A favorite event of voters is to ignore a special election. So it’s no surprise the recent election for state House District 58 barely registered in the hearts and minds of the electorate.
A January three-way race generated a measly 2.78 percent turnout. In a district of 30,162 voters, only 838 took a few minutes out of their day to cast a ballot, excluding provisional ballots – if any.
The celebrated civil rights movement and its cadre of fearless pioneers that marched and protested throughout the South to transform America is fading fast. Most of those who worked for and with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr are either elderly or in their graves.
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is an engaging and enigmatic African leader. In 2010 he became President of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous and prosperous nation, without ever having been elected to a major political office previously.
“There has not been any rise that’s been so meteoric in Nigeria,” analyst Charles Dokubo said in 2010.
During this 33rd annual celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Observance and February’s Black History Month, one of the nation’s most sought after speakers is Stephon Ferguson, whose compelling and captivating impersonation of MLK is said to be one of the best ever heard or performed. He nails Dr. King’s tone of voice, cadence, charisma and character.
During this 33rd annual observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Observance and February’s Black History Month one of the nation’s most sought after speakers is Stephon Ferguson, whose compelling and captivating impersonation of MLK is said to be one of the best ever heard or performed. He nails Dr. King’s tone of voice, cadence, character and charisma.
The inequality drumbeat is getting louder and louder across the metro region. Even the Washington Post recently sent a reporter here to feature the day-to-day struggles of a young, recently homeless single mother in Clayton County.
The author wrote, “For the poor in the Deep South’s cities, simply applying for a job exposes the barriers of a particularly pervasive and isolating form of poverty.”
Ozell Sutton was a unique and largely unknown civil rights leader whose work in The Movement was mostly as an undercover operative. The 90-year old Little Rock, Arkansas native died recently following a rich and robust life of pioneering activism.
She’s been Atlanta’s premier female civil rights activist since the late Jondelle Johnson, the fervent and forceful former executive director of Atlanta’s NAACP who was known as “Mrs. NAACP” for her leadership in the 1970’s and 1960’s. Now attorney Janice Mathis, the vibrant Vice President of Rainbow/PUSH has been named Executive Director of the National Council of Negro Women [NCNW], a powerful 80-year old civil rights organization focused on women and families.
Atlanta’s English Avenue community, commonly called “The Bluff”, has been known for decades as an area riddled with poverty, crime, drug activity and despair. Now it will also be known as The 10,000 Fearless Men & Women Headquarters of the South for The Nation of Islam
He is the new darling and delight of the Democratic Party. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro is a 40 year young President Obama appointee and former San Antonio, Texas Mayor who is considered one of the Democratic Party’s best and brightest rising political stars.
After spending a few days in downtown Detroit, I’m reminded of Atlanta’s adolescence.
I’ve spent the past few days walking all over Detroit’s downtown and using its convenient people mover to get one from destination to the next. (It’s worth noting the automated trains come every three to four minutes.)
He was one of the greatest defensive centers to ever play the game, and now at least one human rights advocate says he has the potential to become the next Nelson Mandela.
NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo was a rare athlete who has gone on to become the NBA’s Global Ambassador and a renowned humanitarian. Both rare achievements.
Georgia educators are encouraged to participate in Hour of Code, a global learning event any time during the week of Dec. 7.
The Hour Code believes: “Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.”
It may have been the passing of the proverbial torch from one generation to another. Hattie Dorsey, a seasoned and savvy “firecracker” of a housing and public policy activist, recently hosted a meet and greet dinner conversation for another young firebrand, Maya Dillard Smith, the new executive director of the Georgia affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Jerry Thomas Jr. and Alan Avery may have engineered Atlanta’s single most significant black art exhibition ever this past weekend. Their unprecedented collaboration produced an historic cultural event for dozens of the city’s Who’s Who art aristocrats to admire and purchase rare original works by Romare Bearden, America’s preeminent African American artist.
Right now, we’re all trying to understand the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Paris and across the globe. We’re collectively Googling, reading article after article and watching pundits pontificate the merits of bombing the entire Middle East.
Atlanta’s Kenny Leon, the founder of True Colors Theatre and the former artistic director of The Alliance Theatre, is routinely recognized as “arguably Broadway’s leading African American director.” Now the precocious Tony Award winner is about to cement that reputation with a theatrical game-changer.
For a city that is widely known for its civil rights achievements and our celebrated and hyped African-American leaders, little is known about the landmark legal victory of Atlanta’s Alfred “Tup” Holmes.
November 7th marks the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that desegregated the golf courses. It happened at Atlanta’s Bobby Jones Golf Course in a brazen lawsuit brought by “Tup” Holmes in 1951.
Whether it’s “leaning in” or “protecting one’s magic,” there’s plenty of leadership advice aimed at women in the workplace.
Women Executive Leaders of DeKalb (WELD), a program of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a panel discussion, which I had the honor to moderate, on female leadership in today’s diverse workforce.
Atlanta is blessed with a seasoned crew of first class African-American photojournalists that include the likes of Sue Ross, Henry Dodson, Bud Smith, Jim Alexander, Horace Henry, Faith Swift and John Glenn among many others.
But Sheila Pree Bright may be the best of new breed of younger black photographers who are telling stories and creating art in a “decidedly different” way then their older contemporaries.
