Morning, y’all! Did you know the National Weather Service launches weather balloons twice a day in about 100 locations around the country? That’s what it takes to get you an accurate forecast. Sometimes I think of all of the brilliant, inventive minds that keep our world afloat, and it blows me away. Ooh, an accidental balloon pun! Hate it when that happens.
Let’s get to it.
IS ATLANTA TRULY A BLACK MECCA?
Credit: AJC photo illustration
Credit: AJC photo illustration
You’ve heard the phrase before: Atlanta is a Black mecca. We pride ourselves on being a major dot on the map for Black culture and creation. The Civil Rights movement is baked into the city’s bones, and innumerable Black trailblazers have made their mark on history here.
But how good is Atlanta for Black people here and now? Do we still live up to such a name?
Over the next few months, the minds behind The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s UATL brand will be digging into this fascinating — and controversial — question. I sat down with AJC senior reporter and series lead Gavin Godfrey, who talked about separating myth from reality and what Black success in Atlanta really looks like.
On why Atlanta’s status as a “Black mecca” needs to be examined:
“I got tired of people saying the phrase. We’re always talking about Black Atlanta in grand, sweeping, general terms. I grew up here, I still live here, and I wanted to look at the whole picture. And as locals, especially as journalists, that’s what we do, right? We’re going to hold our city accountable.”
On the difference between representation and reality:
“There’s two different Atlantas. There’s the Black Atlanta for people who are educated and have means. That’s what people typically point to — the success stories of Black millionaires and billionaires, or rappers or business moguls. But that doesn’t describe the experience of lower income, less educated people in Atlanta, when it’s a lot harder to progress. When we say Black mecca, who are we saying it for? Is representation the only measure of good Black life?”
On unheralded Black contributions:
“When we only highlight the people that make folks think of Black Atlanta like entertainers, rappers, big names, we’re not focusing on regular Black people who are trying to make Atlanta better on another scale, like Black doulas who are trying to fight maternal mortality rates, or folks who are trying to create more affordable housing opportunities for Black people. There are definitely people trying to make the city great in other ways, but we just don’t hear about that.”
Why now is the time to be having this conversation:
“We have the World Cup coming, we have national events. And when people come here, our leaders will say, ‘Look at our Black culture!’ And, you know, we’re really good at selling Black culture, but we don’t take care of Black people in Atlanta.”
👑 Read more in Godfrey’s incredible opening article for the series, which unspools the history of Atlanta’s status in Black culture and casts a critical eye on whether the city’s illustrious civil rights past lives up to its present. (Now I get to brag: Gavin and I were classmates at Syracuse, and he was a coworker at my first job in Atlanta. I can’t explain how cool he is, so you know this is gonna be good!)
💬 Also, join the AJC’s Black mecca discussion forum here.
Not signed up yet? What’re you waiting for? Get A.M. ATL in your inbox each weekday morning. And keep scrolling for more news.
CITY HALL’S ABOUT TO GET BUSIER
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Another day, another return to office announcement. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has instructed thousands of City Hall employees to return to in-person work starting April 10.
Mark that on your calendar so you can avoid the area: The return-to-office influx at the Centers for Disease Control caused ridiculous backups in that part of town.
The in-person vibes may be questionable: The Dickens administration and City Council leaders have indicated cuts might be necessary to make up for Atlanta’s projected $20 million budget deficit. That could mean layoffs.
WILDFIRES RAGE IN THE CAROLINAS
Parts of western North Carolina were hit with mandatory evacuation orders this weekend, and South Carolina is now under a state of emergency as wildfires blow through the Blue Ridge area.
- The Table Rock fire, near North Carolina’s Table Rock Mountain, was human-caused and grew to 300 acres without containment.
- The region is still badly damaged from September’s Hurricane Helene, and downed timber is making the fire more difficult to fight.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
✏️ What does it actually mean to dismantle the Department of Education? It depends on how DOE leaders would distribute the mandated functions of the department, both to other government agencies and possibly state jurisdictions.
☣️ A suspicious white powder was delivered to the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Friday. Some people reported physical symptoms, and part of the courthouse was evacuated.
⛔ Homeland Security is revoking temporary status for 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the U.S., setting them up for possible deportation in about a month.
- Did you know? Some of those people are likely in the U.S. via the humanitarian parole program, a long-standing legal tool that allows people escaping noted areas of conflict to temporary live in the U.S. Typically, people can extend their stay if they apply for asylum, a visa, or some other legal arrangement.
💰 Johnson & Johnson says it will invest more than $55 billion within the U.S. over the next four years. That includes four new manufacturing plants, one of which will be up the road near Raleigh, North Carolina.
A FRESH ERA FOR ORANGE CRUSH
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Orange Crush, the wild, iconic and often controversial HBCU beach party extravaganza, is coming back to Tybee Island this April. This is the first sanctioned Orange Crush event in 35 years, though it’s clearly taken on a life of its own through the decades.
The event has drawn attention for a handful of violent incidents in the past, and typical spring break-ish sins like littering, crowds and drunkenness.
This year, though, organizers have secured a permit and event management partners, and are spending about $215,000 to make sure everything’s sweet.
NEWS BITES
Auburn, Michigan, Ole Miss and Michigan State will meet in Atlanta for the NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Welcome to SEC country, Big Ten folks. Bless your heart!
Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him
Wow, His Holiness is really leaning into the spirit of Lent.
A look at Atlanta United’s 2-2 draw with Cincinnati
How about we draw a win, hm?
Detectives recover diamond earrings two weeks after suspect swallowed them during arrest
Two weeks?! Someone needs more fiber (and better life choices).
ON THIS DATE
March 24, 1906
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
From the front page of The Atlanta Constitution: Utterly indifferent to what was going on around her ... Miss Ellen Hampton sat in a house ... while the building was being torn down over her head. She had decided she would not move from the dwelling, and although she was repeatedly and kindly asked to vacate, she stayed just where she saw until the house was almost demolished.
Whew, a story! Hampton apparently fled her husband after she claimed he tried to kill her, took up lodgings with a couple in Atlanta, and when the house and the land were bought by a syndicate against the couple’s wishes, she staged a silent protest for the history books (or at least the newspapers).
ONE MORE THING
Every writer has a few words they never spell correctly on the first try. Today I had the pleasure of typing, deleting, typing again, looking up and retyping my personal spelling adversary: Cincinnati. (See also: vacuum, Worcestershire.)
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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