Tip O'Neil once said, "All politics is local". Here in Atlanta the quote could be: "all politics is racial". And once again we have seen the culmination of that.
Here in Atlanta we like to name things after people. We don't even wait until they're dead. We have a Jimmy Carter Boulevard. On one end of town part of I-285 is known as the Billy McKinney Freeway, after noted thug and anti-Semite Billy McKinney. On the other end of town there is Cynthia McKinney Parkway named after his bigoted, anti-Semitic daughter.
Maynard Jackson was the first black mayor of Atlanta. I wasn't here during his first reign, but that marked the takeover of Atlanta by the black power structure. There is nothing wrong with blacks running the city. Since they are in the majority, it is only proper, and, after all, they can be just as arrogant and corrupt as white politicians. A few years back, Andrew Young referred to some powerful whites as Smart Ass White Boys, as in (I paraphrase since I do not have the exact quote) We're gonna show them Smart Ass White Boys. It was shortly after that that Neal Boortz started referring to himself as a SAWB.
As I said, all politics is racial. When there are two blacks running against one another in a primary, one politician tries to present himself (or herself) as the more black of the two. It is a real show watching a black person try to play the race card on another black person. Cynthia McKinney tryed to portray Denise Majette as an Uncle Tom (Aunt Thomasina?). During Bill Campbell's campaigns, he did the same thing to his opponents. Shirley Franklin, Atlanta's current mayor, to her credit, did not pull that bullshit.
Atlanta has had a sewer problem for more than fifteen years. The waste treatment infrastructure is inadequate and during heavy rains, polluted waste gets mixed in with storm runoff and ends up in the Chattahoochee River. Atlanta has been paying daily fines for this ever since I have lived here (18 years). A solution was proposed many years back to dig a tunnel, 100 feet below the surface, to move the waste to a treatment plant on the southwest side of the city. The initial tunnel was gonna run under a predominately black neighborhood. The project was postponed because this would be racism. All politics is racial.
Meanwhile, Atlanta still has to pay enormous fines. A tunnel is now being built (under white neighborhoods so it will not be a racist tunnel) and the cost is over $3 billion. It could have been built for a lot less fifteen years ago, but at least it is not a racist tunnel. Water bills are gonna triple in the city to cover the cost of construction.
Maynard Jackson's second reign as mayor was nothing to be proud of. He tried to shake down Delta for the use of a maintenance hangar that used to belong to Eastern Aurlines. Delta told him to go fly a kite and created jobs in Cinncinnati rather than Atlanta. And Maynard also gave Atlanta Bill Campbell, his hand picked successor, possibly one of the most corrupt mayors Atlanta has ever had. Twelve years of Maynard Jackson and Bill Campbell left Atlanta in such bad financial shape that the property taxes had to be raised almost 50%. I'm glad I do not live in the city of Atlanta.
Back to naming things. Maynard kicked the bucket earlier this year and the rush was on as to what to name after him. I think Atlanta should name the sewer tunnel after him and Bill Campbell, but since I'm just a SAWB no one listens to me. The mayor set up a committee to decide what was worthy of Maynard's name. Many of the blacks on the city council wanted the airport named after him. His wife tearfully spoke to the naming committee and said that Maynard always wanted the airport named after him. His sister said the same thing. One of the ciry council members said sumpin' along the lines of (and I paraphrase again) with all the gentrification and the white folks moving back in we better name the airport after Maynard before they take control of the city again. All politics is racial.
Some people (obviously racists) were upset that they were gonna take Hartsfield's name off the airport. He was the mayor with the vision to create a large regional airport out of what was once a pissant little airport named Candler Field. Maynard oversaw another expansion of the airport. So, a compromise was reached. It was decided by a vote of 12-2 in the city council (the 2 no votes were obviously racists) that the airport would be renamed Hartsfield - Jackson.
Check out what Donnie had to say about this. Dammit Donnie, you must be a fucking racist also! But he does have a point:
I submit to you that if a proposal was entered to change the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. to Lester Maddox Parkway, Atlanta would be the victim of a series of riots akin to the Rodney King variety.
Recently Ivan Allen, another notable mayor responsible for bringing sports teams to Atlanta, died and Atlanta has to decide what to name after him. I read on another blog (Dammit! I wish I knew where so I could give credit. If anyone knows, post in comments or send me an e-mail.) that in the interest of fair play, Martin Luther King Boulevard should be renamed Martin Luther King - Ivan Allen Boulevard. (On second thought maybe the person who came up with that idea may not want to take the heat for being a racist)
But back to the airport. So that works for now, but what happens when Andrew Young dies? He was a good mayor wasn't he? Why don't we just tack his name on the airport? The Hartsfield - Jackson - Young International Airport. And why stop there? Let's honor Bill Campbell for raising corruption to such a high standard that it will take a real sleaseball mayor to top him. And Shirley Franklin is gonna rebuild the sewer system so let's add her. And why not Cynthia and Billy McKinney? And let's not forget John Lewis. I'm sure we could come up with others, but for now, let's just save time and go ahead and name the airport the Hartsfield - Jackson - Young - Campbell - Franklin - McKinney - Lewis International Airport.
Hey! How'd that SAWB, Hartsfield's name get in there?
Posted by denny at October 22, 2003 08:46 PM