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| By Brakkton Booker |
Presented by Bank of America |
With help from Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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The city skyline is seen in July 2017 in Atlanta. | AP Photo/Mike Stewart |
On paper, if there was ever a time for the city's wealthiest, whitest enclave to cash in on its push to break away from metro Atlanta, it was now. A once popular mayor seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party opted out of running for reelection . A new but unproven city executive was sworn in as her replacement just a few weeks ago. Republicans control both chambers of the state Legislature and a referendum for Buckhead cityhood was working its way through the statehouse. All that momentum came to a halt, thanks in part to Geoff Duncan , the state's influential Republican lieutenant governor. As president of the state Senate, his opposition to the so-called Buckxit secession efforts effectively doomed the cityhood push for this legislative session, which wraps next month.
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Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan speaks from his desk on the floor of the State Senate in February 2020, in Atlanta. | AP Photo/John Bazemore, File |
Soon after, the Georgia House Speaker David Ralston signaled he too wanted to table the consideration. While activists pushing for the secession of Buckhead is not new, it gained increased attention because of the dramatic uptick in violent crime in Atlanta. Advocates for Buckxit say their needs are ignored by Atlanta officials. They want their own police force which, they say, will be more responsive to crime in the Buckhead neighborhood. Additionally, they are calling to have more autonomy to make decisions that affect zoning, parks and recreation. All of which, cityhood backers say, is possible through secession. Critics clap back, arguing that carving out a sizable chunk of Atlanta's population and tax base would be detrimental to the rest of the city. Not to mention the optics — a majority-white section attempting to divorce itself from Georgia's majority-minority capital city — would not be a good look. A breakdown of the impact of the cityhood push by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates some 41 percent of total assessed real estate value is within the proposed city limits of Buckhead. The AJC also notes that Atlanta is roughly 50 percent Black, 38 percent white, with Latinos and Asian populations each making up 4 percent. But in the proposed new city, the white population jumps to 74 percent, while the Black population falls to just 11 percent. Asian and Latino populations increase slightly to 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
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Georgia Speaker of the House Rep. David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, makes remarks at the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta in March 2021. | Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File |
In an interview with The Recast on Monday, Duncan said he had several reasons for backing away from the cityhood push, with perhaps the most damning being from the Buckhead City Committee itself. "I was extremely disappointed … in the lack of preparedness of the cityhood movement. There were those out there pushing for a new city that were not willing to answer real questions," Duncan said. Queries included how would the new city stop crime? How would Buckhead deal with Atlanta public schools that are currently inside its proposed boundaries? How would it handle the municipal bonds and infrastructure financing that's spread out across the city? "I've yet to hear any answer. I have not heard a bad answer. I haven't heard any answers to those questions," he added. Duncan also cited wanting to give new Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens the latitude to tackle the crime issue, adding, "I don't think he's gotten two full months." No surprise that Dickens champions the move by state officials to halt the creation of Buckhead City.
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The Buckhead City Commission did not respond to a request for comment, but did pass along a press release with the subject line: "We are NOT Going Anywhere" with promises to unveil a strategic action plan. Let's not turn a blind eye to the political calculus at play, though, particularly as the state flipped blue in both the presidential and Senate runoffs in 2020 and 2021. Duncan, a vocal Trump critic who is not seeking a second term, also spoke to me about his own push to rebrand conservative principles. He cited his book about how Republicans can move beyond the divisive 2020 presidential election and pointed to last week's passage of SB 361 , the Law Enforcement Strategic Support Act referred to as the "LESS Crime Act." If it passes the Georgia House and is signed into law, it would provide tax credits for charitable donations to law enforcement groups. It would also keep the city intact.
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Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens unveils a new police precinct in the Atlanta's Buckhead district on Jan. 13 as he tries to head off an effort to turn the wealthy, white enclave into its own city. | AP Photo/Sudhin S. Thanawala |
He touted that measure in an op-ed in Newsweek in which he underscored it passed unanimously in the state Senate. "I think there's a bigger opportunity out there in front of us to heal and rebuild my party, but also to create better rules of engagement with the other party," Duncan told me. Left unsaid in all of this: Duncan may have saved Georgia Republicans from having to weigh in on a problematic political issue months ahead of high-profile primary elections later this year. "I think that because this is an election year — gubernatorial as well as Senate — that he and probably other Republicans behind the scenes were probably saying we don't need any more issues that have the potential to split the party," said Michael Leo Owens, who teaches political science and studies cityhood movements at Emory University in Atlanta.
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| A message from Bank of America: HBCUs: Building networks of success for Black students. HBCUs are educating teachers, ministers, doctors, and other Black professionals who will shape American life for years to come. Bank of America is partnering with HBCUs nationwide to support African American educational and economic empowerment. |
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is facing a primary challenge from former Sen. David Perdue, who has the backing of former President Donald Trump. Purdue backs the cityhood push, while Kemp never endorsed the legislation. Owens, the political science professor, adds that Duncan's push to turn the page on Buckxit also may have tamped down what surely would have been a galvanizing issue for Democrats this cycle. "The push for Buckhead to try to break away this year could have the consequence of encouraging a lot of Democrats to be pissed about that and maybe make it one of the arguments for why [their voters] need to return to polls in high numbers," Owens said. Georgia House Minority Leader James Beverly, a Democrat whose caucus opposes the cityhood measure, notes the Buckhead cityhood push isn't dead.
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State Rep. James Beverly, D-Macon, right, talks with Rep. Ed Rynders, R-Albany, on the House floor in January 2016, in Atlanta. | AP Photo/David Goldman |
He also points to rapidly political and demographic changes in Georgia, with more than a million people moving to the state over the previous decade, according to the 2020 census. Most of that growth is attributable to an explosion of Black, Latino and Asian populations. "You can't argue against demographics," said Beverly, who also points to a group of business leaders in Buckhead who this month were unified in opposition to the cityhood measure. "We'll see what the governor's mansion looks like next year," Beverly said, noting that if Democrat Stacey Abrams prevails, "a lot of this stuff is going to go away real quick." All the best,
The Recast team
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Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. A programming note: Join Brakkton on Feb. 24 at 10:30 a.m. ET for a virtual interview with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens as part of The Fifty: America's Mayors summit. Register to watch live here. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.
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THE NUMBERS GAME
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D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser delivers remarks during the September opening ceremony of "In America: Remember," a public art installation commemorating all the Americans who have died due to COVID-19. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |
After vigorously implementing and defending mask mandates and other pandemic restrictions aimed at mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, many Democrats are signaling they too are ready to move beyond the pandemic. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the nation's capital will be the latest jurisdiction to do so, lifting requirements that indoor facilities verify vaccination status beginning today. And on March 1, the city will no longer require masks inside businesses, gyms and other establishments. The effort to drop mask mandates is also gaining steam on Capitol Hill as my colleagues Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu recently highlighted — "just in time for midterms." A new CBS News/YouGov poll surveyed American attitudes toward Covid mitigation efforts. More than half of respondents overall (53 percent) said they were patient about social distancing, limits on public events and mask mandates. But more than a third said they were frustrated by having to do them (37 percent). When asked specifically about mask mandates, responses varied quite a bit when broken down by race. When given a binary choice, 56 percent of respondents agreed their state should have mask mandates in place for now, compared with 44 percent who said their state shouldn't have mandates.
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When separated by race, Black respondents led all ethnic groups with 72 percent saying their state should keep mask mandates in place compared to just 28 percent who said the mask requirements should be dropped. Among Latinos, 63 percent supported mask mandates compared to 37 percent opposed.
White respondents were evenly split on the issue, according to the survey.
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THE TIME CAPSULE
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Anti-war protesters gather near the United Nations Headquarters on Feb 15, 2003 in New York to protest possible U.S. military action in Iraq. | AP Photo/Osamu Honda |
On this day 19 years ago, the world bore witness to what many claim to be the largest anti-war protest in history. Millions of people around the globe took to the streets on Feb. 15, 2003, to protest the looming U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. While crowd size estimates are often politically skewed — over-indexed by supporters to project the strength behind a cause or low-balled as proof agitators are amplifying a cause without broad support — there is no doubt the show of force was present with this global phenomenon. Protesters in more than 60 nations participated. BBC News put the global figures somewhere between six million and 10 million , with some of the biggest demonstrations in Barcelona, Rome and London. Then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone argued the pending invasion had everything to do with America's thirst for liquid gold:
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Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in New York City alone. Not far from the United Nations' Manhattan headquarters, some protesters hung a massive banner that read, "The World Says No to War," according to The New York Times coverage of that day's events. It's important to note the concerted push against Iraq by the administration of President George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In his 2002 State of the Union speech, Bush namechecked Iraq as one of three rogue nations that harbored and financed terrorists. Weeks prior to the global protests, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered a speech before the U.N. Security Council that he would later say he regretted. He made the administration's case that Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, which was not true.
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| A message from Bank of America:   |
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While the protests cast a spotlight on the new wave of the U.S. and global anti-war sentiment, it did little to deter the U.S. from leading the invasion. Less than a month after the global protests, Bushdelivered remarks from the Oval Office announcing Operation Iraqi Freedom was underway.
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ICYMI @ POLITICO
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The announcement of Trevor Noah as the White House Correspondents' Dinner's featured entertainer represents a return to normalcy. | Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy |
"The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, who is headlining a tour by the same name, was announced as the headliner for this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. As POLITICO's Quint Forgey points out , a comedian hasn't emceed the event since Michelle Wolf's controversial turn in 2018. As a candidate, New York City Mayor Eric Adams' support of charter schools left him on the outs with teachers' unions. But now, he and Michael Mulgrew, who heads the United Federation of Teachers, are quite chummy. POLITICO's Madina Touré breaks down why — and why their bromance likely won't last. WATCH: Deputy White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre underscores U.S. push for a diplomatic solution in the standoff with Russia over Ukraine.
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Real estate developer Rick Caruso announced he's entering the race for Los Angeles Mayor. POLITICO's Alexander Nieves points out that Caruso has previously registered as a Republican and with no party preference. But the newly announced candidate is running as a Democrat.
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THE RECAST RECOMMENDS Fans of the HBO series "Insecure" know that Issa Dee, Issa Rae's character on the show, was presented with a key to the city of Inglewood for her work uplifting the neighborhood. In a meta moment, the showrunner was awarded the key to the city in real life. Is AOC an insider now? Here's a sweet appreciation of the late, great Bollywood chanteuse Lata Mangeshkar.
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People pay tribute in front of a portrait of Lata Mangeshkar, the legendary singer placed on a decorated podium in Kolkata, India on Feb. 7. | AP Photo/Bikas Das |
"Kimi," Steven Soderbergh's new flick starring Zoe Kravitz, is part "Rear Window," part tech thriller. You should check it out. Ali Wong is back at it with a new Netflix special, and we are here for it . With their new single, "Mamiii," Becky G and KAROL G serve up the ultimate revenge anthem.
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Two Superbowl TikToks for you: First, what a banner day for Van Jefferson.
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And second, we just had to plug that iconic moment in the halftime show.
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| A message from Bank of America: Historically Black colleges and universities have a long track record of serving as engines of social mobility.
To empower the next generation of graduates, Bank of America supports HBCUs through grants, entrepreneurship programs and advisory services as part of its $1.25 billion, five-year commitment to racial equality and economic opportunity.
"The history of HBCUs speaks volumes about the resilience of this country and the determination of Black individuals to obtain an education," says Ebony Thomas, racial equality and economic opportunity executive at Bank of America and a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, the nation's largest HBCU. |
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