Left: Keisha Lance-Bottoms ; Right: Mary Norwood

Why All Black People Should Have their Eyes on Atlanta’s Mayoral Race.

Atlanta reputation as America’s Black Mecca will be put into question possibly this Tuesday with final voting for the Mayoral Run Off Between Mary Norwood and Keisha Lance-Bottoms.

Like most Major cities in America, Atlanta has seen many of its Historically Black Neighborhoods like the Old 4th Ward and the Historic West End begin to change face. Many low to upper middle class families, which are predominantly white have been relocating back into the city to take advantage of the relatively low property cost and proximity to their jobs.

As a result many of the Black people in these areas have been priced out of their neighborhoods and forced to move to neighboring cities like East Point and College Park to find affordable housing.

The closeness of the Mayoral race is a reflection of this.

Keisha Lance-Bottoms, incumbent Atlanta City Council Member and lawyer has been involved in Atlanta’s political scene since 2010 and represents the traditional face of Atlanta and has been endorsed by incumbent Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed.

Mary Norwood, also a member of Atlanta City Council has been in her seat since 2013. She’s also ran for Mayor once before back in 2009, but lost to Kasim Reed. The interesting thing about Council Woman Norwood is that she’s running as an independent, but many believe her politics are actually more in alignment with the GOP. This point is important because the new demographics of Atlanta are increasingly white, but not necessarily republican.

They are the intellectual liberal white demographic. Who are not necessarily on the side with Council Woman Bottoms, but are not necessarily Donald Trump supporters either. This makes Mary Norwood’s Independent identification a huge threat to Atlanta as a Black Mecca.

The reason this race is one to watch is because we are seeing this trend play out all over America.
If Mary Norwood wins this election, it would be the first white mayor of Atlanta since Sam Massell which was almost 50 years ago.

This could be a sign of the things to come for Black people in all Major cities in this country. The one thing that should be clear to all is that, Gentrification is here and here to say.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

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