Franklin: ‘Black mayor first’ memo is ‘bigoted’
Shirley Franklin called Friday afternoon with a stark description of the memo you’ve heard about — the one that frets over the possibility that Atlanta might choose a white mayor to succeed her in November.
“I think it was bigoted,” Franklin said. It was not a slip of the tongue. The mayor used multiple variations of the word.
But what seemed to offend Franklin just as much was what she called the “lopsided history of Atlanta and Atlanta politics” contained in the document.
The mayor said more, but we need to back up a bit.
The lengthy analysis that careened through e-mail accounts last week was distributed by Aaron Turpeau, a long-time City Hall veteran whose political career was capped by service as chief of staff to Maynard Jackson.
In an interview, Turpeau said the analysis was written by two academics associated with Clark Atlanta University on behalf of an “ad hoc” group called the Black Leadership Forum.
The memo was an attempt to form an agenda for Atlanta’s black community, Turpeau said. “Everybody has an agenda,” he said. “The developers have an agenda, downtown business has an agenda, the gays have an agenda, the Hispanics have an agenda.”
What would be the substance of a black agenda? Economic equality, access to City Hall, and respect for those displaced by development, Turpeau said.
If the analysis had actually said those things and stopped, much underwear in Atlanta would have remained untwisted. But the memo used the phrase “black mayor at all cost” and spoke of a “black mayor first” approach.
According to the BLF memo, the election of tiny Mary Norwood, the white councilwoman, “would be just as significant in political terms as Maynard Jackson’s victory in 1973.”
The political aims of the analysis are none too subtle. The memo assumes that black voters won’t turn out in any runoff, and so — in order to knock out Norwood in the Nov. 3 general election — suggests an effort to rally African-Americans behind City Council President Lisa Borders.
Borders quickly disassociated herself from the memo and its strategy.
According to the get-behind-Borders approach, other black mayoral candidates, including state Sen. Kasim Reed, would simply be out of luck. The memo pointed to a recent InsiderAdvantage poll that showed Reed lagging well behind both Norwood and Borders.
That logic prompted the Reed campaign, over the weekend, to release fresh internal polling that concedes the top spot to Norwood, at 33 percent. (The Brilliant Corners Research poll surveyed 580 voters; margin of error was put at 4 percentage points.)
Norwood aside, Reed says his survey puts him in a statistical tie with Borders, 19 to 16 percent, and shows the two African-American candidates with near-equal shares of the black vote.
But there is more to this “black mayor first” memo than nervousness over a few polls, or worry over Atlanta’s shifting demographics.
Reed, the candidate placed most in peril by the memo, twice acted as campaign manager for Franklin. The two are close, but the current mayor has made no formal endorsement. Even so, the authors of the memo go out of their way to cast doubt on Franklin’s ability to put her imprint on the race.
“To ignore the alienation that exists among black voters towards the Franklin administration’s performance is naive at best and dishonest at worse,” the analysis says.
This brings us back to that Friday phone call from the mayor. Franklin wouldn’t talk about an endorsement in the ‘09 race. Nor would she discuss the portions of the memo directed at her.
What Franklin wanted to talk about was the effort by a group of African-Americans — size and membership remains ill-defined — to define Atlanta’s first black mayor, who has been dead these six years.
“The memo clearly characterizes the historic election of Maynard Jackson as if it was an election of blacks over whites,” Franklin said. Yes, the mayor said, Jackson understood the importance of his achievement.
But to treat him as a “black Messiah,” Franklin emphasized, is to ignore Jackson’s belief “that every segment of this community ought to participate in the development of public policy.” Jackson was about inclusion, not exclusion, she said.
“To reduce Maynard’s legacy to a political machine is to not know Maynard Jackson. That’s trite,” she said. And “crazy, bigoted literature” that rises up from such a flawed assumption will be flawed throughout, the mayor noted.
As for the Black Leadership Forum’s concern over the outcome of a runoff for mayor of Atlanta, and the fear of multiple African-American candidates in this year’s mayoral race: Runoffs have been more the rule than the exception in Atlanta politics, Franklin said.
That’s the path that Jackson and Andrew Young followed to City Hall. Bill Campbell, too, was forced into a runoff to secure a second term, by Council President Marvin Arrington, an African-American.
History is one of the world’s most powerful forces. And at the very bottom of so many political contests is the matter of who will control the biographies of those who have gone before us.
It has come to that in the Atlanta mayoral race: What Would Maynard Do?
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
435 comments Add your comment
AeroNautica0909
August 30th, 2009
11:45 pm
LongShot…I’m not trying to be a mediator. I’m also not questioning your right to free speech, guns and religion.. that is entirely up to you and everyone else here on this forum. However, there’s a certain level of decorum that needs to be maintained. This forum has become a grossly uncivilized discussion. No wonder why this country can’t move beyond racial and class issues… we don’t know how to hold a civilized discussion about it!
This forum has gotten to be completely irrational. I find it truly repulsive when grown adults cannot set aside differences to have a civilized conversation. I’m sure I can find a couple of my buddies on campus and can have a civilized discussion on the same issue that is being discussed here than more half of the people that has commented on this forum already… and that would be a damn shame.
With that said, if people want to engage in an uncivilized discussion, then so be it. We will never be able to progress as a city and a region if this type of mentality continues.
AeroNautica0909
August 30th, 2009
11:46 pm
Now I gotta get to bed so I can get up for work and class tomorrow…good night everyone.
Reader
August 30th, 2009
11:51 pm
Any native Atlantans have any complaints about Andrew Young and Maynard Jackson? I think not. So the last 25 years have not been an issue in this city. Bill Campbell made a mess, Shirley tried to clean it up, but on the heels of recession, she had a problem. Just like the rest of the state of Georgia and this country. So I can safely say, Shirley Franklin had a good 8 years, not great, not the best, but it was just good. We had our issues with crime and a serious upswing in the economy under Andrew Young and Maynard. So nobody can say this city was horrible over 25 years. Yall just pouring fuel on a fire for the sake of just saying something stupid.
Will
August 30th, 2009
11:51 pm
Idiots
Parzival
August 30th, 2009
11:56 pm
Ask a Native, I’ve never stripped anyone of their land, nor have I enslaved anyone, created Jim Crow laws, or any of the other Racist things you said based on my skin color. However, because I was born white, I have to live with the fact that people like you will assume those things. You’re a very good example of the reverse racism that all whites have to deal with. If I were to say to you that all the other races hate black people, I’d be on the news and have Jessie and the Rainbow Coalition having a march against me. For you though, because you are black, it’s OK to be racist. That is the problem. There is a double standard that black people feel is justified…but’s it really just sets the whole race issue back.
Parzival
August 31st, 2009
12:11 am
Busted, Slavery is a horrible thing. All races have dealt with it. I just think that we all need to move on and quit using it as an excuse. This is the richest country in the world. If you have ambition and drive you can make it. At what point do we all move on from the most recent horror of slavery (350 years ago) ? Seriously. I’m A LOT more worried about the Genocide in Darfur and Sierra Leone than the horrible plight that black people have in the richest country in the world. I’m sorry if I sound like an ignorant redneck, but damn, what else do we need to give black to succeed here? Other Black people come here and have no problem.
ramzad
August 31st, 2009
12:14 am
LongShot: I like your handle. It means that your probability of making anything of yourself is close to zero (0).
Stay there. You are no threat.
Ray
August 31st, 2009
12:19 am
In a way this does not surprise me as it is the same group of people who live in the Cascade area who still think they still have the influence to decide elections. People have figured out that they are only out for themselves and the poor are only used as pawns for them to run new social programs and get paid bloated salaries to do it. The poor end up with nothing – remember the empowerment zone where they sepnt over $4 million in administrative salaries in just a few years withoug providing any meaningful services?
Their comments and opinions were not solicited by any of the candidates and I hope no one makes an opinion about any of the candidates based on their inflammatory, self-servings opinions. They have little regard for the poor and needy they are trying to inflame with this memo.
The other can of worms that this Cascade group has opened is they have never promoted an African American any darker than the current mayor.The mayor should be elected on who is best qualified rather than the race or complexion of the candidate.
Todd
August 31st, 2009
2:23 am
We don’t need a Vanilla city or a Chocolate city- we need an effective city. I am a white citizen of Atlanta and we need to all get together…all colors…and elect the best person who will represent us as a city in the most effective way. All this fight about color is to keep us off the real discrimination…wealth, power and the sparse few who have it.
Todd
August 31st, 2009
2:23 am
We don’t need a Vanilla city or a Chocolate city- we need an effective city. I am a white citizen of Atlanta and we need to all get together…all colors…and elect the best person who will represent us as a city in the most effective way. All this fight about color is to keep us off the real discrimination…wealth, power and the sparse few who have it.
M.T.
August 31st, 2009
2:41 am
Well Said M.T.
Unfortunately, many African-Americans have been blind to this painstaking truth for so long. This Cascade-Elitist-Group has always looked out for other lighter-skinned-blacks like themselves. The color of complexion means everything to them. Their mission is to maintain this trend. This sad thing is, they’ve all seemed to have forgotten their original roots.
M.T.
August 31st, 2009
2:52 am
Well Said….. Ray!!
JDE
August 31st, 2009
3:06 am
You got me Humored.I concede. Excellent Points on Kasim Reed. Although I tend to be skeptical of lawyers who get into politics. I had to to bed last night and missed your posts but am reading them now at 3am. Yes I am a whitey who lives in E.Cobb/Marietta. But I own property in Atlanta and have a vested interest in seeing the city thrive, not survive.
Stinky Sullivan
August 31st, 2009
5:28 am
It doesn’t matter if the next mayor will be white or black…all that matter is how attractive the woman is. Then again, when you’re as good looking as I am women of all shapes, sizes and political classes want to “get to know you.”
SS
Allyana Ziolko
August 31st, 2009
5:35 am
1) Maynard Jackson was an EXCELLENT mayor. He would sit in Shoney’s on Piedmont Road once a week and you could walk over to his table and tell him anything about Atlanta that was on your mind. He listened; he responded. 2) The notion that black people will vote for a person because of their skin color is insulting. Most people vote for the person they think will do the best job. There is a percentage of black people who will vote for color, just as there is a percentage of white people who will vote for color.
Mike
August 31st, 2009
6:14 am
“All I can say is… God help us all when Shirley Franklin is gone. She is the only one of the entire group who makes me proud to be from Atlanta.”
I just spit up my coffee. I don’t know what’s more troubling–the fact that ANYONE is proud of Shirley Franklin or that you can’t find anything else redeeming in the city.
JD
August 31st, 2009
6:30 am
Longshot, why RAMZAD has to shut up? i think he is telling the serious “troof” (truth)! The problem is, we as African Americans don’t want to face the fact that we are really a screwed up people that are in desperate need of emotional help. Think about it, anytime you bleach yourself, straighten & weave your hair, and then let foreigners sell it to you; something is wrong with us! We have alot of emotional baggage that persist to this day as a result of our experience. The only way to heal ourselves is to recognize this fact and to not let Willie Lynch win.
E. Anderson
August 31st, 2009
6:59 am
I agree with M.T and Ray. It’s not a secret Shirley is one of the most significant and influential members of the Cascade-Elite-Group.I find it appaulling that Shirley had the audacity to talk about Bigotry.
Take a walk around City Hall. There aren’t too people of a darker complexion in positions of leadership under her adminsitraton. For that matter there aren’t many darker blacks working around the Mayors Office.
Atlanta is broke down due to the hand-picked unqualified worms that was put in positions of leadership based on their lighter complexions.
Shame Shame Shirley! That’s really calling the kettle black.
BigRed
August 31st, 2009
7:08 am
Rednecks unite. We will overcome!
LaQweesha Kwanza Smith
August 31st, 2009
7:23 am
Enter your comments here
LaQweesha Kwanza Smith
August 31st, 2009
7:24 am
Who my baby-daddy?
Nativeson71
August 31st, 2009
7:27 am
Please read the book “Where Peachtree meets Sweet Auburn”…this 600page novel, a document of history, not fiction, will bring everyone up to speed on Atlanta politics. It is a real eye opener for me…maybe you too?
Old Dawg
August 31st, 2009
7:52 am
For over 35 years, black politicians, their families and friends have fed heavily at the Atlanta money table. They have taken advantage of the majority black population and gotten elected simply because they are black. For all this, Atlanta has suffered greatly. Were it not for the capabilities of white business leaders working behind the scenes with and for the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations, who knows how bad it would really be?
Articulate (read non-ebonic) blacks not originally from Atlanta have come into the city and seized the opportunity to get elected by native blacks who think these interlopers are actually going to do something for them. Wow!
Now, these same out-of- town blacks and their Black Agenda are a surprise?? As Barney Frank, said last week, “What planet have you been living on?”. Short of a miracle, Atlanta will continue to have a black mayor and black leadership. Face it people, race is a powerful card in this political poker game. It trumps everything else.
Pat
August 31st, 2009
7:55 am
Per usual, any column that brings up race brings the Klanners and mouthbreathers out of the woodwork.
newA
August 31st, 2009
8:16 am
Looks like Reed is quietly creeping up in the polls…
dgroy
August 31st, 2009
8:21 am
The thing that worries me here is not whether we elect another black mayor…….it’s whether that black mayor, if elected, will continue, as has been done since MJ, to appoint persons to positions that they are not qualified to hold just because they are black. To the next mayor, think about Atlanta more than anything else, even more than getting your college room mate an important position in government because you like him/her. Run Atlanta like a business and get rid of all those suspect employees who don’t ever seem to get anything accomplished and can’t get the job done correctly. It’s time for the creme of the crop to come in and make Atlanta Great Again……..yes, I said again……it hasn’t been great since before the 70’s.
Jason King
August 31st, 2009
8:44 am
This is why we need a ‘change’ in Atlanta: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/grant-park-127351.html
The Late Maynard Jackson
August 31st, 2009
8:44 am
My family and I do not steal from White people only poor Blacks. In that way we are almost Republicans.
Native Atlantan
August 31st, 2009
8:46 am
dgroy, I agree that the city needs a mayor that will do a great job regardless of their color. However, when you mention political favors and unqualified persons being hired, please don’t pin this on the black mayors of Atlanta, this goes on everywhere and has for a very long time. Black people get jobs because they are black but believe me, as a black man there are plenty of white people that get jobs simply because they are white.
indthinker
August 31st, 2009
8:52 am
every black person i know said that this was an asinine letter and the reason that someone would even think that it would be okay to write it justified a need to clean out Atlanta. ms. borders is a fine person, but she is well connected to the political machine.
Black Latino Council
August 31st, 2009
8:55 am
Okay everyone take a deep breath – and stay focus the bottom lie the mayoral race has been lack luster and that will be to Norwoods favor. but while you are talking black and white – the race is gonna be so close that the candidate that can capture the gay vote,hispanic/latino vote and do not forget the senior vote….The candidates and citizens should not get caught up in this smoke and mirrors politics and just stick with and message and reaching all atlantans- It’s about ECONOMICS…SHOW ME THE MONEY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$AND HOW TO GROW MY BUSINES
hryder
August 31st, 2009
8:55 am
Most of the above demonstrates B.S.(male bovine excrement), M.S.(more ….), and PhD.(piled higher and deeper).
Elise McClintick
August 31st, 2009
8:58 am
Atlanta should have a Black Mayor. It’s a Black City. I’m 60 years old, a fourth generation Atlantan, a fifth generation Georgian. I left Atlanta (DeKalb County) after two home invasions having lived in my home for 27 years. Knew if I stayed there I was going to be murdered. Anyone who ask me if I miss Atlanta, my answer is always the same: “Atlanta is a very dangerous city. You can die there.”
lil elvis
August 31st, 2009
9:01 am
Just think.. In a few years we’ll be worse off than Detroit.. Way to go BLF
Corey
August 31st, 2009
9:05 am
Will electing a white mayor cause more young blacks to stop giving birth to children they can’t afford nor emotionally equipped to raise? Will electing a white mayor cause black kids to stay in school, study hard and graduate? Will electing a whitle mayor cause black men to marry their children’s mothers? Will electing a white mayor make young black males think twice about car jacking, home invasion, assaults, slinging dope, muggings, shooting or smash and grabbing? Will electing a white mayor cause blacks to do away with self hate? Will electing a white mayor cause homelessness in downtown to disappear? Will electing a white mayor stop blacks from killing each other? Will electing a white mayor cause young black males to pull thier pants up and stop peppering passersby with with vulgar language while grabbing their crotches? Electing a white mayor will not cause the irresponsible to suddenly become responsible. Electing a white mayor will not replace a loving, two-parent, stable home. Electing Jesus mayor will not remedy these ills. We can only educate ourselves on the issues and trust we make the right decision in the voting booth come election day. Frankly, I’m unimpressed with any of the leading candidates. I live in councilman Shook’s district; he does answer e-mails. I wish he would run.
Dana
August 31st, 2009
9:05 am
This article is a perfect example of how far down the right side of the bell curve this country is headed. Each of you needs to consider the impact race has on our daily lives, including the implications of race at the workplace. There is no chance for honest dialogue about race, since any white person who shares an opinion is deemed racist, while a black who makes the same comment rationalizes it as simply “that’s how we are”. Racism falls on all edges of a sword.
Atlanta 1
August 31st, 2009
9:06 am
Well, didn’t read them all – but read enough. Clearly there are a lot of people on this blog who need help. “Black people shouldn’t be elected office”. Black people are more reacist than whites. “400 years of oppression”, etc.
Folks, you have more in common than not. You should be pulling together, not against.
This comes from a 50 year old straight white guy who was born in this city. Pull together or this city will never live up to it’s potential.
Vick=Dog killing thug
August 31st, 2009
9:23 am
just goes to show that the real racism in today’s America is the never ending hatred that the black folks have for the whites. Same story. different punch line
Monique
August 31st, 2009
9:26 am
Altanta is a black city and needs a black mayor to look after our interests! We can’t count on white leaders to take care of the needs of the African-Americans in this city!! We’ve suffered too long with white people running things. Like President Obama says—change is needed!
JB
August 31st, 2009
9:29 am
I’m voting for Mary Norwood because it is clear to me that her ego is not controlling her desire to be Mayor of our city. If I feel like a candidate is unlikely to be able to control the power the comes along with an elected office they do not get my vote. Just look at some of the problems our past Mayors have experienced due to their inability to control themselves when given some power.
JB
August 31st, 2009
9:31 am
Monique is a racist !!!!
Charles Lee Ray
August 31st, 2009
9:32 am
Are you people serious, It sounds like a bunch of 5th graders posting these childish comments, grow up, all of you Black and White.
m
August 31st, 2009
9:40 am
VOTE CHANGE!!!!!!!!!! VOTE NORWOOD!!!!
BamaFan
August 31st, 2009
9:42 am
I personally would like to have an effective leader and I don’t think skin color has anything to do with it. People should be more focused on the leadership than the “race.” If Norwood is the woMAN, then so be it. I feel it takes a lot of strength to run this city.
BamaFan
August 31st, 2009
9:45 am
Monique, your comments are very ignorant and this comes from a black man.
dgroy
August 31st, 2009
9:50 am
Native Atlantan: I’m not talking about everywhere else……I’m talking about Atlanta. Look at the record of hiring in top level positions and the poor performance that these people have had…….look at the top positions in city government, starting with Shirley, and look at the sorry, sorry state this city is in. Atlanta is hiring blacks for these positions just because they are black, even though there might be a white wanting the job that is more highly qualified…..that just doesn’t make sense and it’s called extreme “Racism”. Before “MJ” Atlanta was the city “Too busy to hate”……and look at what we’ve become……for shame, for shame and it all comes right from the top. Like I said before, I don’t care whether the mayor is black or white, just so they straighten out the mess that has been Atlanta since 1970.
JB
August 31st, 2009
9:52 am
Thanks BamaFan. I am also black and I am tired of ignorant black people who still think that the white man is holding us back. Nobody can hold you back but yourself and until these ignorant black people realize that they will continue to segregate themselves and play the race card. The late Senator Kennedy did more to help black people than any black leader and as you all know he was white.
BILLY
August 31st, 2009
9:54 am
SO WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE??? THIS WAS THE SAME TALK THAT WHITES DID IN THE 40s 50s & EARLY 60s.SO FOR THE WHITE PEOPLE NOW TO HEAR THIS TALK HURTS THEM.WELL!! JIM CROW DID THE SAME TO THE NEGRO DURING THAT TIME.WE KNOWINGLY VOTED FOR WHITE PEOPLE THAT TURNED THEIR BACKS TIL IT WAS ELECTION DAY AGAIN…..SO WHAT,THESE STUPID PEOPLE GOT CAUGHT WITH THEIR MEMO.
Grant Park Girl
August 31st, 2009
10:02 am
We need City representatives that care. Maybe a white mayor for a while would get this city cleaned up. This is the trashiest place I’ve ever lived. The City employees are rude. Crime is out-of-control – everyday I come to work and wonder if my door is going to be kicked in while I’m away. The taxes are getting to be astromonical and are certainly not in line with the value of our properties today. The school system (I don’t have children, but have to pay those Fulton County taxes) sucks from what I hear. Oh, not to mention the sewer project which is driving the rats up into the city streets and into our houses. As soon as I can get a decent price for my house, I am out of here.
Hef
August 31st, 2009
10:08 am
“Black Mayor at all Costs”, that statement just pushed race relations back ten years- and for what?