How It Works: City government positions, and how you can run
Imani Benjamin
June 9, 2021
City government functions like a machine.
Everyone is a cog in the machine that makes the city run smoothly and fairly (for the most part).
Coverage by Gabriel Ossa, Ricky Sweeting, Judith Y. Kim and Hagen McMenemy
Ever since May 29, when someone broke a window of the CNN Center building, Georgia has seen pockets of #BlackLivesMatter protests all throughout the state, though most have been concentrated in the capitol of Atlanta.
Almost immediately, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms implemented a 9 p.m. curfew and, with the help of Governor Brian Kemp, deployed the National Guard.
Given our stance within the larger issue at hand, we’ve been hitting the streets every day to capture the movement at its highest. From May 30 to June 8 (when Governor Kemp pulled the National Guard), we captured the protests progression, as well as the sentiment of the people.
On June 4, Mayor Bottoms announced that the 9 p.m. curfew was being changed to 8 p.m., although businesses would still be allowed to operate past this hour. The basic message was clear: Stay off the streets.
After Day 8 went by without any arrests, Mayor Bottoms decides to lift the curfew on Saturday, June 6.
During the day, there were many peaceful protests throughout the city, one of which was organized by health care workers. Nurses, administrative staff, med students and doctors alike gathered nearby Grady Memorial to march to Centennial Olympic Park.
By the second Monday night, the city had grown quiet. The National Guard was heading out, and the once-crowded streets stared blankly back into the night. Around 9:50 p.m., it began to rain heavily, washing out any debris left behind.
In light of the recent shooting and death of Rayshard Brooks this past Saturday, as well as another Black man in Newnan yesterday, however, we don’t see Atlanta resting any time soon.
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City government functions like a machine.
Everyone is a cog in the machine that makes the city run smoothly and fairly (for the most part).
When I think about how it feels to be Black in America, I am think of a famous quote by James Baldwin, an American novelist, activist, and poet who is known for his ideologies on race, class, and sex in the United States: “To be a Negro in this country and relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time.”
But, we at war amongst ourselves, too.
The Bando: Community and Food Combined Atlanta is Wing City. Anywhere you look, there’s a place with a unique twist to the city’s signature dish. Nestled in the West Ridge Shopping Center off of MLK
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Mayor Bottoms’s Inaction At Heart of BLM Protesters Concerns in Atlanta • Avant-Youth · June 27, 2020 at 11:49 pm
[…] and violence have seemingly been stemmed, but the frustrations remain, if not grown. The protests continue and saw renewed vigor when police killed Rayshard Brooks at the Wendy’s on University […]