Valerie Bauerlein, Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2009
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.”
{snip}
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.
{snip}
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.
{snip}
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}
{snip}
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.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: A more detailed story on the demographics of Atlanta can be read here.
Original article
Email
Valerie Bauerlein
at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com .
(Posted on August 28, 2009)
Comments
Hey, worked for Detroit, St. Louis, D.C., keep the dream alive.
I would love it if someone would post a copy of this memo.
I can see the purpose for the letter. It’s another Steve Cohen situation, and the black who thinks she has the best chance is wanting black voters to ignore the other blacks on the ballot.
I’ve no clue, but I would guess that this Mary Norwood is a big time lib and panderer.
A city hall worker sent out a mass email to all city workers that they were supposed to put in x-number of hours working for the re-election of the current black mayor.
The ‘investigation’ (or is that stonewalling) continues.
“veered into controversy”
So it’s call veering into controversy when group known as the “Black Leadership Forum” calls for blacks to consolidate their support for the black candidate.
But it’s called racist for a white group to do that for a white candidate.
Since blacks took over Atlanta over 30 years ago, it’s a crime ridden shabby place. The suburbs were nice until recently. Now Hispanics and blacks are fouling Gwinett and the other suburbs. Atlanta is an example that just because a higher than average ratio of blacks have college degrees from fourth rate black colleges, the succeeding generations are if anything more ignorant and less educated than their forefathers.
You know, this’ll vanish. The black candidates are only sorry that the contents of the memo ended up in the publc eye, not for what the contents of the memo actually are.
Some huffing and puffing for the sake of the cameras, then it’ll be back down to the business of blocking the white woman’s chances…albeit with far better control of communications security.
Yes racism is, indeed, all around us. I wonder if Miss Borders would have even bothered condemning the memo had Atlanta still been solidly black.
I don’t see a problem with blacks urging other blacks to vote for a black mayoral candidate. Who do you expect them to support? What I would like to see is whites urging their people to support a white candidate. 21st century American politics is a racial headcount lets quit pretending otherwise.
I live near Atlanta, and read about this. To be fair, most of the black public response has been as appalled and disgusted as the white response. Atlanta has had black mayors for many years, and they have not done a good job. I think a lot of the black population realizes this. In response to Question Diversity, I don’t get the impression that Mary Norwood is liberal.
Everything is about race with blacks. Most of them hate whites so much, and want to take over so badly they’re willing to do anything they think will do that no matter if it is out and out overt racism, as in this mayoral race.
Take a look at this video for another even worse example of black police anti-white racism. It’s chilling.
http://www.resistnet.com/forum/topics/video-when-asked-if-this-was
Got to Atlanta and you’ll see what 20,000 Confederates died trying to prevent.
I was in Atlanta last week for a meeting at the Federal office center near CNN and the dome. There were police literally on every street corner plus every building entrance had multiple armed private security officers. No one in our group breathed easy until we were past the I-20W/I-285 interchange heading home to Alabama as fast as we could go!
In about 15 years, as the American born hispanic children grow old enough to vote blacks will find that their control of Atlanta and other cities will disappear.
Good riddance!
Whites and other civilized people should view this as a wake-up call to get as far from center-city Atlanta as their circumstances permit. It’ll be another Detroit or Newark in less than a generation. Make that a black generation, which is only 14-15 years.
What do you expect? Historically, whenever whites have been the majority, a white man is elected most of the time. When blacks are the majority, a black man is elected most of the time. Those who are in the majority do what they deem necessary to further their own interests. What upsets me is not the fact that blacks are trying to exclude whites, but the fact that we as whites are too afraid to fight for our own interests. White identity has been criminalized up to the point that any talk of self-preservation is automatically seen as extremist. Granted, I understand where these anti-racists are coming from; traditionally, white consciousness has been used as a weapon to negatively impact their lives. However, from our perspective, we must gain a new consciousness in order to stop our continuing displacement.
I think it is good for blacks to band together and represent their interests instead of trying to assimilate with whites. I wish European Americans would do the same.
11 — Robert Kelly wrote at 9:47 AM on August 29:
Sir, excellent video, but I’m not in the least bit chilled by it. I’ve been saying all along that White people should forget about winning ridiculous arguments with blacks or anyone else on this subject of our rights, the overall constitution or anything else involved with black people.
We are long since passed beyond argumentation. Our enemies mean to kill us and enslave our children. Nothing less, and White people make such fools of themselves as to argue with a poor slob black like they did in that video. Shameful!
Tom Iron…
john wrote: Whites and other civilized people should view this as a wake-up call to get as far from center-city Atlanta as their circumstances permit. It’ll be another Detroit or Newark in less than a generation.
John the whole point is that the city is becoming increasingly white again! Atlanta has flourished and living “intown” has become fashionable, whites (first gays, and now straight couples) are taking over the beautiful old houses and moving back into the old neighborhoods.
I live in the suburbs, where the blacks are taking over. I don’t want to move intown so my plan is to get far away from atlanta and move into the country.
I too saw the video Robert Kelly posted. Wesley Cheeks got called a fascist by the poster bearer, and he didn’t even get upset. I don’t think Cheeks knows what a “fascist” is, to tell you the truth. If the poster bearer had called Cheeks an “en-word pig”, that’s a different story.
16 — Friedrich Wilhelm wrote at 2:31 PM on August 29:
What really irritates me with blacks if their total hypocrisy when it comes to racial issues. They have groups that are only for blacks, that only are to look out for “black interests”, yet they want whites to include them into all of our organizations, businesses, neighborhoods, school, etc.
I love Atlanta. I sell guns, crack, booty, food stamps, stolen BMWs, plasma tvs off the truck, and phoney driver`s liscences. I can do this all the while being a affirmative action hire cop.
“11 — Robert Kelly wrote at 9:47 AM on August 29”
Thanks, Robert. It was entertaining. Actually, I think a white cop would have been far more arrogant. A white cop would have flexed his authority a little more and might have even cuffed the patriot. Cheeks did eventually walk away.
Craig Roberts (www.riflewarrior.com), a true American patriot, talks about cops and how the younger cops are borderline gestapo. He knows many police officers who are aware of what’s going on and who will side with us patriots if and when things get ugly.
When I read Charles B. Tiffany’s comment I didn’t know whether I should crack up or just feel sorry for those poor blacks? I decided to crack up and realise that blacks do not understand politics or much else for that matter. Aren’t blacks tired of all the crime and low socio-economic mess that they create?
Good thinking, Atlanta Blacks… why would you want honest, effective leadership in the mayoral office. When you can have a Black continuing Atlanta’s downward spiral?
A Virginia Tech couple was found murdered last week in a national park campsite. They’re being buried tomorrow. The police say that they’re looking for a person of interest and that the act was “random”. Is that a code. Nothing certain yet but why are we just hearing about this? Maybe I missed it.
I’m putting this link here although it’s irrelevant to the story but I want to be sure that soemone sees this. Another White couple has been murdered.
Sounds like another Channon & Chris story. I’m not going to freak our until I get more details.
http://www.newser.com/story/68002/va-tech-couple-shot-dead-in-forest.html
Have whites awakened yet? Can you see what your ancestors did when they fought for the brand new Marxist working class proletariet peasant hero emancipator red states Republican of Africans enslaved to the white bourgeise elite in the real America where it all began? Its been downhill ever since for the white race.
With the hispanic invasion and all that section 8 housing in the suburbs, the blacks are losing control of the cities. Hispanics will never vote for a black.
“What do you expect? Historically, whenever whites have been the majority, a white man is elected most of the time”
Does this ersatz statistic take into account the number of times there were ONLY White candidates, and vice versa?
Here’s a quote from the AP article.
“A large voting bloc — residents in the city’s public housing — was erased as Atlanta’s crumbling projects were demolished over the past decade.”
Maybe section 8 isn’t so bad. If it breaks the black strangehold on the big cities, black political power will disappear.
