The ugly election between white and black candidates for Atlanta mayor
Amid the DC drama, there is local drama. My buddy that lives 'bout an hour out of Atlanta has mentioned this election a couple of time - I thought he was joking, I never bothered to investigate ............. and TA DA it is for real! Sad state of affairs .. I am naive when it comes to skin color - I understand a cultural difference .. but I do not understand the rest.
NO comments necessary - just wanted to share my shock...
Peace!
ATLANTA — The city that gave Martin Luther King Jr. his pulpit and the south its first black mayor may elect its first white one in nearly half a century Tuesday.
The debate over whether that's a step backward or forward has turned the contest into an ugly, racially tinged and nationalized battle that has divided a city known for better relations between its black and white communities.
President Donald Trump has even become a factor in this heavily Democratic, majority African-American city.
The candidates in Tuesday's runoff election for the city's next mayor are both women, both city council members, and both tout support for progressive policies. One is black, the other is white.
Polls show a neck-and-neck contest between Mary Norwood, a white Independent, who is garnering about 80 percent of the white vote, and Keisha Lance Bottoms, a black Democrat, who captures about three-quarters of the black vote.
Mayoral candidate Mary Norwood Curtis Compton / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP file
At a Bottoms rally last weekend, the city’s reigning black establishment — minus some conspicuous absences — warned of a regression akin to the election of Trump after Barack Obama.
"Ladies and gentlemen, don't wake up on Wednesday like we felt on 11/9," said term-limited Mayor Kasim Reed, referring to the day after last year's presidential election.
"There's no way on earth that the city that raised Dr. King … is going to allow ourselves to go backwards," said City Councilman Kwanza Hall.
They've called in the cavalry, with Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. — the two highest-profile black Democrats not named Obama — traveling to Atlanta in the race's final days to stump for Bottoms.
The city has become the epicenter of Democrats' efforts to regain ground in the south, from Hillary Clinton's campaign to the special congressional election this spring to next year's gubernatorial race.
And Harris, who said visiting Atlanta is like "coming home" for black politicians, said Democrats nationally need their "best fighters in the field" in the city.
Georgia Democrats have tied Norwood to Trump, putting out mailers that feature her portrait side-by-side with his, and declare that "electing her mayor would be turning Atlanta over to the party of Trump."
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., mocked Norwood by saying she wants to "Make Atlanta Great Again."
Complete article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/ugly-election-between-white-black-candidates-atlanta-mayor-n826236
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It's sad that they are more worried about skin color vs which one is best for the city.
Via the polls they are neck and neck, so either one may be good for the city (?) .. yet divided by skin color .. one is labeled a white independent, the other a black democrat ................ one has the black vote, one has the white vote - can a tie be declared (?) thus requiring both candidates to work together as Mayor(s) to possibly help stem the tide/divide?
I agree it is sad Jeremy ... but my Dragon keeps telling me that compromise and communication will return to this great Nation!
They might be able to work together. If they are real professionals as they claim to be they should. But it's the people that may have a problem with it and try to play them off one another like a kid playing their parents.
Fair point .. ultimately it does come down to "We the People" are divided .. Too bad politics are seemingly the thing that is causing the division ... US v THEM is getting ugly as the headline indicates.