Atlanta: The Post-Racial Memo

While America is supposedly now "post-racial", the city of Atlanta has a way to go to catch up.

It would appear a "memo" has surfaced, advising the black community to unite behind one black mayoral candidate. Again, imagine the "stupidly" judgment indictments had this been the other way around.

Ya, I think I heard about this. Some in the black community of Atlanta are concerned that a white candidate could win the mayor’s office for the first time in many many years.

Yep, if we’re post racial and all that, it shouldn’t matter what skin color/ethnic background somebody is.

Isn’t Atlanta a majority black city, at least of residents inside the city limits? So that could be a political upset if a white candidate won an election there.

On a previous election day in Atlanta, I heard an ad played only on black radio stations. It was Rep John Lewis(D-GA) urgently rallying black voters around a black city council candidate, saying if the white candidate won, dogs and fire hoses would be turned on blacks. Mayor Shirly Franklin was an endorsee as well on that ad. They are both liars and racists. Atlanta is not post-racial, it is simply black.

In Syracuse NY a black mayoral candidate is making no secret of his main qualification for the office. His surname is Otis, which name is the dominant feature of his campaign ads and posters, and which is rendered with it's initial character printed at double size, just in case the reader doesn't get the point. Or can't read.

His campaign slogan is "Our City, Our Time, Our Opportunity."

Here's a link, if anyone's interested.

Looks like this blog entry was based off an Atlanta Journal Constitution article. Unlike the blog entry, the article includes a rebuttal from another black candidate, state Sen. Kasim Reed:

“Not only do I find these comments racially charged and vitriolic, I completely repudiate them because they are fundamentally wrong and do not belong in today’s society. I call on Ms. Borders (Atlanta’s Council President and the one with the best shot to win )to do the right thing and denounce such divisive, racist language immediately.

These tactics divide the very community that has made Atlanta emerge as a leading city in the South and dishonors the legacies of Mayors Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young, Ivan Allen, Sam Massell, and William Hartsfield. This campaign should be waged on the merits of each candidate, not the color of their skin.”

Franklin, the mayor called it “bigoted” in fact, every article I can find on this issue (mostly from the AJC) shows local black leaders offended by this. Even the comments of those articles shows local Atlanta residents are up in arms over this.

Remember, even blogs can spin.

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