Mary Norwood, Atlanta's Mayoral Election, an Encouraging Look at Race

Racial hatred in Star Trek seemed silly onscreen.

Even as Van Jones, the discredited “green czar” who used to work for Obama but quit amid a firestorm of “Conservative anger” over what the man said and wrote, the Wall Street Journal pens a nice piece about race in the Atlanta mayoral race and how the black candidates aren’t taking the bait:

Atlanta is in the midst of a mayoral campaign, and one of the leading candidates, City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, is white. That is noteworthy because Atlanta is a majority black city and has had black mayors continuously since Maynard Jackson took office in 1974—and because some Atlantans have tried to make Ms. Norwood’s race an issue. What is heartening is that these divisive tactics have met with complete rejection from her opponents.

Last week an anonymous email began circulating from a loose-knit group calling itself the Black Leadership Forum, which advocates a “black agenda.” The memo—whose authors were later identified as a pair of professors at Clark Atlanta University—endorsed City Council President Lisa Borders and urged three other black candidates to withdraw. “In order to defeat a Norwood (white) mayoral candidacy,” the professors wrote, “we have to get out now and work in a manner to defeat her without a runoff, and the key is a significant Black turnout.”

Ms. Borders said no thanks, calling the memo’s racial appeal “absolutely wrong,” and adding, “We have had two Atlantas for far too long.” Ms. Norwood simply said, “Race does not play a role.” Shirley Franklin, the term-limited incumbent, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I think it was bigoted.”

Kasim Reed, a state senator who is running third in the polls, echoed Atlanta native Martin Luther King: “This campaign should be based on the merits of each candidate, not the color of someone’s skin.” Whoever wins in November, the candidates’ unanimity on that point surely is a sign of racial progress.

The Left can never shut up about the hatred on the Right… those evil neo-cons and Dick Cheney.  What this article from the WSJ illustrates is that there are far more nefarious things going on by those on the Left who champion Affirmative Action and its results.

Hopefully decided upon merit.

It may very well be that Norwood will lose but at least the other candidates, who could have played the racial game and maybe won a few votes decided not to.  Maybe Norwood has no chance anyway and perhaps if it was a very close race split evenly among two candidates, one white and one black, the story would be different but I’d like to think not.

This article also shows what is so wrong with the university system in the United States where teachers of our children would write and back such a vile piece of propoganda.  My time in the American state university system during the time of “Christopher Columbus commited genocide” on the 400th anniversary of his “discovery” of America showed me how active Liberals were on campus and I did have a few teachers who, in my opinion, crossed the line between being an educator and being an advocate for a certain system of thought.  But to think that not only did teachers create the “Black Leadership Forum” but also that it was backed by an elected official is un-American.

It is only my hope that the race baiters continue to be unsuccessful in trying to stir up hate in this country (on both sides of the political spectrum) and we can force them to deal with the real issues facing this country.