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Morehouse College celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, but it was somewhat overshadowed by the ouster of its president and board leadership. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked to three Morehouse graduates about the college’s present, future and the future of historically black colleges and universities.
Tale of war, 2 presidents: http://bit.ly/2qmF5wq
President Donald Trump has drawn controversy, if not fire, at the start of this week for his comment...
President Trump is nearing the end of his first 100 days in office.
How do you think he is doing? What would you like to see from him in the next 100 days and beyond? Email your thoughts to [email protected] and you could be featured in an upcoming story. Be sure to include your name and phone number so we can contact you if necessary. Submissions without contact info will not be published.
By Andre Jackson
Editorial Editor
My Opinion
“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.”
Proverbs 25:28
Accidental ignorance is one thing; the willful, bound-and-determined kind is quite another.
In my view, the latter bin is the only honest one in which to toss President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Saturday Twitter broadside against both an American hero and the vibrant heart of one of the greatest cities the world has ever seen.
It is quite an achievement – and a profoundly ignoble one – to type so many venomous mischaracterizations into a mere 140 electronic characters. It may amount to the shortest slander of so broad a subject matter that the free world has seen in a good while.
Yes, Trump’s fact-challenged flak is First Amendment-guaranteed opinion. But mindless, evil-spirited electronic prattling is as far from real leadership as his comments are from either basic accuracy or human decency.
Here, in entirety, is what Trump tweeted Saturday: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!”
The president-elect, as is his wont, couldn’t even leave it at that. He doubled-down a few hours later with this Tweet: “Congressman John Lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S. I can use all the help I can get!”
The last Tweet makes one wonder why he’s not out of breath from blowing so hard into that dog whistle.
To use one of Trump’s favorite words, it is “Sad” in my view to malign this particular fellow elected official of his as being “All talk … no action or results.” That is an affront to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, American history, metro Atlanta, all of Georgia and the entire South.
Disagree with his politics, words or actions all you will, Mr. President-elect, that is fair and appropriate in a free society. But, in my view, Lewis’ getting his skull fractured in 1965 by a hate-fueled Alabama mob during what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday” handily satisfies any definition of “action” that I’ve ever heard. The “results” of Lewis’ and others’ sacrifice – up to and including the loss of a rainbow coalition of lives – was an America that shifted a light-year closer to living up more fully to the awesome promises of its Constitution.
Amazingly, though, you didn’t stop with your slam of Rep. Lewis. You had to brush an entire congressional district with your unique brand of “un-truthiness.”
“Horrible shape,” huh. Yes, there are some rough neighborhoods in Rep. Lewis’s district. They need work – from within and without. Yet, his congressional footprint also encompasses the world’s busiest airport, multiple colleges, universities and citadels of free enterprise-fueled private industry. Read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for details there.
It’s clear you have no clue about how the capital of the South really works – and has worked for decades. Atlanta clawed its way into the ranks of international standing by looking ahead to future opportunities, not harkening over its shoulder to a past dead and buried with Stone Mountain as its tombstone.
Making Atlanta “great” involved a lot of people of all races, religions and stations in life learning to listen to each other. That was not easy work. Yet, from that earnest two-way communication – not flaming-arrow Tweets – came a way to work together toward a much-greater, common good. As a great local leader, the late Dan Sweat of Central Atlanta Progress, told me during a visit here in 1990, metro Atlanta’s leaders figured out that “black plus white equals green.” The wisdom and results of that strategy speak for themselves, especially on John Lewis’s congressional turf.
Breaking all that down a bit further, this is a region where business interests have routinely aligned with politicians and grassroots folks to build profitable alliances that got things done. Action – not talk – as you might put it.
I can think of no other community where CEO’s pushed a half-century ago for racial harmony. Or, in recent years lobbied hard, at considerable political risk, to push tax hikes – yes, tax increases – to pay for upgrading badly shopworn transportation infrastructure.
That’s how we roll around here, Mr. President-elect. We talk – and then do. Ill-advised Tweets accomplish neither.
A highlight of the AJC Editorial Editor's year!
CLAY NATIONAL GUARD CENTER, Marietta, Ga., March 21, 2016 - Georgia #NationalGuard Sgt. Demetrius McCowan and Spc. Joseph Broam are among the four recipients of the 2016 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Reserve Components Achievement Awards.
The AJC has bestowed this award annually since the 1970’s. To be selected, Soldiers must attend at least 95 percent of their scheduled drills, attend annual training and be qualified in their military occupational skill. They must also qualify as sharpshooter or higher on their assigned weapon.
Should Gov. Deal sign the #campuscarry gun bill? Tell us what you think: http://on-ajc.com/1pH0Hzv
The Georgia Senate on Friday approved and sent to Gov.
Has Cobb lawmaker gone too far in calling for Regents to dump the president of Georgia Tech & threatening funding for state's top college?
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, is calling for the ouster of Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson over how the campus responds to sexual misconduct allegations.
Ehrhart sought to use his position as chair of the legislative committee that allocates college funding to punish Tech.
As Ehrhart told the AJC, "I cannot in good conscience continue to fund Georgia Tech at the level that it requests without some assurance to parents that there will be...
Are we suspending too many kids? The new head of DeKalb schools thinks so. DeKalb dominated a recent AJC list of schools with the most suspensions. Read what Steve Green has to say about balancing the needs for safe and orderly classrooms with the challenges of students "who have experienced traumatic circumstances (death, abuse, homelessness), and who are gravely at risk educationally."
DeKalb Superintendent Steve Green responds to a recent AJC story on high suspensions at several of the district's schools. You can read which DeKalb schools have the highest number of suspensions here.
By Steve Green
Schools learn lessons, just like students.
In the DeKalb County School District, we think the way we discipline young people might earn a higher grade.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported on the numbers of students suspended from high schools in our metro...
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band hit the ATL tonite. A fan ponders the music's meaning for America.
http://on-ajc.com/1PU6F69
Bruce Springsteen’s songs for America
Help is available for victims of crashes and crimes: http://on-ajc.com/1IEziXB
Most have heard the line: “It’s $10,000 for a DUI.
We all suffer consequences of mass incarceration http://on-ajc.com/1IExbmn
I recently learned of a new phrase in the criminal justice reform arena — “collateral consequences” — and decided I needed to understand more about this.
By raising interest rates, the #Fed is sacrificing jobs: http://on-ajc.com/1IEby5D
Recently, the Federal Reserve made its most important economic policymaking decision since the financial crash.
Safe, clean and connected to #MARTA -- working toward a west side revival: http://on-ajc.com/1P05xNj
As Atlanta experiences a wave of redevelopment, our neighborhoods will benefit most when community development happens from the inside out.
Somehow, sometime, this #Trump balloon will burst. But I've been wrong before: http://on-ajc.com/1P057qa
Politically speaking, 2015 will be remembered as the Year of Donald Trump.
Trump set the agenda, he dominated the headlines, and he has proved that for all their talk about freedom and liberty and constitutional government, the American people are no more immune to the appeal of a demagogue than anybody else. The illusion that a powerful man, by sheer force of will and personality, can solve all the problems left...
School districts crack down on enrollment fraud: http://on-ajc.com/1YAQrZ3
Would you lie to enroll your child in a better school system?
AJC education reporter Rose French recently wrote about a crackdown by metro Atlanta districts on students who fraudulently attend schools outside their legal enrollment zones.
I am aware of several past cases in Decatur, which is among the districts resorting to hiring someone to monitor enrollment fraud. I have heard of people “renting” rooms from a Decatur homeowner to establish residency. I know...
A message from the angels: Fear not http://on-ajc.com/1SeI4gS
The richness of the Christmas story is that no matter how familiar it may be, there are always new meanings and messages to be learned.
Caring for caregivers with small kindnesses http://on-ajc.com/1PmEoH6
If ever you’ve had the urge to perform a random act of kindness, think about aiming it in the direction of a caregiver — and what better time than the holidays.
Today's Luckovich cartoon: I'm telling you why: http://on-ajc.com/1YCkEBH
Mike Luckovich: I’m telling you why
Let South DeKalb vote on cityhood http://on-ajc.com/1ScCBqJ
What do the residents in the proposed Greenhaven want for Christmas?
Fantasy sports: more skill, less luck http://on-ajc.com/1ScmUA0
As a sports media scholar who has conducted research on fantasy sports play, I find myself fielding questions from a variety of constituencies relating to the rapid explosion of daily fantasy games.
You can't get blood from a turnip; you can't hire black faculty that don't exist: http://on-ajc.com/1RGyfJf
Atlanta native Walter M. Kimbrough is a graduate of Mays High School, the University of Georgia and Georgia State. He has worked at Emory, Georgia State and Albany State. He is now president of Dillard University in New Orleans.
His piece addresses student demands for faculty diversity. (Read another recent piece by Kimbrough on the death of Rev. David H. Nunnally of Athens.)
By Walter M. Kimbrough
In recent weeks, America’s campuses have been on the front page....
Rating your child's school is getting easier: http://on-ajc.com/1J4A0x3
Kelly Cadman lives in Douglasville and teaches at Brighten Academy Charter School. In this essay, she explains why she supports Georgia's new A-F school grading system,
By Kelly Cadman
Politicians may talk a big game about education, but at the end of the day, no one has the same stake in my children's future that I do. As a parent, I’m ultimately responsible for ensuring my two boys, aged 11 and 16,...
Today's Luckovich cartoon: Welcome to the family: http://on-ajc.com/1m5erCL
Mike Luckovich, editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1995 and 2006.
Confessions of a rail skeptic http://on-ajc.com/1kdi0ol
As I reflect upon all the recent rail-transit articles and editorials, it strikes me that we have a fundamental “chicken-and-egg” challenge: One has to pay for major infrastructure projects immediately, but the benefits do not pay off for a very long time.
Roadwork now, transit someday in the Perimeter CIDs: http://on-ajc.com/1S5XtzX
The Georgia Department of Transportation selected its design/build/finance partner recently for the coming redevelopment of the I-285/Ga.
Goodbye 'No Child,' hello 'Every Student Succeeds': http://on-ajc.com/1ZlubiS
By leaving No Child Left Behind and embracing the Every Student Succeeds Act, Congress has returned more education control to states, although the new law doesn’t boot the feds out entirely.
Georgia and the Ghosts of Christmas Past: http://on-ajc.com/1OeQpLj
Another holiday season has raced upon us, somehow managing to temporarily pull past all the noisy debate, jostling, struggle, suffering and plain old disagreement that seems a constant of our modern world.
Two-thirds of Ga. schools get an "incomplete" on sex education: http://on-ajc.com/1T8I14q
Andrea Swartzendruber, a postdoctoral fellow in the Behavioral Sciences and Health Education Department at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, takes on sex education in Georgia. Sex ed is a course that ought to be health based, but often is influenced by politics and ideology.
Her research focuses on adolescent sexual health and reducing HIV and STI disparities. She has 18 years of experience in HIV and STI research and prevention programs,...
Atlanta Muslims want everyone to know: ISIS isn't Islam: http://on-ajc.com/1UOz7u5
Much of the news of late has been upsetting and disturbing, particularly stories of terrorism in Paris and in San Bernardino, Calif.
Some inconvenient truths about riding streetcars: http://on-ajc.com/1UOzQvd
The news that Atlanta approved a multibillion-dollar streetcar network wasn’t surprising.
Pants on fire! #Democrats do it too: http://on-ajc.com/1Ru7FTo
The left is in high dudgeon this week over all the "fear-mongering" Republican presidential candidates allegedly did during their debate on Tuesday night. Of course, when you are inclined to believe terrorism is an environmental problem, perhaps any conversation about hard realities will come across to you as fear-mongering.
Still, it baffled me that liberals everywhere -- as if they got some kind of memo -- started hammering away at this...
Progressives say it, too: http://on-ajc.com/1T6T6mt
My Dad always said that this was his favorite Christmas carol, because it reminded him of his years as a young G.I. far away from home for the first time, a guy who had never before even seen the ocean stationed in such unlikely Christmas places as Morocco. It's an anthem for all those headed back to familiar grounds for the holiday, those awaiting the return of far-flung loved ones...
Atlanta leads on transgender rights http://on-ajc.com/1Od4eKn
As I watched the downfall of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) recently, it became obvious most people in Houston think it’s acceptable to discriminate against the transgender population, which already faces monumental daily challenges in access to health care, employment, housing, public accommodations and public services.
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