When Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary
Norwood nearly reached the 50 percent vote needed to win and become the first
white mayor in 35 years, it sent out ripples of fear throughout the African
American community. Some believe that the city, long considered the black mecca
of America because of its high influx of educated, high-income blacks, is
experiencing an irrevocable erosion of concentrated black wealth, power and
influence.
Some worry that a white mayor poses a direct
threat to, and will destabilize, the hard-fought gains blacks procured since
legendary lawyer Maynard Jackson became mayor in 1974. Political pundits point
to multiple factors contributing to a permanent paradigm shift in the city,
which began during the Atlanta Olympic years in the mid-1990s when Bill
Campbell was mayor, and has accelerated during the current Shirley Franklin
administration.
Changing demographics: The city has gone from a
predominantly African American city to one where blacks now hold only a
slight majority (Demographics represent the African American population
as 57 percent today and continuing to drop as it
was 61 percent in 2000.)
Dr. Michael Owens, an associate professor in the
department of political science at Emory University, observes
that calculated changes have contributed to a reversal of the “white
flight” that took place in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“There have been a number of changes in the city
that were deliberately designed to make it marketable to the return of white
residents to the city of Atlanta. And I think that’s definitely the case since
the Olympic Games,” Owens says. “That’s one of the things that stands out of
the landmarks as Atlanta being on the move and being an international city and
all of that.”
The beautification of the city, in order to make
it presentable to the world community during the ’96 Olympic Games, continued
long after the world’s athletes returned home. The migratory patterns also
shifted radically. As the city became a magnet for talented, educated people
nationwide, particularly blacks, Atlanta soared to the top of the “fastest
growing cities” in the 1990s.
“You are getting an influx of people into the city
who are not in the same economic category as the folk that are already here,”
says Dr. William Boone, a political professor at Clark Atlanta University.
Boone was co-author of a controversial and inflammatory memo that urged black
voters to ensure the retention of a black person as the city’s CEO. “There was
the razing of the public housing in the city [whose residents were
overwhelmingly black] of Atlanta and that sort of thing. And they dispersed
that population to all the surrounding counties in DeKalb and maybe Clayton and
Henry and other areas.”
Black flight: There is
the ironic, or apparent contradiction, for a call by many blacks to keep
Atlanta City Hall black, yet they do not reside in the city, do
not want to live in the city, and therefore cannot impact the city from a
political standpoint. “This city has witnessed an increase in the percentage of
whites coming into the city than in the past and the number of blacks leaving
the city,” Boone says. ”
Gentrification: Owens
says Franklin openly campaigned to bring more wealth to the city. Many
suburbanites, long frustrated by Atlanta’s horrid rush hour traffic, happily
accepted Franklin’s invitation. “Gentrification was encouraged by the [Franklin
administration]. Because with gentrification is the idea that you are also
increasing your tax revenue,” says Owens.
Black voters’ apathy: The
African American electorate appeared to have returned to their slumber after
Barack Obama won the presidency. Owens also points out that, in several black
precincts, the voter turnout was as low as 4 percent. He calls that worse than
apathy. “I call [it] listlessness. They have no vigor or energy.”
That’s why Norwood could win in a runoff on Dec.
1. “If she wins it definitely sends a message that the city of Atlanta is not
what it used to be. It will still be a black mecca to some people. But that’s
always been the case,” Owens says. “You have people saying it would usher in a
post-racial city, but that’s nonsense, given the degrees of racial residential
segregation that we have and racial disparities that we have.”
But, Owens issues a caution to the black
electorate: “One thing we should not ignore [is] that how well Norwood did is a
harbinger of things to come. For some folks who think that Atlanta dodged a
bullet,” he says, “there is another bullet in the chamber.”
–terry shropshire
