make the Place fundraiser on Sunday, at 7 Stages Theater from 5-7:30pm, you can buy tickets here or donate here.
4th Annual Grove Park Community 5K is coming September 18th, register here.
My own event, Atlanta: Past, Present, and Future - Sunday, August 21st
Shameless plug, but I’m hosting my own event alongside Victoria Lemos of the podcast Archive Atlanta on Sunday, August 21st at Wild Heaven Brewery in the West End! The event is called Atlanta: Past, Present, and Future and will be an interactive Q&A on Atlanta’s past and projections on Atlanta’s future.
If you went to the first one this spring at The Wrens Nest, expect even more good times! The tickets include food and non-alcoholic drinks. The event starts at 1 pm!
1. Federal court agrees that Georgia purposely has diluted Black voters in the Public Service Commissioner’s race
In a surprise decision, a federal judge has ruled in favor of a challenge by a group of Black activists claiming the districts drawn for voting for Public Service Commissioner have been deliberately drawn to reduce Black voting power. The verdict addresses the peculiar question of why only one Black candidate has ever won a PSC seat in 143 years. There will now be two races now on the ballots in November, but due to the timing of the verdict and lack of time to mount a proper campaign against the incumbents, it’s currently unlikely that the outcome would change.
The PSC currently has 5 seats with all Republicans serving. This is odd considering there is about an even split in statewide voter preference for Dems and the GOP. Which especially odd considering the Dems pulled over 50% of the vote for President and Senate in 2021. This makes the only Black appointee on the PSC, businessman Fitz Johnson (who wasn’t elected) a Republican, at odds with the data. Additionally, Johnson’s appointment is atypical of the average Black voter preference in Georgia hovers around 80-90% in support of the Dems.
Why the decision was important
The decision was also notable because it directly mentioned the year 1906 in the opening paragraph. 1906 was the year of the Georgia Governor’s race, a race defined by (r)ace, where both gubernatorial candidates ran on campaigns of disenfranchising Black voters alongside deliberate false stories about Black men running rampant.
The atmosphere of the Georgia Governors race eventually led to the 1906 racial massacre, a three-day-long attempt at ethnic cleansing in Atlanta, killing two dozen Black residents, and injuring hundreds more. The eventual winner of that Governor’s race, Hoke Smith, alongside the then-southern Democrat base of lawmakers who preceded in 1907 to remove Black political power statewide for decades afterward.
This includes the districts of the PSC as well as foretells the reason for the underrepresentation of Black Georgians in the US congress, the US Senate, and the upper chambers of the state.
Georgia’s own history of political suppression
Georgia is notoriously bad at keeping out Black people from ascertaining real power. Georgia has never been governed on the upper levels of the statehouse by anyone who isn’t white. On sheer numbers and years, there should’ve been some form of Black representation before.
Georgia has been controlled by white male political leadership since it was a colony of the British empire. Georgia has deliberately subverted any Black gains despite the state having a Black population somewhere between 25-35% from the end of the civil war to the present day. The first woman US Senator didn’t happen until 2019, that woman, Kelly Loeffler was also conservative. The first Jewish and African American Senators did happen until January 20th of this year. Atlanta is an anomaly, even with that level of Black political successes, Buckhead residents and the greater business community dictate what policies actually happen within the city.
Bonus: The AP covered the 1906 Massacre as well
Myself, Ann Hill Bond and Allison Bantimaa of the Fulton County Rememberance Coalition participated in a special news package on the history of the 1906 Atlanta racial massacre for the Associated Press. This includes a brief 4-min video as seen below as well as an article on the event.
2. Rudy Guiliani came to Fulton County to testify
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Guiliani came to the Fulton County Courthouse to answer questions related to his alleged involvement to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election. Guiliani came to answer six hours of questioning from the DA’s office. Giuliani for weeks has attempted to avoid speaking to the DA’s office, before arriving yesterday. The contents of the discussion were not made public. Giuliani isn’t the only prominent figure who will be testifying in front of the special grand jury, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
Yes, Giuliani was also joined by former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones at the courthouse.
3. Kemp and DA Fani Willis butting heads
Governor Kemp is attempting to have a court throw out the potential of questioning from DA Fani Willis. Governor Kemp has filed to block a subpoena to testify before a Fulton County special grand jury regarding the attempt by former President Trump to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. The request to drop the testimony of the governor resulted in a series of back-and-forth emails between Kemp’s lawyer, Brian McEvoy, and the DA’s office. The emails made it to the press, to which some reporters proceeded to publish some of the contents via Twitter.
Willis and Kemp could be ‘frenemies’ for a while. Both have made being ‘tough on crime’ a part of their short-term goals. Both had made a focus on attacking gangs, sex trafficking, and ending the backlog of cases currently within the system.
4. Atlanta-based Cox Media has bought national news media startup Axios for $525 million
As a surprise to everyone in the media world, Atlanta-based Cox Media Group has bought digital news media startup Axios for a whopping $525 million. Cox Media are owners of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), as well as former owners of WSBTv and WSB Radio. The move is a pivot into local media across the US as well as being the first thought amongst higher-end consumers across the country.
5. Athens has decriminalized marijuana
The Athens city council has decriminalized marijuana use. The Athens-Clarke County commissioners have approved an ordinance that eliminates jail time and lowers the fine for possessing less than an ounce of cannabis to $35. Athens now has the lowest penalties in Georgia for places that have decriminalized marijuana. Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Georgia.
6. Another festival, 404 Fest was canceled
It was Music Midtown first, now less than two weeks after that cancelation comes another, 404 Fest which was scheduled to take place this past weekend at the Pullman Yards development, a private venue in South Atlanta. Just like Music Midtown, the reason for the 404 Fest cancellation was not officially stated but some think that the issue may also be security related.
Why was Music Midtown canceled?
The ‘constitutional carry’ law allows guns to be available at most public locations across the state including public parks, where Music Midtown was set to take place.
This issue arose as most performance artists’ contracts specifically forbid them from performing at venues that do not have adequate security, especially allowing guns on the premises. This comes as more artists are concerned about concert safety in the aftermath of the Travis Scott Astroworld tour tragedy last fall. This is in addition to a Dua Lipa show this summer, where someone in the crowd deliberately set off fireworks inside the arena while she performed.
Who is the person responsible for the Music Midtown cancellation?
Phillip Evans is a conservative gun rights activist, who has been launching a series of legal challenges specifically aimed at the city of Atlanta to expand gun rights. Evans lives in Monroe County, located about 70 miles southeast of Atlanta, outside of Macon in central Georgia. Evans has made it a goal to file more lawsuits to put guns everywhere in the state of Georgia, especially in ‘liberal’ cities like Atlanta. Evans is a gun rights culture warrior and a direct antagonist to the city of Atlanta’s efforts at gun control, often writing on his blog concerning these efforts.
You can listen to his interview on GPB30’s All Things Considered radio show.
Evans has a mixed record at filing lawsuits to carry a gun in public places, this includes losing a lawsuit to carry at the Botanical Garden and a win at carrying a gun at the Home Depot backyard, located directly next to Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Georgia World Congress Center, and a new hotel set to open next year. He also stated in that interview that he open carried a long rifle to the Atlanta Jazz Festival (which was also held in Piedmont Park) in May.
What does this mean for other festivals?
Other popular Atlanta festivals including One Music Fest and Shaky Knees are still expected to happen. The loss of Music Midtown’s estimated* $50 million in economic impact is an unexpected loss on the balance sheet for the city of Atlanta. While unlikely, due to the timing of the announcement and refunds being allocated, Atlanta Motor Speedway has stated that they would like to host the event this year.
While in the true spirit of Atlanta, the arts community has wasted no time, as a new mural has gone up on the Beltline depicting shooting the bird to Evans.
The GOP is pushing gun rights to their limits in Georgia
The two cancelations highlight another question of the expansion of gun rights under the GOP-led state legislatures in Georgia including the passage of expanded gun rights in 2010, 2014’s guns everywhere law, 2017’s ‘campus carry’ bill, and this year’s ‘constitutional carry’ passage. For the GOP, gun expansion polls well with their base as well as a large group of gun owners at-large who back the measure.
7. Kemp is extending the gas tax until September, it’s a costly $150m/per month move against Abrams
Governor Kemp has extended the gas tax holiday until September. The move is one that is aimed at reducing the price of gas in the state. In reality, the move is another strategy to associate the Kemp administration with efficient leadership by colloquially equating the gas tax holiday as the reason for lower gas prices, especially when compared to ‘blue’ states.
For Kemp, the continued association as the anti-Biden administration is a smart one as Biden’s polling numbers indicate in addition to the barrage of gas-related news and social content over the past summer indicates. Kemp can also rely on stronger than expected tax collections plus the two rounds of covid-19 stimulus funds can bandaid much of the losses this year. As a result, overall statewide tax revenues are only up 2.5% this year compared to 2021 due to this strategy by Kemp as the motor vehicles tax collection is down by 97.8% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
8. #1 college football star, Gwinnett’s Travis Hunter signs his first NIL deal with Atlanta-based Greenwood Bank
Travis Hunter, the Gwinnett area HS football star and #1 prospect who earlier this year chose HBCU Jackson State University in Mississippi over Florida State, has announced his first Name Image and Likeness (NIL) deal. The deal is with Atlanta-based Greenwood Bank, the online financial platform that features Killer Mike, tech investor Paul Judge, and former mayor Andrew Young.
Travis Hunter’s decision to play for NFL/MLB Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, the coach of Jackson State University sent shockwaves throughout college football earlier this year. Hunter’s decision and deals come as a larger potential secession of major football colleges into two separate national conferences in the Big Ten and SEC alongside potential new regulations around players making money. Despite the success of Deion Sanders in recruiting, a new college sports cartel led by the Big Ten and SEC could emerge, resulting in a system that forces superstar athletes to attend bigger athletic universities despite the pay opportunities via NIL.
For more background, I would suggest reading my two-part article last fall on college football realignment to understand the dollars behind the deals:
What does college football realignment mean for schools like Georgia State? - PT. 1
What does college football realignment mean for schools like Georgia State? - PT. 2
Other red clay news:
Young Thug has been denied bond once again.
The trial of the man accused of killing 7-year-old Kennedy Maxie has begun.
The city and several residents of Peoplestown have reached an eminent domain settlement to the tune of $5.3 million to allow for a special sewage project.
Atlanta will be host to the 2025 College Football National Championship.
After 21 years, Susan V. Booth is leaving as the artistic director of the Alliance Theater for a similar position at Chicago’s Goodman Theater
Fire Department officials in Gwinnett are still trying to identify a suspected arsonist in a series of fires started by Molotov cocktails in July.
Gwinnett County officials are footing the bill for a new research center in the county that is claiming a whopping 2,000 acres.
MARTA has launched an Uber/Lyft rideshare program dubbed MARTA Reach. The program is currently running until August 31st.
Delta flight attendants may be unionizing.
The Beltline is extending from Piedmont Park to Lindbergh.
The supposed non-partisan Georgia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Burt Jones (R) for Lt. Governor.
A jailer at the Atlanta US Penitentiary has been charged with PPP fraud.