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Last year, New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote a book calling for African Americans to move to the South to build Black political power and turn the region majority Democratic. In the introduction to The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto, Blow writes of Georgia’s massive voter turnout in both the 2020 presidential election that elected Biden and the run-offs that sent two Democrats to the Senate and flipped control of the U.S. Senate. “With this election, Georgia became the model for how Black people can potentially experience true power in this country and alter the political landscape. Georgia became proof of concept–the concept that animates this book.”
Since Georgia is Blow’s “proof of concept,” it is worth taking a close look at his idea and reflecting on what it might mean for Atlanta and Georgia. Blow is envisioning a reverse migration of Blacks from northern cities to the South. He proposes actually reversing the migration of many Black families that has become known as the Great Migration that Isabel Wilkerson documented in her book, The Warmth of Other Suns. Estimates are that around six million Black people left the South from the 1910’s to the 1970’s. Often fearing for their lives, they left to escape crushing Jim Crow laws and segregation. But they also were hoping for job opportunities, improved schools, and a better life for their families.
Blow imagines Black people moving to all parts of the South to build political power. As a white progressive and native Atlantan, I think this is a great idea. As we say in the South, “Y’all come on down.” We have a lot of work to do to create the beloved community of Dr. King’s vision. And I have some observations about this idea that are particular to my city and state.
Historically, many people did migrate from Atlanta for the same reasons people left other parts of the South, but some families stayed and prospered, arguably more so than in other Southern cities. Auburn Avenue was once dubbed the Black Wall Street because of the many successful businesses that lined that street. The Atlanta University Center, a complex of historically Black colleges and universities, helped develop Black intellectuals that became part of a strong middle and upper class. This helped spur the rise of organizing against segregation such that Atlanta is often called the cradle of the civil rights movement. During the early days of integration, Atlanta had its share of strife, but seemed to experience less conflict than other Southern cities. We have now had five decades of elected Black leadership, starting with the election of Maynard Jackson in 1973 and supported by a multi-racial coalition of Atlanta voters.
Atlanta today is sometimes regarded as a Black mecca with a reputation of cool music, art, food and, perhaps most importantly, economic opportunity. However, Atlanta, especially within the city limits, is an increasingly expensive city. We have a huge problem with income inequality and poverty. This article outlines that Atlanta is the most unequal city in the U.S., and that we have a high rate of poverty of around 22 percent. This problem, along with the difficulty of upward mobility is huge and needs strategic, robust strategies to alleviate.
Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter says that the South has a somewhat different way of organizing and building power. “In some ways, our communities are somewhat closed. The first question posed of someone new is ‘who are your people.’ And this calls for a different organizing style of watching and listening. People need to come and merge into the existing power building infrastructure.“
“Organizing in the South has historically been done through communities and churches, and still today, non-partisan organizations are much more significant in the power building process than the Democratic Party,” says Christine White, executive director of the Georgia Alliance for Progress, a state-based donor collaborative. “Folks new to Georgia who want to help build progressive power can embed themselves in one or more of these groups that have been toiling in the trenches to bring Georgia to the cusp of a more progressive state."
White adds, “For those who can, it is also critical to help raise money to support these organizations. In recent years, we have not had significant financial contributions from people of color to support power building, and I would like to see Black people engage even more in the sustainability of organizing,”
Another hurdle to building power in Georgia, is that most progressives are clumped up in Atlanta. We refer to Atlanta as a big blue dot in a sea of red, with tiny blue drops in the smaller cities like Augusta, Columbus and Savannah. Republicans are able to cling to power in our legislature because of this clusters of population. It may be difficult to attract many Black people to move back to rural areas of the state. However, many Black northerners still have ties and some land ownership in the rural South. A growing number of Black farmers/entrepreneurs are setting up shop in rural Georgia, which is exciting, but not easy.
The flip side of this blue concentration is that Democrats will be able to win statewide offices sooner than electing a majority in either chamber of the state legislature. Each election cycle Democrats get closer to winning statewide and the Republicans know this. Thus, we see their recent aggressive gerrymandering of districts in an attempt to preserve legislative power for another decade.
And, of course, the elephant in the room is the history of racism all across the South, with which we have never effectively reconciled. Blow says that race must be reckoned with head-on. “Black and white people in the South have ever been simultaneously at war and in relationship….But no matter how people, regardless of region, contend with racism–through protest and rebellion, or backyard-fence rapprochement–the racism itself remains.” He quotes noted Atlantan Julian Bond as saying “America, afterall, unscrambled, spells ‘I am race.’”
Most Southerners disavow racism, and claim to not have a racist bone in their bodies. But in How to Be an Antiracist author Ibram Kendi recognizes that it is not enough to not be a racist, we must be actively working to promote antiracist policies. He asserts, “To be an antiracist is a radical choice in the face of this history, requiring a radical reorientation of our consciousness.”
Charles Blow’s manifesto of a Black reverse migration is noteworthy. Long and deep conversations need to revolve around this idea and the goal of building political power in the South. Truly, to organize and build power, be it Black power or multi-racial power, requires commitment, focus and collaboration for the long term. It also requires deep and respectful listening, substantial financial investment and many voices around the table. Demographic changes will not save us; hard work and action are required. One could say that as Georgia goes, so goes the rest of the South. And this makes it important work.
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