Race Enters Atlanta Mayoral Vote

The campaign for mayor of this city, which has long promoted its racial tolerance, veered into controversy Thursday with the release of a memo urging black voters to unite around an African-American candidate and block the election of a white mayor.

A local group known as the Black Leadership Forum called for African-Americans to consolidate their support around Lisa Borders, president of the Atlanta City Council and one of several African-American candidates, according to a memo circulated on the Web and to local media.

The group said Ms. Borders had the best chance of winning support from white business leaders and defeating Mary Norwood, a white city councilwoman and a leading candidate for the Nov. 3 election, according to polls.

“For the last 25 years Atlanta has represented the breakthrough for black political empowerment in the South,” read the memo. “In order to defeat a 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.”

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But Atlanta’s demographics have shifted drastically in the past decade. The city of about 440,000 people remains a majority African-American city. But the proportion of voting-age residents who are white or Hispanic has grown.

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The call for black unity drew sharp criticism from Ms. Borders and her closest African-American competitor, Mr. Reed, who both insisted in separate news conferences Thursday that Atlanta must not choose its next mayor based on his or her race.

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Mr. Reed called the memo “racially charged and vitriolic” and said it “dishonors the legacies” of the black and white mayors who led Atlanta through the civil-rights movement and beyond. {snip}

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The Black Leadership Forum is an ad-hoc group of African-American leaders who include Aaron Turpeau, a well-known entrepreneur who worked in the administrations of Mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young. Messrs. Jackson and Young had held the office in various terms for 20 years since 1973.

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[Editor’s Note: A more detailed story on the demographics of Atlanta can be read here.]