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NEWS > U.S.A. > ATLANTA TO FINALLY ELECT A WHITE MAYOR
ATLANTA TO FINALLY ELECT A WHITE MAYOR
November 2 2009
Atlanta, GA – The history of race and racism in the United States is a long and troubled one. Filled with death, trauma, and just general ugliness institutions such as slavery and segregation have cut a deep scar on the American psyche. Those events 
though have also helped to define the country and its current success. Slavery, for example, provided an inexpensive work force that allowed the country to build massive economic power. The conquering of such racism of the last century has also helped to define the country, providing it and the people with a great deal of character.
There is of course no better example of that character and growth than the election Barack Obama last year. His ascendency to the most powerful position in the country was, to many, symbolic of the nation’s growth and the eschewing of a difficult past. Now a mayoral race in Atlanta is proving that once and for all the country may be over its past and is ready for the future. The likely election of Mary Norwood, a white woman, to mayor of the city on Tuesday is proving to many that the trickledown effect of actions against racism have finally come to fruition.
“I suspect for many voters, maybe all voters, race would be something they would think about, and although it's not the only factor, for some voters it is the determining factor. Black voters have been moving further and further out of Atlanta, and whites who wanted to be closer to work have been moving in,” said Professor Charles Bullock of the University of Atlanta. “This is something that has been happening for a number of years though, really since the Olympics in ’96. It was then that Fortune 500 companies started to relocate to the city allowing white people the opportunities that they so desperately need, while black people have been moving out of the city, sticking with the jobs they have had for so many years. The growth of high paying has really created a unique cultural mix that has put us in this position and it’s really exciting to see.”
Norwood is currently enjoying a 46-26 advantage in polling over her next closest rival, State Senator Kasim Reed who is black. 
“There hasn’t been a white mayor here for a long time and I can tell you that very few people expected that it would happen anytime soon. I don’t know that President Obama’s election has had anything to do with it but it certainly hasn’t hurt. People are starting to see people for who they are, not what they are which is giving white candidates a real opportunity,” continued Bullock. “I didn’t think that in my life I would see a white mayor in Atlanta but here we are. I guess if you live long enough miracles will occur and on a long enough time line anything is possible.”
Atlanta’s last white Mayor was Sam Massell who served a four year term ending in 1974. Massell was Jewish, the first in the city’s history.
“It really does speak to the growing power of whites across the country. For years white people, particularly in the south, have been suffering. They have been forced to
move to places like New York and Los Angeles in order to find work but with the growth of the Fortune 500 in Atlanta they are finally able to find work in their own state, meaning that they are staying and making good,” said Scrape TV Racism analyst Drake Douglas. “Atlanta is really a test state. For years the city has been dominated by low paying jobs and a kind of encroaching turpitude, a slow decay into the distant past of the country, like Buffalo. Now though, with all these high paying jobs returning, prompting white people to stay and even return, the city is starting to come back and establish itself as a city for the future.”
The majority of the current councillors in the city are black, something which many experts predict will change in the near future.
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
NEWS > U.S.A. > ATLANTA TO FINALLY ELECT A WHITE MAYOR
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