It rarely happens but dreams do come true and prayers do get answered.
Just ask 11 Alive News anchorman DeMarco Morgan, arguably Atlanta’s foremost black TV newsman. He’s leaving the NBC affiliate in a month or so for a job he has coveted all of his life. He has recently been hired as a CBS News correspondent, based out of New York City.
“The South’s got something to say,” proclaimed Andre 3000, of the DeKalb rap duo OutKast, after winning best new artist of the year at the 1995 Source awards.
While OutKast won’t be emblazoned on Stone Mountain’s granite relief, another Southern wordsmith will see his words come to life –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Minister Louis Farrakhan, the controversial and charismatic Nation of Islam leader, defied the naysayers and a traditional media blackout to bring hundreds of thousands, if not a million, to Washington D.C. this past weekend.
It was dubbed a Justice or Else! Rally to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March.
If you’ve picked up a newspaper or turned on the TV lately, you would think DeKalb County is on the verge of bankruptcy and receivership.
But parks abound, the fire trucks arrive when a call is received and trash is picked up on a weekly basis.
DeKalb, like many of Georgia’s 159 counties, employs bad apples. But should the wool of corruption cover the county entirely? Hardly.
Journalism is under attack, and it has been for a while now. Seasoned and savvy news columnists are routinely reviled; their reputations impugned if they dare express an erudite opinion about truth to power. It is akin to a sport for some corporate titans and elected officials.
Take for example the public feud that erupted last week between the Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy and Anne Torres, Mayor Kasim Reed’s director of communications over Torpy’s recent columns about the Atlanta firefighter’s quest for increased compensation and the potential displacement of revered Peoplestown homeowner and longtime activist Mattie Jackson.
Music has long been the outlet for a generation’s frustrations with the status quo. Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone all wrote and performed songs that spoke to and for the voiceless.
My generation has its own voices, including Janelle Monae, the oft black- and white-attired singer and woman behind Wondaland Records.
For one local brewery, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword.
This past weekend, Atlanta’s own SweetWater Brewing Co. raised funds for its “Save Our Water” campaign to support the Chattachoochee Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance.
People from cities all over the Southeast boarded kayaks, canoes and more for “The Big Float” to raise awareness for clean water. The annual fundraiser lasts through Labor Day with events in markets where SweetWater is served.
The annual World Mosquito Day, a global recognition of the fight to end malaria, was marked with a special event on Aug. 20. Faith leaders, elected officials, businessmen and a NBA All-Star athlete recently gathered in Atlanta to raise awareness of the fight to end malaria.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than three billion – three times the population of China – people are at risk of being bitten by a malaria-carrying parasite.
Normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba is in the works as the White House seeks a new approach to engagement after 54 years.
Congress will further decide the breadth of such relations with votes on three bills to end the trade embargo and travel ban.
A delegation of Atlanta residents from the city’s World Affairs Council recently visited the Caribbean island nation and brought back with them much enthusiasm and hope for the future.
I spent a portion of my weekend at Stone Mountain Park. Yes, I went to see white Southerners rally to legitimize their legacy and the Confederate flag.
Before reaching the rally, I observed dozens of individuals – many of them African-Americans – observing a Saturday morning tradition of convening at the park.
Four family reunions were scheduled that day. Yes, they were all black families. DeKalb County and the area surrounding the park is a mecca for those who benefited the most from the fall of the South. How appropriate.
Under the Obama administration, White House officials have promoted U.S. trade and investments in Africa to supplement existing and ongoing development aid.
One critical step to securing Africa’s future is investing in its human capital.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a flagship program of the State Department’s Young African Leaders Initiative and brings 500 African leaders from across the continent to America for an immersion in Western practices of business and entrepreneurship, civic engagement and public administration.
I’ve lived downtown for nearly my entire adult life, much to the chagrin of suburban living family and friends.
“Is it safe?” I’m often asked.
The second most common question is, “Wow, people live downtown?”
Gardening during a recent torrential downpour with my very driven father—a 78-year-old golf pro and lay minister— brought back old lessons in resiliency and competition. In families like ours, standing up for your beliefs requires communicating across generations.
This one got me. It hit me in a place where the others never reached. It angered me.
The Charleston Massacre.
In many a painful yet phenomenal moment in America’s history, the African-American experience has been to practice unequivocal equanimity.
Practicing yoga created an awareness in Eric Jennings’ life that led him to establishing Bikram Yoga Decatur, or BYD, in 2002. As he became more aware of sex abuse claims against his mentor Bikram Choudhury, Jennings wrestled with distancing himself from his guru. For successful businesses, a name change can be a kiss of death.
There’s no excuse to sit around the house this week and lament that there’s nothing to do.
Now in its second year, the weeklong Atlanta Cycling Festival is back – growing, mobilizing and energizing the city’s cycling community.
Raised by parents who started Central Night Shelter as volunteers, Ryan Bashor met men who coped with personal darkness, such as mental illness. Some carried secrets from their families; they feared the stigma. Ryan started working at the shelter in high school because he enjoyed helping people too.
Atlanta is an unfinished city. Don’t worry. All cities are. But, the real magic of cities is the process of adding to their canvases.
Atlanta is at a tipping point. The region is also, perhaps to a lesser extent.
The constant war in our growth continues to be identifying holistic solutions over death by balkanization.
As the 71st anniversary of D-Day approaches Thursday, the memories of World War II are newly fresh for Josh Taylor, a longtime Atlanta resident who recently transformed a heavy box of 460 letters between his Navy dad and stateside mom into a published book. So many families have a need to preserve important family history—especially if that history is on paper, not digitized. If sons and daughters don’t act, a lot of letters, photos and other important personal archives can be lost forever. That’s the story behind “Love Letters Across the Pacific.”
As APS rebuilds trust after the test cheating scandal, it needs more voices like Carver School of the Arts valedictorian Vanessa Badillo-Rodriguez. Her success (including a full scholarship to Georgia Tech) was made possible by her “giants”–the many people who believed in her even when she wasn’t sure of herself. Her giants show what a difference one person can make by going beyond mere duty.
