tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/atlanta-43122/articlesAtlanta – The Conversation2024-02-15T13:35:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229402024-02-15T13:35:30Z2024-02-15T13:35:30ZStudents lose out as cities and states give billions in property tax breaks to businesses − draining school budgets and especially hurting the poorest students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575520/original/file-20240214-20-j3e0d8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1684%2C678&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Exxon Mobil Corp.'s campus in East Baton Rouge Parish, left, received millions in tax abatements to the detriment of local schools, right.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oil-refinery-owned-by-exxon-mobil-is-the-second-largest-in-news-photo/1225711980">Barry Lewis/Getty Images, Tjean314/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Built in 1910, James Elementary is a three-story brick school in Kansas City, Missouri’s historic Northeast neighborhood, with a bright blue front door framed by a sand-colored stone arch adorned with a gargoyle. As bustling students and teachers negotiate a maze of gray stairs with worn wooden handrails, Marjorie Mayes, the school’s principal, escorts a visitor across uneven blue tile floors on the ground floor to a classroom with exposed brick walls and pipes. Bubbling paint mars some walls, evidence of the water leaks spreading inside the aging building.</p>
<p>“It’s living history,” said Mayes during a mid-September tour of the building. “Not the kind of living history we want.”</p>
<p>The district would like to tackle the US$400 million in deferred maintenance needed to create a 21st century learning environment at its 35 schools – including James Elementary – but it can’t. It doesn’t have the money.</p>
<h2>Property tax redirect</h2>
<p>The lack of funds is a direct result of the property tax breaks that Kansas City lavishes on companies and developers that do business there. The program is supposed to bring in new jobs and business but instead has ended up draining civic coffers and starving schools. Between 2017 and 2023, the Kansas City school district lost $237.3 million through tax abatements.</p>
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<p>Kansas City is hardly an anomaly. An <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/incentives-to-pander/E0003C20215EDA5047EA0831FEEB6D92">estimated 95%</a> of U.S. cities provide economic development tax incentives to woo corporate investors. The upshot is that billions have been diverted from large urban school districts and from a growing number of small suburban and rural districts. The impact is seen in districts as diverse as Chicago and Cleveland, Hillsboro, Oregon, and Storey County, Nevada.</p>
<p>The result? A 2021 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2022.2148171">review of 2,498 financial statements</a> from school districts across 27 states revealed that, in 2019 alone, at least $2.4 billion was diverted to fund tax incentives. Yet that substantial figure still downplays the magnitude of the problem, because three-quarters of the 10,370 districts analyzed did not provide any information on tax abatement agreements.</p>
<p>Tax abatement programs have long been controversial, pitting states and communities against one another in beggar-thy-neighbor contests. Their economic value is also, at best, unclear: Studies show most companies <a href="https://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/289/">would have made the same location decision</a> without taxpayer subsidies. Meanwhile, schools make up the largest cost item in these communities, meaning they suffer most when companies are granted breaks in property taxes.</p>
<p>A three-month investigation by The Conversation and three scholars with expertise in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RO4oI-8AAAAJ&hl=en">economic development</a>, <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/education/kevin-welner">tax laws</a> and <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/government/faculty/nj4353">education policy</a> shows that the cash drain from these programs is not equally shared by schools in the same communities. At the local level, tax abatements and exemptions often come at the cost of <a href="https://www.schoolfinancedata.org/the-adequacy-and-fairness-of-state-school-finance-systems-2024/.">critical funding</a> for school districts that <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3062/2024-01-31_Good_Jobs_First_Abating_Our_Future.pdf?1707953373">disproportionately serve</a>
students from low-income households and who are racial minorities.</p>
<p>In Missouri, for example, in 2022 <a href="https://www.kcpublicschools.org/about/tax-incentives-kcps#:%7E:text=As%20of%202022%2C%20nearly%20%241%2C700,%24500-%24900%20per%20pupil">nearly $1,700 per student was redirected</a> from Kansas City public and charter schools, while between $500 and $900 was redirected from wealthier, whiter Northland schools on the north side of the river in Kansas City and in the suburbs beyond. Other studies have found <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/08912424231174836">similar demographic trends elsewhere</a>, including <a href="https://goodjobsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/How-Tax-Abatements-Cost-New-York-Public-Schools.pdf">New York state</a>, <a href="https://goodjobsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/South-Carolinas-Corporate-Tax-Breaks-2022.pdf">South Carolina</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2023.2217899">Columbus, Ohio</a>.</p>
<p>The funding gaps produced by abated money often force schools to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3325345">delay needed maintenance</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12098">increase class sizes</a>, <a href="https://districtadministration.com/teacher-layoffs-enter-k12-outlook-school-districts-budget-deficits/">lay off teachers</a> and support staff and even close outright. Schools also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/reader-center/us-public-schools-conditions.html">struggle to update or replace</a> outdated technology, books and other educational resources. And, amid a nationwide teacher shortage, schools under financial pressures sometimes turn to inexperienced teachers who are <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/state-teacher-shortages-vacancy-resource-tool">not fully certified</a> or <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2023/10/16/dallas-relies-on-international-teachers-more-than-any-other-school-district-in-the-us/">rely too heavily</a> on recruits from overseas who have been given special visa status.</p>
<p>Lost funding also prevents teachers and staff, who often feed, clothe and otherwise go above and beyond to help students in need, from <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/teacher-pay-by-state">earning a living wage</a>. All told, tax abatements can end up harming a community’s value, with constant funding shortfalls creating <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/a-punishing-decade-for-school-funding">a cycle of decline</a>.</p>
<h2>Incentives, payoffs and guarantees</h2>
<p>Perversely, some of the largest beneficiaries of tax abatements are the politicians who publicly boast of handing out the breaks despite the harm to poorer communities. Incumbent governors have used the incentives as a means of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/incentives-to-pander/E0003C20215EDA5047EA0831FEEB6D92">taking credit for job creation</a>, even when the jobs were coming anyway.</p>
<p>“We know that subsidies don’t work,” said <a href="https://www.elizabethmarcello.com/">Elizabeth Marcello</a>, a doctoral lecturer at Hunter College who studies governmental planning and policy and the interactions between state and local governments. “But they are good political stories, and I think that’s why politicians love them so much.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Academic research shows that economic development incentives are ineffective most of the time – and harm school systems.</span></figcaption>
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<p>While some voters may celebrate abatements, parents can recognize the disparities between school districts that are created by the tax breaks. Fairleigh Jackson pointed out that her daughter’s East Baton Rouge third grade class lacks access to playground equipment.</p>
<p>The class is attending school in a temporary building while their elementary school undergoes a two-year renovation.</p>
<p>The temporary site has some grass and a cement slab where kids can play, but no playground equipment, Jackson said. And parents needed to set up an Amazon wish list to purchase basic equipment such as balls, jump ropes and chalk for students to use. The district told parents there would be no playground equipment due to a lack of funds, then promised to install equipment, Jackson said, but months later, there is none.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cement surface surrounded by a fence with grass beyond. There's no playground equipment.." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575426/original/file-20240213-28-rkjkme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The temporary site where Fairleigh Jackson’s daughter goes to school in East Baton Rouge Parish lacks playground equipment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fairleigh Jackson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Jackson said it’s hard to complain when other schools in the district don’t even have needed security measures in place. “When I think about playground equipment, I think that’s a necessary piece of child development,” Jackson said. “Do we even advocate for something that should be a daily part of our kids’ experience when kids’ safety isn’t being funded?”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the challenges facing administrators 500-odd miles away at Atlanta Public Schools are nothing if not formidable: The district is dealing with <a href="https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/chronic-absenteeism-aps/">chronic absenteeism</a> among half of its Black students, many students <a href="https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2023/08/28/more-atlanta-students-homeless-this-school-year/">are experiencing homelessness</a>, and it’s facing a <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/teacher-retention-an-issue-in-georgia-situation-could-get-worse">teacher shortage</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, Atlanta is showering corporations with tax breaks. The city has two bodies that dole them out: the Development Authority of Fulton County, or DAFC, and Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency. The deals handed out by the two agencies have drained $103.8 million from schools from fiscal 2017 to 2022, according to Atlanta school system financial statements.</p>
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<p>What exactly Atlanta and other cities and states are accomplishing with tax abatement programs is hard to discern. <a href="https://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/289/">Fewer than a quarter</a> of companies that receive breaks in the U.S. needed an incentive to invest, according to a 2018 study by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a nonprofit research organization. </p>
<p>This means that at least 75% of companies received tax abatements when they’re not needed – with communities paying a heavy price for economic development that sometimes provides little benefit.</p>
<p>In Kansas City, for example, there’s no guarantee that the businesses that do set up shop after receiving a tax abatement will remain there long term. That’s significant considering the historic border war between the Missouri and Kansas sides of Kansas City – a competition to be the most generous to the businesses, said Jason Roberts, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel. Kansas City, Missouri, has a <a href="https://www.kcmo.gov/city-hall/departments/finance/earnings-tax">1% income tax</a> on people who work in the city, so it competes for as many workers as possible to secure that earnings tax, Roberts said.</p>
<p>Under city and state tax abatement programs, companies that used to be in Kansas City have since relocated. The AMC Theaters headquarters, for example, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2011/09/14/amc-entertainment-will-move-hq-to-ks.html">moved from the city’s downtown</a> to Leawood, Kansas, about a decade ago, garnering some $40 million in <a href="https://www.kansascommerce.gov/program/business-incentives-and-services/peak/">Promoting Employment Across Kansas</a> tax incentives.</p>
<p>Roberts said that when one side’s financial largesse runs out, companies often move across the state line – until both states decided in 2019 that <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article233725152.html">enough was enough</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-end-of-kansas-missouris-border-war-should-mark-a-new-chapter-for-both-states-economies/">declared a cease-fire</a>.</p>
<p>But tax breaks for other businesses continue. “Our mission is to grow the economy of Kansas City, and application of tools such as tax exemptions are vital to achieving that mission, said Jon Stephens, president and CEO of Port KC, the Kansas City Port Authority. The incentives speed development, and providing them "has resulted in growth choosing KC versus other markets,” he added.</p>
<p>In Atlanta, those tax breaks <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/fulton-authority-gives-tax-breaks-to-projects-in-hot-markets-ajc-finds/PHR5H4SXNRAGRNWHBUUCIPHFQM/">are not going</a> to projects in neighborhoods that need help attracting development. They have largely been handed out to projects that are in high demand areas of the city, said Julian Bene, who served on Invest Atlanta’s board from 2010 to 2018. In 2019, for instance, the Fulton County development authority <a href="https://saportareport.com/fulton-agency-approves-nearly-100-million-in-property-tax-abatements/sections/reports/maggie/">approved a 10-year, $16 million tax abatement</a> for a 410-foot-tall, 27,000-square-foot tower in Atlanta’s vibrant Midtown business district. <a href="https://1105westpeachtree.com/">The project</a> included hotel space, retail space and office space that is now occupied by <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/atlanta-office/">Google</a> and <a href="https://www.ajc.com/business/economy/invesco-plans-add-500-jobs-new-midtown/CX8ubABcCfK2IuqrJu5nMJ/">Invesco</a>.</p>
<p>In 2021, a developer in Atlanta <a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/ponce-city-market-developer-pulls-request-8-million-tax-break-its-expansion/DYWYAKHVTNH5PPVHFBD5QCZDXY/">pulled its request</a> for an $8 million tax break to expand its new massive, mixed-use Ponce City Market development in the trendy Beltline neighborhood with an office tower and apartment building. Because of community pushback, the developer knew it likely did not have enough votes from the commission for approval, Bene said. After a second try for $5 million in lower taxes was also rejected, the developer went ahead and <a href="https://poncecitymarket.com/directory-view-all">built the project</a> anyway.</p>
<p>Invest Atlanta has also turned down projects in the past, Bene said. Oftentimes, after getting rejected, the developer goes back to the landowner and asks for a better price to buy the property to make their numbers work, because it was overvalued at the start.</p>
<h2>Trouble in Philadelphia</h2>
<p>On Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, an environmental team was preparing Southwark School in Philadelphia for the winter cold. While checking an attic fan, members of the team saw loose dust on top of flooring that contained asbestos. The dust that certainly was blowing into the floors below could contain the cancer-causing agent. Within a day, <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/education/philadelphia-school-asbestos-closed-southwark-20231027.html">Southwark was closed</a> – the seventh Philadelphia school temporarily shuttered since the previous academic year because of possible asbestos contamination.</p>
<p>A 2019 inspection of the John L Kinsey school in Philadelphia found <a href="https://www.philasd.org/capitalprograms/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/11/6280_Building_21_@_John_L_Kinsey_School_2018_2019_3_Year_AHERA_Report.pdf">asbestos in plaster walls, floor tiles, radiator insulation and electrical panels</a>. Asbestos is <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/education/asbestos-closure-philadelphia-school-district-20231027.html">a major problem</a> for Philadelphia’s public schools. The district needs <a href="https://www.philasd.org/capitalprograms/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/06/2015-FCA-Final-Report-1.pdf">$430 million</a> to clean up the asbestos, lead, and other environmental hazards that place the health of students, teachers and staff at risk. And that is on top of an additional <a href="https://www.philasd.org/capitalprograms/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/06/2015-FCA-Final-Report-1.pdf">$2.4 billion</a> to fix failing and damaged buildings.</p>
<p>Yet the money is not available. Matthew Stem, a former district official, <a href="https://pubintlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/02.07.23-Memorandum-Opinion-Filed-pubintlaw.pdf">testified in a 2023 lawsuit</a> about financing of Pennsylvania schools that the environmental health risks cannot be addressed until an emergency like at Southwark because “existing funding sources are not sufficient to remediate those types of issues.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the city keeps doling out abatements, draining money that could have gone toward making Philadelphia schools safer. In the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24362508-final-acfr-2022-with-artwork-as-of-022423">fiscal year ending June 2022</a>, such tax breaks cost the school district $118 million – more than 25% of the total amount needed to remove the asbestos and other health dangers. These abatements <a href="https://www.phila.gov/media/20180524153805/City-of-Philadelphia-2018-Abatement.pdf">take 31 years to break even</a>, according to the city’s own <a href="https://www.phila.gov/documents/property-tax-abatement-studies/">scenario impact analyses</a>.</p>
<p>Huge subsets of the community – primarily Black, Brown, poor or a combination – are being “drastically impacted” by the exemptions and funding shortfalls for the school district, said Kendra Brooks, a Philadelphia City Council member. Schools and students are affected by mold, asbestos and lead, and crumbling infrastructure, as well as teacher and staffing shortages – including support staff, social workers and psychologists.</p>
<p>More than half the district’s schools that lacked adequate air conditioning – 87 schools – had to <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-schools-early-dismissals-lack-air-conditioning-extreme-heat/">go to half days</a> during the first week of the 2023 school year because of extreme heat. Poor heating systems also leave the schools cold in the winter. And some schools are overcrowded, resulting in large class sizes, she said.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front of a four-story brick school building with tall windows, some with air-conditioners" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575461/original/file-20240213-28-1b0wxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Horace Furness High School in Philadelphia, where hot summers have temporarily closed schools that lack air conditioning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horace_Furness_High_School_1900_S_3rd_St_Philadelphia_PA_%28DSC_3038%29.jpg">Nick-philly/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Teachers and researchers agree that a lack of adequate funding undermines educational opportunities and outcomes. That’s especially true for children living in poverty. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26495136">A 2016 study</a> found that a 10% increase in per-pupil spending each year for all 12 years of public schooling results in nearly one-third of a year of more education, 7.7% higher wages and a 3.2% reduction in annual incidence of adult poverty. The study estimated that a 21.7% increase could eliminate the high school graduation gap faced by children from low-income families.</p>
<p>More money for schools leads to more education resources for students and their teachers. The same researchers found that spending increases were associated with reductions in student-to-teacher ratios, increases in teacher salaries and longer school years. Other studies <a href="https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781682532447/educational-inequality-and-school-finance/">yielded similar results</a>: <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25368/w25368.pdf">School funding matters</a>, especially for children already suffering the harms of poverty.</p>
<p>While tax abatements themselves are generally linked to rising property values, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.21862">benefits are not evenly distributed</a>. In fact, any expansion of the tax base due to new property construction tends to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15575339809489773">outside of the county granting the tax abatement</a>. For families in school districts with the lost tax revenues, their neighbors’ good fortune likely comes as little solace. Meanwhile, a poorly funded education system is less likely to yield a <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13398/education-for-life-and-work-developing-transferable-knowledge-and-skills">skilled and competitive workforce</a>, creating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199982981.003.0014">longer-term economic costs</a> that make the region less attractive for businesses and residents.</p>
<p>“There’s a head-on collision here between private gain and the future quality of America’s workforce,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director at Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group that’s critical of tax abatement and tracks the use of economic development subsidies.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three-story school building with police officers out front and traffic lights in the foreground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575449/original/file-20240213-26-7jhmm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Roxborough High School in Philadelphia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X4dQQT50psqFFY1sPKeUz_wAk8eOtZ44/view?usp=sharing">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>As funding dwindles and educational quality declines, additional <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3739064">families with means often opt for</a> alternative educational avenues such as private schooling, home-schooling or moving to a different school district, further weakening the public school system.</p>
<p>Throughout the U.S., parents with the power to do so <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0161956X.2015.988536">demand special arrangements</a>, such as selective schools or high-track enclaves that <a href="https://www.nyulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NYULawReview-93-4-Miller.pdf">hire experienced, fully prepared</a> teachers. If demands aren’t met, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818802106">they leave</a> the district’s public schools for private schools or for the suburbs. Some parents even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2009.01166.x">organize to splinter</a> their more advantaged, and generally whiter, neighborhoods away from the larger urban school districts.</p>
<p>Those parental demands – known among scholars as “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-6991-3">opportunity hoarding</a>” – may seem unreasonable from the outside, but scarcity breeds very real fears about educational harms inflicted on one’s own children. Regardless of who’s to blame, the children who bear the heaviest burden of the nation’s concentrated poverty and racialized poverty again lose out.</p>
<h2>Rethinking in Philadelphia and Riverhead</h2>
<p>Americans also ask public schools to accomplish Herculean tasks that go <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15575330.2023.2217881">far beyond the education basics</a>, as many parents discovered at the onset of the pandemic when schools closed and their support for families largely disappeared.</p>
<p>A school serving students who endure housing and food insecurity must dedicate resources toward children’s basic needs and trauma. But districts serving more low-income students <a href="https://edtrust.org/resource/equal-is-not-good-enough/">spend less per student</a> on average, and almost half the states <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED596199.pdf">have regressive funding structures</a>.</p>
<p>Facing dwindling resources for schools, several cities have begun to rethink their tax exemption programs.</p>
<p>The Philadelphia City Council recently passed a scale-back on a <a href="https://www.phila.gov/2018-05-24-city-releases-study-of-10-year-property-tax-abatement/">10-year property tax abatement</a> by decreasing the percentage of the subsidy over that time. But even with that change, millions will be lost to tax exemptions that could instead be invested in cash-depleted schools. “We could make major changes in our schools’ infrastructure, curriculum, staffing, staffing ratios, support staff, social workers, school psychologists – take your pick,” Brooks said.</p>
<p>Other cities looking to reform tax abatement programs are taking a different approach. In Riverhead, New York, on Long Island, developers or project owners can be granted exemptions on their property tax and allowed instead to shell out a far smaller “payment in lieu of taxes,” or PILOT. When the abatement ends, most commonly after 10 years, the businesses then will pay full property taxes.</p>
<p>At least, that’s the idea, but the system is <a href="https://nysfocus.com/2023/10/11/riverhead-ida-tax-breaks-aquarium-school">far from perfect</a>. Beneficiaries of the PILOT program have failed to pay on time, leaving the school board struggling to fill a budget hole. Also, the payments <a href="https://nysfocus.com/2023/10/11/riverhead-ida-tax-breaks-aquarium-school">are not equal</a> to the amount they would receive for property taxes, with millions of dollars in potential revenue over a decade being cut to as little as a few hundred thousand. On the back end, if a business that’s subsidized with tax breaks fails after 10 years, the projected benefits never emerge.</p>
<p>And when the time came to start paying taxes, developers have returned to the city’s Industrial Development Agency with hat in hand, asking for more tax breaks. A <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/ida-tax-breaks-nestle-aquarium-steel-i30377">local for-profit aquarium</a>, for example, was granted a 10-year PILOT program break by Riverhead in 1999; it has received so many extensions that it is not scheduled to start paying full taxes until 2031 – 22 years after originally planned.</p>
<h2>Kansas City border politics</h2>
<p>Like many cities, Kansas City has a long history of segregation, white flight and racial redlining, said Kathleen Pointer, senior policy strategist for Kansas City Public Schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575513/original/file-20240214-16-znl7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Elementary in Kansas City, Mo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danielle McLean</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Troost Avenue, where the Kansas City Public Schools administrative office is located, serves as the city’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/decades-dividing-line-troost-avenue-kansas-city-mo-sees-new-n918851">historic racial dividing line</a>, with wealthier white families living in the west and more economically disadvantaged people of color in the east. Most of the district’s schools are located east of Troost, not west.</p>
<p>Students on the west side “pretty much automatically funnel into the college preparatory middle school and high schools,” said The Federation of Teachers’ Roberts. Those schools are considered signature schools that are selective and are better taken care of than the typical neighborhood schools, he added.</p>
<p>The school district’s tax levy was set by voters in 1969 at 3.75%. But successive attempts over the next few decades to increase the levy at the ballot box failed. During a decadeslong desegregation lawsuit that was eventually resolved through a settlement agreement in the 1990s, a court raised the district’s levy rate to 4.96% without voter approval. The levy has remained at the same 4.96% rate since.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Kansas City is still distributing 20-year tax abatements to companies and developers for projects. The district calculated that about 92% of the money that was abated within the school district’s boundaries was for projects within the whiter west side of the city, Pointer said.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, we can’t pick or choose where developers build,” said Meredith Hoenes, director of communications for Port KC. “We aren’t planning and zoning. Developers typically have plans in place when they knock on our door.”</p>
<p>In Kansas City, <a href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2021/11/29/kansas-city-tax-incentives/">several agencies administer tax incentives</a>, allowing developers to shop around to different bodies to receive one. Pointer said he believes the Port Authority is popular because they don’t do a third-party financial analysis to prove that the developers need the amount that they say they do.</p>
<p>With 20-year abatements, a child will start pre-K and graduate high school before seeing the benefits of a property being fully on the tax rolls, Pointer said. Developers, meanwhile, routinely threaten to build somewhere else if they don’t get the incentive, she said.</p>
<p>In 2020, BlueScope Construction, a company that had received tax incentives for nearly 20 years and was about to roll off its abatement, asked for another 13 years and <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-06-25/kansas-city-council-rejects-incentives-for-a-company-that-threatened-to-move-across-state-line">threatened to move</a> to another state if it didn’t get it. At the time, the U.S. was grappling with a racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.</p>
<p>“That was a moment for Kansas City Public Schools where we really drew a line in the sand and talked about incentives as an equity issue,” Pointer said.</p>
<p>After the district raised the issue – <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/development/article243798657.html">tying the incentives to systemic racism</a> – the City Council rejected BlueScope’s bid and, three years later, it’s still in Kansas City, fully on the tax rolls, she said. BlueScope did not return multiple requests for comment.</p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/07/18/port-kc-waldo-plaza-tax-breaks/">multifamily housing project</a> was approved for a <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-08-30/port-kc-approves-20-year-tax-incentive-deal-for-plaza-apartments">20-year tax abatement</a> by the Port Authority of Kansas City at Country Club Plaza, an outdoor shopping center in an affluent part of the city. The housing project included no affordable units. “This project was approved without any independent financial analysis proving that it needed that subsidy,” Pointer said.</p>
<p>All told, the Kansas City Public Schools district faces several shortfalls beyond the $400 million in deferred maintenance, Superintendent Jennifer Collier said. There are staffing shortages at all positions: teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff. As in much of the U.S., the cost of housing is surging. New developments that are being built do not include affordable housing, or when they do, the units are still out of reach for teachers.</p>
<p>That’s making it harder for a district that already loses about 1 in 5 of its teachers each year to keep or recruit new ones, who earn an average of only $46,150 their first year on the job, Collier said.</p>
<h2>East Baton Rouge and the industrial corridor</h2>
<p>It’s impossible to miss the tanks, towers, pipes and industrial structures that incongruously line Baton Rouge’s Scenic Highway landscape. They’re part of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s campus, home of the oil giant’s refinery in addition to chemical and plastics plants.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of industrial buildings along a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575171/original/file-20240213-20-ey3jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baton Rouge campus occupies 3.28 square miles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/3c6e5c10434a44c48929197377f7a717?ext=true">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sitting along the Mississippi River, <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/locations/united-states/baton-rouge-area-operations-overview#Safetyhealthandenvironment">the campus</a> has been a staple of Louisiana’s capital for over 100 years. It’s where 6,000 employees and contractors who collectively earn over $400 million annually produce <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/global/files/locations/united-states-operations/baton-rouge/2022-brrf-fact-sheet.pdf">522,000 barrels</a> of crude oil per day when at full capacity, as well as the annual production and manufacture of <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/global/files/locations/united-states-operations/baton-rouge/2022-brpo-fact-sheet.pdf">3 billion pounds</a> of high-density polyethylene and polypropylene and <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/global/files/locations/united-states-operations/baton-rouge/2022-brcp-fact-sheet.pdf">6.6 billion pounds</a> of petrochemical products. The company posted a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-smashes-western-oil-majors-earnings-record-with-59-billion-profit-2023-01-31/">record-breaking</a> <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2023/0131_exxonmobil-announces-full-year-2022-results">$55.7 billion</a> in profits in 2022 and <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2024/0202_exxonmobil-announces-2023-results">$36 billion</a> in 2023.</p>
<p>Across the street are empty fields and roads leading into neighborhoods that have been designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a low-income <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/">food desert</a>. A mile drive down the street to Route 67 is a Dollar General, fast-food restaurants, and tiny, rundown food stores. A Hi Nabor Supermarket is 4 miles away.</p>
<p>East Baton Rouge Parish’s McKinley High School, a 12-minute drive from the refinery, serves a student body that is about 80% Black and 85% poor. The school, which boasts famous alums such as rapper Kevin Gates, former NBA player Tyrus Thomas and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Gardner C. Taylor, holds a special place in the community, but it has been beset by violence and tragedy lately. Its football team quarterback, <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2709703-mckinley-high-school-qb-bryant-lee-fatally-shot-days-before-graduation">who was killed</a> days before graduation in 2017, was among at least four of McKinley’s students who <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/mckinley-high-student-shot-and-injured-near-baton-rouge-campus-school-placed-on-lockdown/article_f1025d24-2f07-11e9-9d4e-2789b90eae2f.html">have been shot</a> <a href="https://www.nola.com/archive/suspects-in-up-and-coming-baton-rouge-rappers-november-slaying-not-indicted-or-cleared/article_c18af908-164c-5c16-b871-55e7fbe3dbf8.html">or murdered</a> <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/he-played-tuba-baseball-at-mckinley-and-dreamed-of-college-a-shooting-cut-it-all/article_0f5fa014-9e73-11ec-941e-0f819ca7bca1.html">over the past six years</a>.</p>
<p>The experience is starkly different at some of the district’s more advantaged schools, including its magnet programs open to high-performing students.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black-and-white outline of Louisiana showing the parishes, with one, near the bottom right, filled in red" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575533/original/file-20240214-26-gvctzn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">East Baton Rouge Parish, marked in red, includes an Exxon Mobil Corp. campus and the city of Baton Rouge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Louisiana_highlighting_East_Baton_Rouge_Parish.svg">David Benbennick/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Baton Rouge is a tale of two cities, with some of the worst outcomes in the state for education, income and mortality, and some of the best outcomes. “It was only separated by sometimes a few blocks,” said Edgar Cage, the lead organizer for the advocacy group Together Baton Rouge. Cage, who grew up in the city when it was segregated by Jim Crow laws, said the root cause of that disparity was racism.</p>
<p>“Underserved kids don’t have a path forward” in East Baton Rouge public schools, Cage said.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://urbanleaguela.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/BR-Equity-Report-Online.pdf">2019 report</a> from the Urban League of Louisiana found that economically disadvantaged African American and Hispanic students are not provided equitable access to high-quality education opportunities. That has contributed to those students underperforming on standardized state assessments, such as the LEAP exam, being unprepared to advance to higher grades and being excluded from high-quality curricula and instruction, as well as the highest-performing schools and magnet schools.</p>
<p>“Baton Rouge is home to some of the highest performing schools in the state,” according to the report. “Yet the highest performing schools and schools that have selective admissions policies often exclude disadvantaged students and African American and Hispanic students.”</p>
<p>Dawn Collins, who served on the district’s school board from 2016 to 2022, said that with more funding, the district could provide more targeted interventions for students who were struggling academically or additional support to staff so they can better assist students with greater needs.</p>
<p>But for decades, Louisiana’s <a href="https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/business-incentives/industrial-tax-exemption">Industrial Ad Valorem Tax Exemption</a> <a href="https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/business-incentives/industrial-tax-exemption">Program</a>, or ITEP, allowed for 100% property tax exemptions for industrial manufacturing facilities, said Erin Hansen, the statewide policy analyst at Together Louisiana, a network of 250 religious and civic organizations across the state that advocates for grassroots issues, including tax fairness.</p>
<p>The ITEP program was created in the 1930s through a state constitutional amendment, allowing companies to bypass a public vote and get approval for the exemption through the governor-appointed <a href="https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/boards-reports-and-rules/louisiana-board-of-commerce-and-industry">Board of Commerce and Industry</a>, Hansen said. For over 80 years, that board approved nearly all applications that it received, she said.</p>
<p>Since 2000, Louisiana has granted a total of <a href="https://fastlaneng.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/public/reports">$35 billion in corporate property tax breaks</a> for 12,590 projects. </p>
<h2>Louisiana’s executive order</h2>
<p>A few efforts to reform the program over the years have largely failed. But in 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards <a href="https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/ExecutiveOrders/JBE16-26.pdf">signed an executive order</a> that slightly but importantly tweaked the system. On top of the state board vote, the order gave local taxing bodies – such as school boards, sheriffs and parish or city councils – the ability to vote on their own individual portions of the tax exemptions. And in 2019 the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/itep-critics-defeat-exxonmobil-tax-break-requests-at-school-board-here-are-next-steps/article_09cb2d54-1a68-11e9-a672-7f6ee09f1f74.html">exercised its power</a> to vote down an abatement.</p>
<p>Throughout the U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2022.2148171">school boards’ power over the tax abatements</a> that affect their budgets vary, and in some states, including Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey and South Carolina, school boards lack any formal ability to vote or comment on tax abatement deals that affect them.</p>
<p>Edwards’ executive order also capped the maximum exemption at 80% and tightened the rules so routine capital investments and maintenance were no longer eligible, Hansen said. A requirement concerning job creation was also put in place.</p>
<p>Concerned residents and activists, led by Together Louisiana and sister group Together Baton Rouge, rallied around the new rules and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/us/louisiana-itep-exxon-mobil.html">pushed back</a> against the billion-dollar corporation taking more tax money from the schools. In 2019, the campaign worked: the school board rejected a $2.9 million property tax break bid by Exxon Mobil.</p>
<p>After the decision, Exxon Mobil reportedly described the city as “<a href="https://www.businessreport.com/business/exxonmobil-calls-baton-rouge-unpredictable-for-investment-after-itep-requests-rejected">unpredictable</a>.”</p>
<p>However, members of the business community have continued to lobby for the tax breaks, and they have pushed back against further rejections. In fact, according to Hansen, loopholes were created during the rulemaking process around the governor’s executive order that allowed companies to weaken its effectiveness.</p>
<p>In total, <a href="https://fastlaneng.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/public/reports">223 Exxon Mobil projects</a> worth nearly $580 million in tax abatements have been granted in the state of Louisiana under the ITEP program since 2000.</p>
<p>“ITEP is needed to compete with other states – and, in ExxonMobil’s case, other countries,” according to Exxon Mobil spokesperson Lauren Kight.</p>
<p>She pointed out that Exxon Mobil is the largest property taxpayer for the EBR school system, paying more than $46 million in property taxes in EBR parish in 2022 and another $34 million in sales taxes.</p>
<p>A new ITEP contract won’t decrease this existing tax revenue, Kight added. “Losing out on future projects absolutely will.”</p>
<p>The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has continued to approve Exxon Mobil abatements, passing $46.9 million between 2020 and 2022. Between 2017 and 2023, the school district has lost $96.3 million.</p>
<p><iframe id="8PBGX" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8PBGX/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Taxes are highest when industrial buildings are first built. Industrial property comes onto the tax rolls at <a href="https://ascensionedc.com/local-incentives/#">40% to 50% of its original value</a> in Louisiana after the initial 10-year exemption, according to the Ascension Economic Development Corp.</p>
<p>Exxon Mobil received its latest tax exemption, $8.6 million over 10 years – an 80% break – in October 2023 for $250 million to install facilities at the Baton Rouge complex that purify isopropyl alcohol for microchip production and that create a new advanced recycling facility, allowing the company to address plastic waste. The project <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/la/ebrp/Board.nsf/files/CV7LXR562D7C/$file/ITEP-Exxon%20Mobil%20Corporation%2020230071-ITE%20Application.pdf">created zero new jobs</a>.</p>
<p>The school board <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Ry-veRlM4">approved it by a 7-2 vote</a> after a long and occasionally contentious board meeting.</p>
<p>“Does it make sense for Louisiana and other economically disadvantaged states to kind of compete with each other by providing tax incentives to mega corporations like Exxon Mobil?” said EBR School Board Vice President Patrick Martin, who voted for the abatement. “Probably, in a macro sense, it does not make a lot of sense. But it is the program that we have.”</p>
<p>Obviously, Exxon Mobil benefits, he said. “The company gets a benefit in reducing the property taxes that they would otherwise pay on their industrial activity that adds value to that property.” But the community benefits from the 20% of the property taxes that are not exempted, he said.</p>
<p>“I believe if we don’t pass it, over time the investments will not come and our district as a whole will have less money,” he added.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E-9hbVfhZRQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In 2022, a year when Exxon Mobil made a record $55.7 billion, the company asked for a 10-year, 80% property tax break from the cash-starved East Baton Rouge Parish school district. A lively debate ensued.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, the district’s budgetary woes are coming to a head. Bus drivers staged a sickout at the start of the school year, refusing to pick up students – in protest of low pay and not having buses equipped with air conditioning amid a heat wave. The district was forced to release students early, leaving kids stranded without a ride to school, before it acquiesced and provided the drivers and other staff <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/lost-class-time-due-to-baton-rouge-bus-crisis-to-be-made-up/article_f5666e24-4694-11ee-8f5d-87183159ce0e.html">one-time stipends</a> and purchased new buses with air conditioning.</p>
<p>The district also agreed to reestablish transfer points as a temporary response to the shortages. But that transfer-point plan has historically resulted in students riding on the bus for hours and occasionally missing breakfast when the bus arrives late, according to Angela Reams-Brown, president of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers. The district plans to purchase or lease over 160 buses and solve its bus driver shortage next year, but the plan could lead to <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/baton-rouge-school-bus-crisis-could-lead-to-budget-crisis/article_a24d6502-5fdb-11ee-ad9c-c378e2276bbf.html">a budget crisis</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.wafb.com/2023/06/20/program-aimed-help-teacher-shortage/">teacher shortage looms</a> as well, because the district is paying teachers below the regional average. At the school board meeting, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Ry-veRlM4">Laverne Simoneaux</a>, an ELL specialist at East Baton Rouge’s Woodlawn Elementary, said she was informed that her job was not guaranteed next year since she’s being paid through federal COVID-19 relief funds. By receiving tax exemptions, Exxon Mobil was taking money from her salary to deepen their pockets, she said.</p>
<p>A young student in the district told the school board that the money could provide better internet access or be used to hire someone to pick up the glass and barbed wire in the playground. But at least they have a playground – Hayden Crockett, a seventh grader at Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School, noted that his sister’s elementary school lacked one.</p>
<p>“If it wasn’t in the budget to fund playground equipment, how can it also be in the budget to give one of the most powerful corporations in the world a tax break?” Crockett said. “The math just ain’t mathing.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Wen worked for the nonprofit organization Good Jobs First from June 2019 to May 2022 where she helped collect tax abatement data. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Jensen has received funding from the John and Laura Arnold Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. He is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle McLean and Kevin Welner do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An estimated 95% of US cities provide economic development tax incentives to woo corporate investors, taking billions away from schools.Christine Wen, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, Texas A&M UniversityDanielle McLean, Freelance Reporter and Editor, The ConversationKevin Welner, Professor of Education Policy & Law; Director of the National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado BoulderNathan Jensen, Professor of Government, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148202023-12-01T13:41:00Z2023-12-01T13:41:00ZA First Amendment battle looms in Georgia, where the state is framing opposition to a police training complex as a criminal conspiracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560536/original/file-20231120-23-322rcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5216%2C3469&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bulldozed land at the planned site of a controversial police training facility, with Atlanta in the distance.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/section-of-bulldozed-land-is-seen-at-the-planned-site-of-a-news-photo/1246850758">Cheney Orr/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When does lawful protest become criminal activity? That question is at issue in Atlanta, where 57 people have been <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/dozens-indicted-on-georgia-racketeering-charges-related-to-stop-cop-city-movement-appear-in-court">indicted and arraigned on racketeering charges</a> for actions related to their protest against a planned police and firefighter training center that critics call “Cop City.” </p>
<p>Racketeering charges typically are reserved for people accused of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1200898062/rico-case-against-cop-city-protesters-in-atlanta-stirs-concerns-about-free-speec">conspiring toward a criminal goal</a>, such as members of organized crime networks or financiers engaged in insider trading. Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr is attempting to build an argument that seeking to stop construction of the police training facility – through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/05/cop-city-protesters-racketeering-charges-georgia">actions that include</a> organizing protests, occupying the construction site and vandalizing police cars and construction equipment – constitutes a “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1200898062/rico-case-against-cop-city-protesters-in-atlanta-stirs-concerns-about-free-speec">corrupt agreement” or shared criminal goal</a>. </p>
<p>The indictment’s justification is rooted in <a href="https://immigrationhistory.org/item/1903-anti-anarchist-legislation/">long-standing anti-anarchist sentiments within the U.S. government</a>. However, some civil rights organizations <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/rico-and-domestic-terrorism-charges-against-cop-city-activists-send-a-chilling-message">call this combination of charges unprecedented</a>. </p>
<p>As scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pWgCJMMAAAAJ&hl=en">environmental change</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David-Pellow-2">social justice</a>, we believe the charges seek to suppress typical acts of civil disobedience. They also target grassroots community organizing models and ideas rooted in the practice of mutual aid – people <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11909218/in-2020-mutual-aid-was-in-the-spotlight-how-are-organizers-holding-up-in-2022">organizing collective networks</a> in order to meet each other’s basic needs.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3MekiLV51Rs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The RICO indictment against ‘Cop City’ protesters describes the accused protesters as ‘militant anarchists.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘Stop Cop City’ movement</h2>
<p>“Cop City,” officially known as the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, was <a href="https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/cop-city-timeline/">first proposed in 2017</a>. The facility is expected to <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/14700/672">cost US$90 million</a> and is located on 85 acres of public land in the Weelaunee Forest, once home to the Indigenous Muscogee Creek peoples. The site is owned by the city of Atlanta but sits on <a href="https://decaturish.com/2022/09/cop-city-explained-a-look-at-the-ongoing-controversy-surrounding-police-training-center/">unincorporated land in DeKalb County</a>, just outside the city.</p>
<p>The opposition campaign has garnered support from activists and environmentalists who are concerned about <a href="https://theconversation.com/militarization-has-fostered-a-policing-culture-that-sets-up-protesters-as-the-enemy-139727">militarization of police forces</a> and potential threats to <a href="https://stopcop.city">the Black community</a>, as well as to <a href="https://defendtheatlantaforest.org">climate resilience</a> in Atlanta. </p>
<p>Members of <a href="https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/">Defend the Atlanta Forest</a>, a decentralized movement of grassroots groups and individuals, argue that the threatened forest provides essential ecological services – filtering rainwater, preventing flooding, providing habitat for wildlife and cooling the city in a time of climate change. </p>
<p>Activists have led protest marches, written letters to elected officials and <a href="https://www.copcityvote.com/updates">organized a referendum</a> for the public to decide the future of the property. Some have camped out in the Welaunee Forest – a method that radical environmental defense groups like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Earth-First">Earth First!</a> have used to <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/total-liberation">delay or prevent logging</a>. In one instance, activists reportedly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/atlanta-protests-cop-city-georgia-state-of-emergency-forest-defenders/">set construction equipment on fire</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CyeS2xhvy_r/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\u0026igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Authorities have responded with force. </p>
<p>In January 2023, police <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/13/1163272958/cop-city-protester-autopsy-manuel-paez-teran">fatally shot activist Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán</a>, who had been camping on the Cop City site for months. Authorities assert that Terán had shot and wounded a state trooper, while Terán’s family contends that they were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-charges-troopers-killing-cop-city-activist-manuel-paez-teran-georgia/">protesting peacefully</a>. </p>
<p>An independent autopsy concluded that Teran <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/04/20/atlanta-cop-city-protester-autopsy/">was shot 57 times</a> while <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/11/1162843992/cop-city-atlanta-activist-autopsy">sitting with hands raised</a>. A prosecutor opted <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-atlanta-activist-shot-no-charges-421f6fe392a9202523ea154b2ddabb7d">not to file charges</a> against state troopers involved in the shootout, calling their use of deadly force “objectively reasonable.” </p>
<p>Attorney General Carr <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/us/cop-city-atlanta-indictment.html">indicted 61 activists</a> on Sept. 5, 2023, under <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2021/title-16/chapter-14/">Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</a>, which is a <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/what-to-know-about-georgias-rico-law/3Y2PBKLHWFDMLKYFEURTHLBVZY/">broader version</a> of the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/rico-racketeer-influenced-and-corrupt-organizations-act-statute">1970 federal RICO law</a>. Three defendants have been charged with money laundering for <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/breaking-more-than-60-training-center-activists-named-in-rico-indictment/DQ6B6GHTAJAJRH4SLGIIBAMXR4/">transferring money to protesters</a> occupying the forest around the construction site, and five are charged with <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/breaking-more-than-60-training-center-activists-named-in-rico-indictment/DQ6B6GHTAJAJRH4SLGIIBAMXR4/">domestic terrorism and arson</a>. Some of the accused face up to 20 years in prison.</p>
<p>Clashes between protesters and police have continued. Protesters organized a march for Nov. 13 and were met by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/16/atlanta-police-cop-city-protest-grenades-snipers-terrorism">heavily armed police officers in riot gear</a>. When activists attempted to push past the officers, the police used <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/police-protesters-atlanta-clash-cop-city-rcna124956">tear gas and flash-bang grenades</a>. </p>
<h2>How does RICO apply?</h2>
<p>Georgia’s <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/GAOAG/2023/09/05/file_attachments/2604508/23SC189192%20-%20CRIMINAL%20INDICTMENT.pdf">109-page indictment</a> of “Cop City” protesters paints a broad – and, in our view, troubling – picture of the actions and beliefs that allegedly contributed to what it describes as a corrupt agreement.</p>
<p>The indictment cites the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">2020 killing of George Floyd</a> by Minneapolis Police as the event that sparked the “conspiracy.” It refers to the Atlanta-based movement as the Defend the Atlanta Forest “Enterprise” and <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/GAOAG/2023/09/05/file_attachments/2604508/23SC189192%20-%20CRIMINAL%20INDICTMENT.pdf">describes participants</a> as engaging with “anarchist” ideas and practices such as “collectivism, mutualism/mutual aid, and social solidarity.”</p>
<p>Protesters use these practices, the indictment asserts, to advance their goal of stopping construction of the training center. As evidence, it <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/GAOAG/2023/09/05/file_attachments/2604508/23SC189192%20-%20CRIMINAL%20INDICTMENT.pdf">cites examples</a>, including posting calls to action on online blogs, reimbursement for printed documents and transferring money to activists for materials such as camping gear, food, communications equipment and, in two instances, ammunition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a business suit speaking at a microphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560542/original/file-20231120-22-tq91hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr has filed a sweeping RICO indictment against dozens of activists protesting the planned police training site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2022Georgia-AttorneyGeneral/09a8169fb9aa43f8b2c5bbd6d424a13e/photo">AP Photo/John Amis, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Threatening First Amendment rights</h2>
<p>As we see it, these activists are being criminalized for their political beliefs and for engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment, such as exercising free speech. Throughout the indictment, the Georgia attorney general uses the term “anarchist,” we believe, as a synonym for “criminal.” </p>
<p>Such language echoes the Immigration Act of 1903, also known as the <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/total-liberation">Anarchist Exclusion Act</a>. This law targeted anarchists for exclusion from the U.S. solely based on their political beliefs. Section 2 of the law states that “anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of all governments or all forms of law, shall be <a href="https://immigrationhistory.org/item/1903-anti-anarchist-legislation/">excluded from admission into the United States</a>.” </p>
<p>This wording reflects a widespread view of anarchy as a state of violent disorder. In fact, however, many anarchist thinkers actually proposed to organize society on the basis of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/anarchism">voluntary cooperation</a>, without political institutions or hierarchical government. </p>
<p>Another, broader view of anarchy is that it is an ideology and practice of <a href="https://www.akpress.org/featured-products/black-dawn.html">organizing communities and society</a> in ways that confront any and all forms of oppression, including <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/total-liberation">oppression by government</a>. </p>
<p>Why would such a philosophy be deemed threatening? Consider recent U.S. history.</p>
<h2>The Black Panthers</h2>
<p>In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the federal government sought to repress and criminalize the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-shootout-between-black-panthers-and-law-enforcement-50-years-ago-matters-today-153632">Black Panther Party for Self Defense</a> as part of a covert and illegal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/COINTELPRO">counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO</a>. </p>
<p>The Black Panther Party created extensive <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/body-and-soul">community survival and mutual aid programs</a> for Black communities at a time of ongoing government neglect. Offerings included free access to medical and dental clinics, ambulance service and buses to visit friends and relatives in prison. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tCGA4TLaq8g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Black Panther Party organized dozens of social programs to directly meet local needs in underserved areas like New York’s South Bronx.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The Black Panthers’ <a href="https://www.history.com/news/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party">free breakfast for children program</a> fed thousands of children across the country. In Chicago, local police destroyed food the night before the program was set to begin operations. A memo by an FBI special agent called the program an attempt to “create an image of civility” and “assume community control,” thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00045600802683767">threatening the centralized authority</a> of the U.S. government. </p>
<p>Federal agencies relied mainly on covert tactics to surveil, infiltrate and discredit the Black Panther Party. Like the Cop City protesters, the Black Panthers also engaged in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-shootout-between-black-panthers-and-law-enforcement-50-years-ago-matters-today-153632">direct confrontations with police</a>.</p>
<p>However, we see the current use of RICO charges to address political activism and protest activities as a new tactic. </p>
<h2>Future implications</h2>
<p>In our research, we have explored how mutual aid groups establish networks of care and survival in the face of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2022.0104">climate change</a>. We expect mutual aid to become even more important for Black and Indigenous people of color as environmental disasters <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12986">become more frequent</a>.</p>
<p>From our perspective, efforts to stop Cop City demonstrate the interconnection between two critical issues: overpolicing of communities of color and climate change. We see Georgia’s RICO indictment as an attempt to repress social movement activity, using the state’s tools of legal interpretation and enforcement. </p>
<p>Criminalizing collectivism, mutual aid and social solidarity is particularly concerning for historically marginalized populations, who often rely on these tactics for survival. </p>
<p>Seeking to use the state’s political processes, organizers recently collected over 116,000 signatures supporting a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-04/-cop-city-referendum-aims-to-repeal-planned-atlanta-police-training-center">ballot referendum</a> that, if approved, would cancel the lease of the city-owned site for the training center.</p>
<p>However, Atlanta officials have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-cop-city-referendum-signatures-4b617a220807b6701c9f46745e4762c4">refused to verify those signatures</a> as they await a federal court ruling on whether the organizers missed a key deadline. Meanwhile, Atlanta is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-04/-cop-city-referendum-aims-to-repeal-planned-atlanta-police-training-center?sref=Hjm5biAW">already clearing land</a> for construction at the training site.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This isn’t the first time that US authorities have criminalized civil disobedience or framed grassroots organizing as a conspiracy.Rachel McKane, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Brandeis UniversityDavid Pellow, Department Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies and Director, Global Environmental Justice Project, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164822023-11-09T16:10:17Z2023-11-09T16:10:17ZState of Georgia using extreme legal measures to quell ‘Cop City’ dissenters<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/944f8901-89d9-4868-81fd-5d165b61996d?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>Earlier this week, nearly five dozen people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/06/atlanta-cop-city-police-protesters-charged-rico-law">appeared in a courtroom near Atlanta</a> to answer criminal racketeering and domestic terrorism charges brought against them by the state. The charges are related to what’s commonly known as “Cop City,” a $90-million paramilitary police and firefighter training facility planned for 85 acres of forest near Atlanta.</p>
<p>The Atlanta Police Association saw a need for such a facility at the start of the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprisings and started to fund raise. Many corporations have contributed to the plans for a world-class police training facility.</p>
<p>Georgia prosecutors are calling the demonstrators “militant anarchists.” But many of those charged say they were simply attending a rally or a concert in support of the <a href="https://www.stopcopcitysolidarity.org/">Stop Cop City movement</a>. </p>
<p>The protesters, their lawyers and their supporters, who rallied outside the court this week, say the government is using heavy-handed tactics to silence the movement. The <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/rico-racketeer-influenced-and-corrupt-organizations-act-statute">RICO charges</a> brought against the demonstrators essentially accuse them of being part of organized crime and carry a potential sentence of five to 20 years in prison. </p>
<p>Legal experts worry about the type of precedent this might set for our right to protest. It’s a case a lot of people are following nationally and internationally, for that reason.</p>
<p>In this week’s <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/state-of-georgia-using-extreme-legal-measures-to-quell-cop-city-dissenters"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> episode,</a> we speak with one of the leaders of the Stop Cop City movement. Kamau Franklin is a long-time community organizer and the founder of <a href="https://communitymovementbuilders.org/">Community Movement Builders</a>. He is also a lawyer — and was an attorney for 10 years in New York with his own practice in criminal, civil rights and transactional law. He now lives in Atlanta. </p>
<p>Also joining us is Zohra Ahmed, assistant professor of law at the University of Georgia. A former public defender in New York, she, too, has been watching this case closely. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“In 2020 when people were talking about…defunding the police …the state…instead of doing any of that, decided to double down here in Atlanta and bring forth the idea…of a Cop City, a large scale militarized police base meant to learn tactics and strategies on urban warfare, crowd control, civil disbursement which was meant to move against community organizers and activists. The idea of Cop City is that it’s not only going to train the police in Atlanta, but it’s going to train police across the state and across the country and have international connections…so that different policing agencies are learning similar tactics and strategies and exchanging ideas on how to suppress.
- Kamau Franklin</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arrests-of-3-members-of-an-atlanta-charitys-board-in-a-swat-team-raid-is-highly-unusual-and-could-be-unconstitutional-206984">Arrests of 3 members of an Atlanta charity's board in a SWAT-team raid is highly unusual and could be unconstitutional</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/students-demand-removal-of-mild-racist-from-georgia-landscape-140105">Students demand removal of 'mild racist' from Georgia landscape</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fortress-usa-how-9-11-produced-a-military-industrial-juggernaut-166102">'Fortress USA': How 9/11 produced a military industrial juggernaut</a>
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<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://btlbooks.com/book/disarm-defund-dismantle"><em>Disarm, Defund, Dismantle: Police Abolition in Canada</em></a>, edited by Shiri Pasternak, Kevin Walby and Abby Stadnyk</p>
<p><a href="https://www.akpress.org/practicing-new-worlds.html"><em>Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies</em></a>, by Andrea J. Ritchie</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-fight-against-cop-city/">"The Fight Against Cop City”</a> (<em>Dissent Magazine</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cop-city-indictment-atlanta/">“How Georgia Indicted a Movement”</a> (<em>The Nation</em> by Zohra Ahmed and Elizabeth Taxel)</p>
<p><a href="https://afsc.org/companies-and-foundations-behind-cop-city">The Companies and Foundations behind Cop City</a> (American Friends Service Committee)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jpost.com/israeli-news/article-711682">“Georgia State police return home after two-week Israeli training”</a> <em>(The Jerusalem Post)</em> </p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_mJBLBznANz6ID9rBCUk7gv_ZRC4Og9-">YouTube</a> or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Legal experts worry the “doubling down” on demonstrators who are opposed to the planned giant police training facility could undermine the right to protest.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientAteqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2114782023-10-26T12:32:45Z2023-10-26T12:32:45ZI studied 1 million home sales in metro Atlanta and found that Black families are being squeezed out of homeownership by corporate investors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554093/original/file-20231016-21-isn6c7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C32%2C5414%2C3026&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Corporate investors own nearly one-third of all single-family rental properties in Atlanta.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/atlanta-georgia-usa-downtown-skyline-aerial-royalty-free-image/1184733973">Kruck20/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the years since the Great Recession, when <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-recession-and-its-aftermath">housing prices dramatically fell</a>, Wall Street investors have been buying large numbers of single-family homes to use as rentals. As of 2022, big investment firms <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/profile-institutional-investor-owned-single-family-rental-properties">owned nearly 600,000 such properties nationwide</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter23/highlight1.html#title">Critics say</a> this practice drives up home prices and worsens the housing shortage, making it harder for families to afford to buy. Industry advocates <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3496390-providers-of-single-family-rental-homes-are-an-important-part-of-americas-housing-ecosystem/">dismiss such charges</a>, arguing that large investment firms own a tiny fraction of single-family rental housing across the U.S. – <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/profile-institutional-investor-owned-single-family-rental-properties">less than 4%</a> of the total.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cxLejGQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">professor of public policy at Georgia Tech</a>, I wanted to understand how this trend was affecting my neighbors. So I analyzed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231176072">more than 1 million property sales</a> in the Atlanta metropolitan area from 2007 to 2016. Since the study period included the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/subprime-mortgage-crisis">mortgage crisis</a>, I excluded bulk sales, such as the packages of
foreclosed homes, that aren’t available to typical homebuyers. I examined only <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/armslength.asp">arm’s-length transactions</a> of single-family detached homes, where buyers and sellers act independently. </p>
<p>I found that global investment firms buying up local properties are indeed hurting Atlanta families – specifically, Black ones. </p>
<h2>Neighborhood transformations</h2>
<p>In the period I studied, homeownership declined across the Atlanta metro area by <a href="https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/rates/tab6a_msa_05_2014_hmr.xlsx">more than 5 percentage points</a>, similar to a nationwide trend. For an average neighborhood, home purchasing by large corporate investors explained one-quarter of that decline. </p>
<p>But when I broke the analysis down by race, I found that Black families were hit much harder: Large investment firms buying up local properties explained fully three-quarters of the decline in African American homeownership. In contrast, non-Hispanic whites were largely unaffected. </p>
<p>It turns out that while Wall Street firms control just a sliver of the single-family rental market nationally, they can have much more influence at the local level. In the Atlanta metro area, these firms own nearly one-third of all single-family rental properties. They’re even more concentrated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2021/investors-rental-foreclosure">in predominantly Black neighborhoods</a>, where <a href="https://www.ajc.com/american-dream/investor-owned-houses-atlanta/">more than 10 houses in a row</a> can be owned by the same corporation.</p>
<p>In my study, I found that large investors tend to snap up housing in majority-nonwhite, lower-income suburban neighborhoods. This makes homebuying even more challenging for middle-class families of color, as they get <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter23/highlight1.html">pushed out of the bidding market</a> by global investors. </p>
<h2>Home is where the financial security is</h2>
<p>Homeownership has long been one of the main pathways for the American middle class to accumulate wealth. Despite this, the national homeownership rate declined <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N">by 5.5 percentage points</a> between 2007 and 2016, reaching a five-decade low of 62.9%. Although homeownership has rebounded somewhat since 2016, it remains below pre-2008 levels. </p>
<p>And who owns these homes is starkly divided by race. Between 2015 and 2019, more than 70% of white families owned a home, compared with <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/nearly-every-state-people-color-are-less-likely-own-homes-compared-white-households">just 41% of Black families</a>, according to an analysis by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. </p>
<p>To be sure, policies like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/racism-home-deeds.html">racial covenants</a>, <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663883/race-for-profit/">discriminatory mortgage lending practices</a> <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-color-of-law-a-forgotten-history-of-how-our-government-segregated-america/">and redlining</a> fueled low homeownership rates for Black Americans long before the Great Recession. But global investors’ growing control of single-family homes only widens existing racial gaps in homeownership and wealth.</p>
<h2>Directions for new research</h2>
<p>While my study focused on Atlanta, it’s not the only place where residents are <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter23/highlight1.html">competing with global investors</a> for housing. Investment firms’ single-family rental portfolios are largely <a href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/A%20Profile%20of%20Institutional%20Investor%E2%80%93Owned%20Single-Family%20Rental%20Properties.pdf">concentrated in Sun Belt metro areas</a>, including Phoenix, Charlotte and Jacksonville. It wouldn’t be surprising to see similar conflicts playing out in those cities. </p>
<p>Since my analysis stopped in 2016, I can’t be sure that Black Atlanta residents are still affected by Wall Street firms buying up housing. Many investment firms have recently been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/americas-biggest-landlords-cant-find-houses-to-buy-either-ea893213">switching from a buy-to-rent</a> business model to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/building-and-renting-single-family-homes-is-top-performing-investment-11636453800">build-to-rent model</a>, which could complicate matters.</p>
<p>In the meantime, while <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/how-institutional-landlords-are-changing-the-housing-market">residents and policymakers have claimed</a> that large corporations don’t invest in local communities, researchers lack robust evidence this is the case. Academics should study whether properties owned by institutional landlords are more likely to be <a href="https://www.ajc.com/american-dream/investor-owned-houses-atlanta/">poorly maintained</a> or have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/12/invitation-homes-corporate-landlord-permits/">code violations</a>, as anecdotal evidence suggests.</p>
<p>It’s also worth investigating whether big investment firms undermine local revenue collection by <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article277638663.html">serially filing property tax appeals</a>. </p>
<h2>An open-source tool for housing policy research</h2>
<p>It’s been hard for researchers to identify corporate-owned, single-family homes, since it requires proprietary real-estate data and labor-intensive number crunching. In a separate project, my colleagues and I have developed a <a href="https://repository.gatech.edu/entities/publication/472788f9-a5e6-4d9b-8238-422d20333bcb">simple, user-friendly methodology</a> that gets around such challenges with the use of open-source software and public tax parcel data. </p>
<p>Local governments and nonprofits can use our methodology to unveil all the corporate-owned residential properties in any neighborhood and link them to outcomes such as code violations. Using data-driven approaches like this is an important step toward developing policy solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Y. An does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Black would-be homeowners pay the price when big investors buy up the neighborhood.Brian Y. An, Director of Master of Science in Public Policy Program & Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069842023-06-08T12:28:26Z2023-06-08T12:28:26ZArrests of 3 members of an Atlanta charity’s board in a SWAT-team raid is highly unusual and could be unconstitutional<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530703/original/file-20230607-25-agnv47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=241%2C832%2C3681%2C1828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police arrested three people who have been aiding protesters at this Atlanta house in May 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PoliceTrainingCenterProtest/caa761ef730b4ca5bf425464dcd76304/photo?boardId=37be9465fcce45d283d5431cccb20a6a&st=boards&mediaType=audio,photo,video,graphic&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=356&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Kate Brumback</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On May 31, 2023, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/01/1179427542/atlanta-copy-city-arrests">Atlanta Police Department deployed a SWAT team</a> to arrest Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson. These three people weren’t fugitives from justice or drug kingpins, but rather volunteer <a href="https://atlpresscollective.com/2023/05/31/apd-gbi-raid-bail-fund-arrest-three-organizers/">board members of a local charity</a>.</p>
<p>The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then charged these trustees of the <a href="https://networkforstrongcommunities.org/">Network for Strong Communities Inc.</a> with <a href="https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2023-05-31/three-arrested-money-laundering-and-charity-fraud-atlanta">charity fraud and money laundering</a>.</p>
<p>Charges under <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-14/">Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act</a>, a very expansive state version of federal RICO laws, <a href="https://atlsolidarity.org/updates/">may also be pending</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Aos80cEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">charity expert</a> who researches <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-nonprofit-boards-need-to-do-to-protect-the-public-interest-188966">nonprofit governance</a>, I am struck by how unusual this scenario is.</p>
<p>This story strikes close to home for me as well. A friend of mine was arrested three months ago by the Atlanta police while attending a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/06/atlanta-georgia-cop-city-protest">related music festival</a> organized by the “Stop Cop City” protesters.</p>
<h2>What’s the charity?</h2>
<p><a href="https://networkforstrongcommunities.org/">Network for Strong Communities Inc.</a> was <a href="https://www.guidestar.org/profile/85-2889531">founded in 2020</a>. The Internal Revenue Service approved its application to operate as a <a href="https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/">public charity</a> under federal law, and the Georgia secretary of state’s office reports the <a href="https://ecorp.sos.ga.gov/BusinessSearch/BusinessInformation?businessId=3039913&amp;businessType=Domestic%20Nonprofit%20Corporation&amp;fromSearch=True%20%22%22">organization is in good standing</a>. An open records request I filed on June 5 with the Georgia secretary of state’s office returned only routine charity documents.</p>
<p>Among its community engagement activities, the network operates the <a href="https://atlsolidarity.org/">Atlanta Solidarity Fund</a>, which has, since 2016, provided local activists with legal support, including bail bonds and attorney fees. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-bail-funds-two-social-policy-experts-explain-182631">Bail funds</a> pool donated money to pay bail for people who can’t afford it. They help low-income people who are facing legal charges to avoid the economic hardship of pretrial detention.</p>
<p>There’s another charity with the same name based in Missouri, but the two organizations aren’t connected.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1663961599109890074"}"></div></p>
<h2>What is the organization doing?</h2>
<p>The Network for Strong Communities has provided legal assistance to dozens of people who have been arrested since 2022 during marches, demonstrations and other events opposing <a href="https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/06/06/heres-whats-next-future-atlanta-public-safety-training-center/">plans for the</a>
Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. That’s a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/us/atlanta-public-safety-training-center-plans-community/index.html">controversial facility under construction</a> in Atlanta’s largest urban forest.</p>
<p>A loose environmental and civil rights coalition calling itself <a href="https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/">Defend the Atlanta Forest</a> has spearheaded the actions, which stem from fears of police militarization and environmental harm. But concerns about the facility are <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/emory-poll-atlanta-residents-buckhead-city-cop-city-public-safety-training-center/85-4edd2e82-39f9-49f6-9b1a-c5c20489197d">widespread among city residents</a>. </p>
<p>Most of the environmental and civil rights activists objecting to the training center they call “Cop City” have used constitutionally protected tactics. But some have allegedly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/us/cop-city-explainer/index.html">committed criminal acts of sabotage</a>.</p>
<p>The protests have expanded and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65772507">garnered international attention</a> after <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/13/1163272958/cop-city-protester-autopsy-manuel-paez-teran">Manuel Esteban Paez Terán</a>, an environmental activist, was shot and killed by a Georgia State Patrol trooper in January 2023 during an encounter with law enforcement, as officers sought to clear protesters from the site.</p>
<p>Georgia has relied on its state <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-16/chapter-11/article-6/">domestic terrorism law</a> and an <a href="https://gov.georgia.gov/executive-action/executive-orders/2023">unusual state-of-emergency declaration</a> that Gov. Brian Kemp issued on Jan. 26, 2023, to jail the arrested activists and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/31/georgia-cop-city-activists-prosecutors">deny them bail</a> for extended periods. </p>
<p>But the three Network for Strong Communities <a href="https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-solidarity-fund-members-arrested-for-helping-protesters-granted-bail/">board members were released</a> only two days after their arrest. The judge in charge of <a href="https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-solidarity-fund-members-arrested-for-helping-protesters-granted-bail/">deciding on their bail expressed skepticism</a> about the strength of the state’s case. Their attorney has argued that the <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/trials/atlanta-solidarity-fund-organizers-charges-judge-grants-bond-atlanta-public-safety-training-center-cop-ctiy/85-8f4254bf-44f2-4da7-9123-9e08f9e901c2">charges are unconstitutional</a>.</p>
<p>The earlier <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/03/letter-calling-dropping-domestic-terrorism-charges-against-defend-atlanta-forest">arrests of more than 40 activists generated widespread concern</a> among human rights experts who challenged the absence of evidence and observed that the activists were also involved in constitutionally protected activities. </p>
<p>The Atlanta City Council approved the remainder of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-vote-atlanta-city-council-99e9dfbd5a3d83d2e564c34b7c61c686">US$90 million in funding for the training center</a> on June 6, over the objections of more than 350 Atlanta residents who stood in line for over 14 hours to publicly comment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=174%2C22%2C4886%2C3080&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people looking sad hold up a photo of a smiling man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=174%2C22%2C4886%2C3080&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530436/original/file-20230606-19-jmu61z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relatives of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, shown in a photo, embrace in March 2023, in Decatur, Ga. Terán was shot by Georgia State Police who were clearing a protest encampment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Police%20Training%20Center%20Protest/08463196b7dc4c2f947040e38039cbb8?Query=us%20ga%20cop%20city%20protest&mediaType=photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=17&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Alex Slitz</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Are these charity arrests unusual?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/charity-and-disaster-fraud">Charity fraud charges</a> can be lodged in any state when regulators suspect a charity is deliberately misleading the public about its activities. In this case, prosecutors claim the network’s <a href="https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2023-05-31/three-arrested-money-laundering-and-charity-fraud-atlanta">board members diverted charitable funds</a> for personal use and misled donors about activities. The <a href="https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-solidarity-fund-members-arrested-for-helping-protesters-granted-bail/">evidence relies mainly on financial and phone records</a> obtained under a search warrant and receipts for such items as gas and yard signs obtained from board members’ trash. </p>
<p>Georgia authorities have said the <a href="https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2023-05-31/three-arrested-money-laundering-and-charity-fraud-atlanta">money laundering charge</a> is based on evidence of a fund transfer to another organization, but they had not disclosed any details about this transaction by a week after the arrests. Network for Strong Communities makes <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYKT4Z0hRaJ/%20%22%22">grants to community groups</a>, which is routine for charities involved in community organizing.</p>
<p>Normally, <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/how-to-steal-from-a-nonprofit-who-does-it-and-how-to-prevent-it/">an employee tip or donor complaint initiates</a> a charity fraud investigation. Prosecutors claim donor complaints here but did not disclose details at the bail hearing. It’s also unusual for fraud charges to be applied without a full forensic investigation involving the Georgia secretary of state, who has this <a href="https://www.sos.ga.gov/charities-division-georgia-secretary-states-office">statutory authority</a>.</p>
<p>Even Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr, who is currently prosecuting this case, would <a href="https://law.georgia.gov/press-releases/2021-10-22/carr-warns-georgians-be-aware-fraudulent-charities">normally direct inquiries</a> by someone who suspects wrongdoing to the secretary of state’s office.</p>
<p>I can’t recall a SWAT team ever being involved in the prosecution of charity fraud charges. When I asked my fellow charity experts if they knew of a U.S. precedent, nobody did. </p>
<p><a href="https://nonprofitrisk.org/faq/may-board-members-reimbursed-expenses/">Charity leaders may legally reimburse</a> themselves for work-related expenses as long as they keep receipts and records and there are appropriate checks and balances in place. </p>
<p>U.S. charities also legitimately make payments to other entities to carry out their mission. Any transfer of funds would need to be mission-related and reported in mandatory annual filings with the Internal Revenue Service.</p>
<p>If found guilty, the three Network for Strong Communities board members could have to pay fines of more than $500,000 and <a href="https://atlpresscollective.com/2023/05/31/apd-gbi-raid-bail-fund-arrest-three-organizers/">spend up to two decades in prison</a>, according to the Atlanta Community Press Collective, a media outlet closely covering the story.</p>
<h2>What could happen next?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/federal-law-protects-nonprofit-advocacy-lobbying">free speech rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment</a> belong not just to individuals but also to institutions.</p>
<p>It is not a violation of anti-racketeering law to communicate among organizers to coordinate legitimate charitable work. And despite the astonishing claim by Georgia Deputy Attorney General John Fowler that these arrests could be justified because the board members “<a href="https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-solidarity-fund-members-arrested-for-helping-protesters-granted-bail/">harbor extremist anti-government and anti-establishment views</a>,” a charity leader’s political viewpoints are protected free speech, as are those of all Americans.</p>
<p>If past history is any guide, and unless the evidence becomes more compelling, I believe that these charges will be dropped. Calls to end such prosecutorial overreach will mount, and legal observers have already called for a <a href="https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/6.2.2023-Statement-on-Cop-City-Arrests.pdf">federal investigation</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206984/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>One of the Cop City protesters is a personal friend of Beth Gazley and somebody who has benefited from the legal assistance of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund.</span></em></p>Georgia authorities have filed charges against Network for Strong Communities trustees. The nonprofit opposes the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which protesters call ‘Cop City.’Beth Gazley, Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932042023-01-25T13:24:55Z2023-01-25T13:24:55ZAtlanta’s BeltLine shows how urban parks can drive ‘green gentrification’ if cities don’t think about affordable housing at the start<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505972/original/file-20230123-3880-1m5d4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5409%2C3187&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pedestrian walking along the BeltLine in Atlanta on Feb. 17, 2016, passes townhomes under construction. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MortgageRates/85b0bf9c6bc94185a45205a672d7e70c/photo">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is Atlanta a good place to live? Recent rankings certainly say so. In September 2022, Money magazine rated Atlanta the <a href="https://money.com/atlanta-georgia-best-places-to-live-2022/">best place to live in the U.S.</a>, based on its strong labor market and job growth. The National Association of Realtors calls it the <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/10-housing-markets-expected-to-lead-the-nation-in-2023">top housing market to watch in 2023</a>, noting that Atlanta’s housing prices are lower than those in comparable cities and that it has a rapidly growing population. </p>
<p>But this is only part of the story. My new book, “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520387645/red-hot-city">Red Hot City: Housing, Race, and Exclusion in Twenty-First Century Atlanta</a>,” takes a deep dive into the last three decades of housing, race and development in metropolitan Atlanta. As it shows, planning and policy decisions here have promoted a heavily racialized version of gentrification that has excluded lower-income, predominantly Black residents from sharing in the city’s growth.</p>
<p>One key driver of this division is the <a href="https://beltline.org/">Atlanta BeltLine</a>, a 22-mile (35-kilometer) loop of multiuse trails with nearby apartments, restaurants and retail stores, built on a former railway corridor around Atlanta’s core. Although the BeltLine was designed to connect Atlantans and improve their quality of life, it has driven up housing costs on nearby land and pushed low-income households out to suburbs with fewer services than downtown neighborhoods. </p>
<p>The BeltLine has become a prime example of what urban scholars call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31572-1">green gentrification</a>” – a process in which restoring degraded urban areas by adding green features drives up housing prices and pushes out working-class residents. If cities fail to prepare for these effects, gentrification and displacement can transform lower-income neighborhoods into areas of concentrated affluence rather than thriving, diverse communities. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This promotional video from Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. describes the project’s emphasis on increasing Atlantans’ access to green spaces.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The U.S. currently faces a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/realestate/housing-market-prices-interest-rates.html">nationwide housing affordabilty crisis</a>. Many factors have contributed to it, but as an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YpAWsOMAAAAJ&hl=en">urban studies scholar</a>, I believe it is important to learn from Atlanta’s experience. </p>
<h2>No more Black majority</h2>
<p>U.S. cities generally are diverse places, and many of them are becoming more so. But the city of Atlanta is going <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-01-22/measuring-racial-and-ethnic-diversity-in-americas-cities">in the opposite direction</a>: It’s becoming wealthier and more white. </p>
<p>In 1990, 67% of the city’s residents were Black; by 2019, that share had fallen to 48%. At the same time, the share of adults with a college degree rose from 27% to more than 56%. Median income in the city increased from 60% of the median income of the <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/population-in-atlanta-how-large-is-metro-atlanta/DMC7A3RM7JCPRK57GBTOI5RBII/">much larger Atlanta metropolitan area</a> to 110%. Median family income in the city in 2021 dollars nearly doubled, rising from approximately $50,000 to $96,000. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing the BeltLine's position within the City of Atlanta." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506140/original/file-20230124-24-b9m9ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=885&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atlanta’s BeltLine surrounds the city’s downtown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Immergluck</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The most rapid gentrification occurred from 2011 onward, after the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/foreclosure-crisis.asp">2008-2010 foreclosure crisis</a>. Globally, urban scholars call this period one of “<a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/metro-policy/upload/contextualizing-gentrification-chaos.pdf">fifth-wave” gentrification</a>, in which a large increase in rental demand triggered speculation in rental real estate that drove up housing costs. </p>
<p>In Atlanta, this was when the BeltLine really hit its stride after being proposed in the early 2000s and formally adopted as a <a href="https://beltline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Redevelopment-Area-and-Tax-Allocation-District-Creation-Legislation.pdf">tax increment financing district</a>, or TIF, in 2005. In these districts, anticipated increases in property tax revenues are used to front-fund development projects. No urban development project in metro Atlanta – and perhaps in the entire country – has been more transformative.</p>
<h2>Driving gentrification and displacement</h2>
<p>Even before the BeltLine TIF district was adopted, boosters, developers, consultants and many city officials began touting the benefits of a proposed public-private partnership that could remake large parts of the city. Shortly after the special taxing district for the project was formally adopted, the city of Atlanta created an affiliated nonprofit, <a href="https://beltline.org/organizer/atlanta-beltline-inc/">Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.</a>, to implement and manage the BeltLine. </p>
<p>In 2004, Yale architect <a href="https://www.architecture.yale.edu/about-the-school/news/in-memoriam-alexander-garvin">Alexander Garvin</a> published a report called “<a href="https://beltline.org/wp-content/uploads/2004/12/The-BeltLine-Emerald-Necklace-Study_Alex-Garvin-Associates-Inc..pdf">The BeltLine Emerald Necklace: Atlanta’s New Public Realm</a>.” “The BeltLine’s future users are an attractive market,” Garvin wrote. “Early word of the project has already accelerated real estate values.” In 2005, one developer called the BeltLine the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2O19EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=the+%E2%80%9Cmost+exciting+real+estate+project+since+Sherman+burned+Atlanta.%E2%80%9D">most exciting real estate project since Sherman burned Atlanta</a>.” </p>
<p>Many neighborhoods that the BeltLine runs through, especially on the south and west sides of the city, had experienced decades of disinvestment and were predominantly Black and lower-income. But boosters weren’t worried about investors and speculators buying up land near the BeltLine, and didn’t prepare for displacement and exclusion. Garvin’s report did not mention the terms “affordable,” “gentrification,” “lower-income” or “low-income.” </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://saportakinsta.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/immergluck-2007.pdf">2007 study</a> for the community group <a href="https://www.georgiastandup.org/">Georgia Stand-Up</a>, I found that property values were increasing much faster near the BeltLine than in areas farther from it. This meant that property taxes rose for many lower-income homeowners, and landlords of rental properties were likely to raise rents in response. This process directly displaced lower-income families and made many areas around the BeltLine unaffordable for them.</p>
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<p>The BeltLine TIF ordinance included some provisions for funding affordable housing, but as I show in my book, they were fundamentally insufficient and flawed. The BeltLine was the work of a coalition, including core members of Atlanta’s traditional “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bEITAAAAYAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Stone+Atlanta+Urban+Regime&ots=mg2iyVlGu4&sig=vICy3M8GI88SfGLDUCQgSZH82u4#v=onepage&q=Stone%20Atlanta%20Urban%20Regime&f=false">urban regime</a>” – elected officials and the downtown business elite. Their vision produced a wealthier, whiter city population. </p>
<h2>Noninclusive growth</h2>
<p>Rather than focusing on securing land for affordable housing when values were low, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. prioritized building trails and parks. These features helped boost property values, accelerating gentrification and displacement.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/subprime-mortgage-crisis">subprime mortgage crisis</a> in 2007-2010, foreclosures put pressure on housing markets. Atlanta lost about 7,000 low-cost rental units from 2010 to 2019. Meanwhile, construction of new, pricier apartments boomed: Permits were issued for more than 37,000 units over roughly the same period. </p>
<p>By my calculation, Atlanta’s job market exploded from 330,000 jobs in 2011 to over 437,000 jobs by 2019. Companies like Google, Honeywell and Microsoft moved in, often with city and state subsidies. Many new jobs paid over $100,000 per year and went to young, highly skilled workers, driving up housing demand. </p>
<p>In 2017 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a high-profile <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/how-the-atlanta-beltline-broke-its-promise-affordable-housing/0VXnu1BlYC0IbA9U4u2CEM/">investigative series</a> documenting that the BeltLine had produced just 600 units of affordable housing in 11 years – far off the pace required to meet its target of 5,600 by 2030. Some of these units had been resold to high-income households. Soon afterward, <a href="https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2017/08/23/atlanta-beltline-ceo-stepping/">the CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. resigned</a>. </p>
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<p>That year, a student and I redid my 2007 study on home values around the BeltLine. Once again, we found that during the years we examined – this time, from 2011 to 2015 – home prices near the BeltLine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2017.1360041">rose much faster than in areas farther from it</a>. The BeltLine was certainly not the only cause of gentrification and racial exclusion in Atlanta, but it was a key contributor. </p>
<p>Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. has increased its affordable housing activity in recent years, and in late 2020, it initiated a program to pay the increased property taxes of legacy residents. However, by this point in the BeltLine’s existence, displacement prevention efforts may be too little, too late. By May 2021, only 128 homeowners had applied for the program. <a href="https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/the-atlanta-beltline-wants-to-prevent-displacement-of-longtime-residents">Just 21 had received assistance</a>.</p>
<h2>Putting affordability first</h2>
<p>What can other cities learn from Atlanta’s experience? In my view, the most important takeaway is the importance of <a href="https://shelterforce.org/2017/09/01/sustainable-large-scale-sustainable-urban-development-projects-environmental-gentrification/">front-loading affordable housing efforts</a> in connection with major redevelopment projects.</p>
<p>This means assembling and banking nearby land as early as possible to be used later for affordable housing. Cities also should limit property tax increases for low-income homeowners and for property owners who agree to keep a substantial portion of their rental units affordable. They might offer low-cost, long-term financing to existing lower-cost rental properties – again, in exchange for keeping rent affordable. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CnmdW01MPTG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/09/headway/anacostia-bridge.html">Some large-scale urban redevelopment projects</a>, such as the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, seem to be making serious efforts to <a href="https://create.umn.edu/toolkit/">anticipate and mitigate gentrification and displacement</a>. I hope that more cities will follow this lead before undertaking “transformative” projects.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193204/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Immergluck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A longtime critic of Atlanta’s BeltLine explains how the popular network of parks has increased inequality in the city and driven out lower-income residents.Dan Immergluck, Professor of Urban Studies, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1816622022-04-25T12:12:24Z2022-04-25T12:12:24ZThe Cleveland Indians changed their team name – what’s holding back the Atlanta Braves?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459145/original/file-20220421-24-ondbdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C8%2C2977%2C1854&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Atlanta Braves fans perform the 'tomahawk chop' during a playoff game in 2004.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fans-of-the-atlanta-braves-do-the-tomahawk-chop-during-news-photo/51433584?adppopup=true"> Streeter Lecka/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 1995, as the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves prepared to <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1995_WS.shtml">face off in the World Series</a>, a group of Native Americans rallied outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to protest what they called both teams’ racist names and mascots. Some protesters carried signs, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1995/10/22/protesters-single-out-nicknames/5ca89d46-0ecb-46b3-a979-fbe6fa497af6/">including one that said</a>, “Human beings as mascots is not politically incorrect. It is morally wrong.”</p>
<p>They marched outside the ballpark, where some vendors were selling the foam tomahawks that Braves fans wave during the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGuChxSvuh8">tomahawk chop</a>” – a cheer in which they mimic a Native American war chant while making a hammering motion with their arms. </p>
<p>It wasn’t until 2018 that the Indians <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22255143/cleveland-indians-removing-chief-wahoo-logo-uniforms">officially removed their logo</a>, a cartoonish Native American named Chief Wahoo, from their merchandise, banners and ballpark. In 2020 the owners agreed to change the Indians name itself. For the 2022 season, <a href="https://www.nbc15.com/2021/07/23/meet-guardians-cleveland-indians-announce-new-nickname/">they would begin using the new name</a>, the Guardians.</p>
<p>The Atlanta Braves’ owners, however, have dug in their heels, refusing to replace a name that many Americans – including Native Americans – find offensive and derogatory.</p>
<p>In July 2020 – in the midst of the nationwide protests around racism, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police – <a href="https://wamu.org/story/20/07/11/the-racial-justice-reckoning-over-sports-team-names-is-spreading/">some Atlanta fans again urged the team to change its name</a>. In response, the Braves’ brass <a href="https://twitter.com/uniwatch/status/1282360397195075585?lang=en">sent a letter</a> to season ticket holders, insisting, “We will always be the Atlanta Braves.”</p>
<p>The insistence on preserving the team name – along with fan traditions like the tomahawk chop – is even more glaring given the city’s links to the civil rights movement.</p>
<h2>The road to Atlanta</h2>
<p>For many years, NFL football team owner Dan Snyder refused to change the name of his Washington Redskins – perhaps one of the more egregiously racist team names in any sport. But in 2020 <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/timeline-washington-football-teams-name-change-saga">he finally relented</a>, yielding to pressure from investors and corporate sponsors. The team played as the Washington Football Team for two seasons <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/06/1078571919/washington-commanders-name-change-native-americans">before becoming the Commanders</a> this year.</p>
<p>However, when professional sports teams do change their names, <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/pro-sports-teams-changed-their-name-without-changing-cities">it’s usually done for marketing reasons</a> rather than social ones. </p>
<p>The NFL’s Tennessee Oilers rebranded themselves the Tennessee Titans in 1999, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and the New Orleans Hornets turned into the Pelicans in 2013.</p>
<p>The Braves have had their own merry-go-round with team names.</p>
<p>The story begins in 1876, when Boston’s professional baseball team was known as the Red Stockings. In 1883, they became the Beaneaters and kept that name until 1907, when new owner <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1909/06/20/archives/baseball-president-dead-george-dovey-of-boston-passes-away-on-a.html">George Dovey</a> changed it to the Doves, a tribute to himself. In 1911, William Russell bought the team and renamed it <a href="https://www.baseball-almanac.com/mgrtmab7.shtml">the Rustlers</a>, also after himself. But a year later, James Gaffney, a New York City alderman, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/26/opinion/l-what-atlanta-braves-share-with-boss-tweed-980393.html">purchased the team</a>. </p>
<p>Gaffney was part of Tammany Hall, a New York City political club named after <a href="https://www.ustwp.org/government/boards-commissions/historical-advisory-board/chief-tamanend/">Tamanend</a>, a Delaware Indian chief. Tammany Hall used a Native American wearing a headdress <a href="https://bkskarch.com/2020/11/17/go-inside-the-new-glass-dome-atop-union-squares-tammany-hall/">as its emblem</a> and <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/atlanta-braves-team-name-origin">referred to its members</a> as “braves.” So Gaffney gave his team a new moniker. From thenceforth they would be known as the Boston Braves. </p>
<p>In 1935, <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bob-quinn/">Bob Quinn</a> purchased the Braves after a season in which they sported the worst record in baseball: <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BSN/1935.shtml">38 wins and 115 losses</a>. Hoping to give the team a fresh start, he renamed it the <a href="https://massachusettsbaseballhistory.com/2021/04/08/bostons-original-blue-and-yellow-team/">Boston Bees</a>, but the team continued to perform poorly. In 1940, construction magnate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/17/archives/lou-perini-owner-who-took-braves-to-milwaukee-is-dead.html">Lou Perini</a> bought the team and changed the name back to the Braves. </p>
<p>In 1953, Perini moved the Braves to Milwaukee – the first team relocation since 1903. Nine years later, he sold the Braves to some Chicago investors led by <a href="https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/former-braves-owner-bill-bartholomay-who-moved-team-atlanta-dies/B43tnVnOAgQbjNhi3ptEGN/">William Bartholomay</a>, who quickly began looking to move the team to a larger television market. </p>
<h2>A commitment to improving race relations</h2>
<p>Atlanta Mayor <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/ivan-allen-jr-1911-2003/">Ivan Allen Jr.</a> courted Bartholomay. To lure the team, he persuaded Fulton County to build Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium <a href="https://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/tih-georgia-day/atlanta-fulton-county-stadium">for US$18 million</a> – equal to $161 million today.</p>
<p>But Hank Aaron, the Braves’ biggest star, was reluctant to move to Atlanta. </p>
<p>Although it promoted itself as an enlightened place – the city had recently rebranded itself as “<a href="https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/ivan_allen.htm">The City Too Busy to Hate</a>” – Atlanta <a href="https://www.facingsouth.org/2015/05/the-most-racially-segregated-cities-in-the-south.html">was still highly segregated</a>. It was the capital of a state represented by segregationist politicians such as long-serving Sens. <a href="https://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/%7Ebloevy/toEndAllSegregation/ToEndAllSegregation-008.pdf">Richard Russell</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/22/us/herman-talmadge-georgia-senator-and-governor-dies-at-88.html">Herman Talmadge</a>. Aaron, a native of Mobile, Alabama, had no interest in returning to the Deep South racism of his birthplace. </p>
<p>The NAACP and Urban League asked Aaron to give the South a second chance. <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6015125">Aaron met with Martin Luther King Jr.</a>, who convinced him that bringing the Braves to Atlanta would help the civil rights cause.</p>
<p>Before he would agree to join the Braves in Atlanta, however, Aaron insisted that Fulton County Stadium seating and facilities be desegregated. Mayor Allen shared that view. <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6015125">The city and the Braves complied</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man wearing blue baseball jersey sits in a dugout bench." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459137/original/file-20220421-12-x61miq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Slugger Hank Aaron went along with the team to Atlanta only after some lobbying from Martin Luther King Jr.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/outfielder-hank-aaron-of-the-atlanta-braves-relaxes-in-the-news-photo/51455615?adppopup=true">Focus on Sport via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jimmy Carter, who served as Georgia’s governor from 1971 to 1975 before being elected president, <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6015125">recalled that</a> having a major league team in Atlanta “gave us the opportunity to be known for something that wasn’t going to be a national embarrassment.” Carter said that Aaron “was the first Black man that white fans in the South cheered for.” </p>
<h2>The chief and the chop</h2>
<p>As the Braves worked to mend relations with the city’s Black community, they didn’t seem to consider how their marketing efforts might offend Native Americans. </p>
<p>In 1966, the year the Braves moved to Atlanta, the team adopted a mascot, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/whatever-happened-chief-noc-homa-levi-walker/ZoBlkrVjEyQbfa85BZbs8H/">Chief Noc-A-Homa</a>, who danced around a teepee behind the left field fence dressed in Native American garb and occasionally performed on the field.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man in Native American garb spreads his arms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459134/original/file-20220421-25-phqaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Atlanta Braves retired mascot Chief Noc-a-Homa in 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-1983-file-photo-of-chief-noc-a-homa-the-atlanta-braves-news-photo/838580900?adppopup=true">Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under public pressure, <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1986/01/19/571286.html?pageNumber=352">the team abandoned</a> Chief Noc-A-Homa in 1985. But a few years later, Braves organist Carolyn King started playing the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOs0m3wTBY">tomahawk song</a>”
before Braves batters stepped up to the plate. By 1991, the fans had fully adopted the chop.</p>
<p>Today, many fans – not to mention many Native Americans – cringe at the music and the chop. To them, it reflects a stereotypical image of Native Americans as violent and uncivilized, <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/10/native-american-writers-urge-industry-to-make-amends-for-stereotypical-portrayals-inadequate-representation-1234595944/">similar to those</a> that appeared <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442229624/Native-Americans-on-Network-TV-Stereotypes-Myths-and-the-">on TV</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/481668">in movies</a> for many years. </p>
<p>In 2019, Ryan Helsley, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and a member of the Cherokee Nation, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/10/05/cardinals-pitcher-calls-braves-tomahawk-chop-disappointing-disrespectful/">took issue with the tomahawk chop</a> after pitching against the Braves.</p>
<p>“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general. Just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual,” Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p>
<p>“They are a lot more than that,” he said. “It devalues us and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots.” </p>
<h2>A name that honors the region’s history</h2>
<p>The Braves are now owned by Liberty Media Corp., a $17 billion conglomerate controlled by Chair John C. Malone, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/john-malone/?sh=529309001505">who is personally worth $7.5 billion</a>. Only pressure from the Braves’ corporate sponsors, fans, other teams, and even some players will likely push Malone to make a change. </p>
<p>After Aaron died last year, <a href="https://www.11alive.com/article/sports/mlb/atlanta-braves/atlanta-braves-name-change-hammers-hank-aaron/85-bc8ad39e-0199-4729-a024-0ea180929896">some Braves fans urged the owners</a> to change the name to the “Hammers” to honor the slugger who was nicknamed “Hammerin’ Hank” or just “The Hammer.” His boosters pointed out that it would be simple to put a hammer in place of the tomahawk, which now adorns all Braves uniforms and the team logo. Some version of the cheer could even remain, but with hammers, not tomahawks. </p>
<p>But I’d like to suggest a team name that would make an even bigger statement: the Atlanta Kings, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. King grew up in Atlanta, attended Morehouse College, and spent most of his adult life there. His childhood home, the church he served as minister and the King Center, an educational nonprofit, are all located in Atlanta.</p>
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<p>King understood the importance of baseball in American culture. He befriended and <a href="https://theconversation.com/jackie-robinson-was-a-radical-dont-listen-to-the-sanitized-version-of-history-179732">worked closely with Jackie Robinson during the civil rights movement</a>. And he helped bring the team to Atlanta.</p>
<p>I think it would be fitting for the Braves to become the Kings and replace the tomahawk with a crown. Or, in the spirit of inclusion, the team could be rechristened as the Atlanta Hammer Kings. And the team could adopt Pete Seeger’s easy-to-sing “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO39e5Uznu4">If I Had a Hammer</a>” as its theme song.</p>
<p>All it would take is some political courage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Dreier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The insistence on preserving the team name – along with fan traditions like the ‘tomahawk chop’ – is even more glaring given the city’s links to the civil rights movement.Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1586842021-04-12T12:26:22Z2021-04-12T12:26:22ZMLB’s decision to drop Atlanta highlights the economic power companies can wield over lawmakers – when they choose to<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394383/original/file-20210411-23-144w1vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=226%2C40%2C3650%2C2139&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The logos may have been printed too soon.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BravesRaysSpringBaseball/6c97f19ba096459d8e8201c9ce22deee/photo?Query=atlanta%20AND%20braves&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=70594&currentItemNo=41">AP Photo/John Bazemore</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Major League Baseball knows how to exert leverage over local lawmakers. </p>
<p>Over 100 companies, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/business/delta-coca-cola-georgia-voting-law.html">Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/business/voting-restrictions-ceo-letter/index.html">reacted to Georgia’s new restrictive voting law</a> by publicly denouncing it. While <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/11/companies-voting-bills-states/">some executives are discussing doing more</a> – such as halting donations or delaying investments, MLB is among the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/business/will-smith-emancipation-georgia.html">few organizations</a> to go beyond words: It immediately said it was going to move the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.</p>
<p>Both MLB’s decision to relocate the July 13 game and the many corporate press releases issued about the voting law drew a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/01/business/stock-market-today">swift rebuke from Republicans</a>, who vowed boycotts of baseball and the products these companies produce. The Senate minority leader even threatened retribution if companies didn’t stay out of politics – with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-warns-corporate-america-stay-out-politics-says-donations-are-n1263173">an exception for campaign contributions</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CvMhCIgAAAAJ&hl=en">corporate governance scholar</a>, I have studied how corporations <a href="https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=vlr">use their economic power to get what they want</a> from lawmakers. I believe Republicans’ angry reactions signal just how deeply concerned they are that other companies might follow MLB’s lead.</p>
<h2>The nature of corporate power</h2>
<p>To help understand why, consider this: MLB’s decision <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/03/us/mlb-all-star-game-relocation-lost-money-economic-impact/index.html">is estimated to cost</a> Georgia as much as US$100 million in lost economic activity. </p>
<p>Corporations understand that the jobs and tax revenue they can provide – or withhold – give them power at the negotiating table. Other <a href="https://www.georgia.org/international/investment">states are all competing</a> for the same investments. Tesla, for example, agreed to build a factory near Reno, Nevada, in 2014 in exchange for <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/inside-elon-musks-billion-dollar-gigafactory/">$1.4 billion</a> in state benefits after a bidding war. </p>
<p>National Football League teams have been <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-la-leverage-city-20150107-story.html">especially ruthless</a> in their negotiations with cities and states and have demanded hefty taxpayer subsidies for new stadiums. By threatening to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/">move to another city</a>, team owners can extract hundreds of millions of dollars in new benefits. </p>
<p>The dynamic is easy to understand. State lawmakers usually <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-American-Democracy-Automobile-Industry/dp/0521631734">cater to corporations</a> because they want to attract business investment and keep it. </p>
<p>When corporations leave, <a href="https://slate.com/business/2017/06/something-is-wrong-with-connecticut.html">they can cause property values to stagnate</a> and tax revenue to plunge – as happened to Hartford, Connecticut, a few years ago after several large insurance companies abandoned the city.</p>
<p>How corporations use their leverage is up to them. They can seek to feed their bottom lines or to advance social causes. Traditionally it’s the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190215514.001.0001">former</a>. For example, many U.S. companies <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/01/03/how-corporate-lobbying-changed-the-2017-tax-overhaul/">lobbied for a $1 trillion corporate tax cut</a> in 2017. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-ceos-found-their-political-voice-83127">increasingly it’s the latter too</a>.</p>
<h2>A rise in corporate social activism</h2>
<p>In 2015, the threat of corporate boycotts caused then-Gov. Mike Pence to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/indiana-republicans-were-warned-about-their-anti-gay-bill">support changing</a> an Indiana law that would otherwise have allowed <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/03/29/396131254/indiana-governor-lawmakers-to-clarify-anti-gay-law">anti-gay discrimination</a> in the name of religious freedom. </p>
<p>Something similar happened in 2016 when Georgia’s governor bowed to corporate pressure and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/03/28/georgia-governor-to-veto-religious-freedom-bill-criticized-as-anti-gay/">vetoed a bill</a> that would have legalized discrimination against same-sex couples on religious grounds.</p>
<p>And again in 2017, North Carolina <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/30/522009335/north-carolina-lawmakers-governor-announce-compromise-to-repeal-bathroom-bill">partially repealed</a> a law that targeted transgender people over concerns that boycotts – such as by PayPal, the NCAA and former Beatle Ringo Starr – <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html">would cost the state $3.76 billion</a> over a dozen years. </p>
<p>Those boycotts, of course, did not <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/the-problem-with-boycotting-georgia.html">end efforts</a> to restrict LGBTQ rights at the state level, but they demonstrated that when corporations band together, they are capable of exerting enormous economic and political pressure to advance social causes. </p>
<p>And that possibility is likely on the minds of Georgia lawmakers following the MLB’s All-Star Game decision. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rain falls onto Truist Park in Atlanta Georgia, where the Braves play baseball, as a tarp covers the infield" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca-Cola and Delta, their corporate logos seen here overlooking Truist Park in Atlanta, are major employers in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MarlinsBravesBaseball/3f0f083745064124b374c5608441b5dd/photo?Query=Truist%20AND%20Park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=250&currentItemNo=17">AP Photo/John Bazemore</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Words and deeds</h2>
<p>Despite the apparent leverage companies yield, it’s not simple for most companies to just get up and leave.</p>
<p>For example, Delta – whose largest hub is in Atlanta – benefits from a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/01/politics/georgia-voting-law-house-delta-tax-breaks/index.html">tax break</a> on jet fuel. And Coca-Cola’s <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history">ties to Georgia are deep and long-standing</a>, dating back to a soda fountain in Atlanta in 1886. Companies don’t sever such ties or give up generous tax breaks easily – and neither Delta nor Coke has even suggested that it might.</p>
<p>But if the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/01/983450176/based-on-a-lie-georgia-voting-law-faces-wave-of-corporate-backlash">many companies that publicly objected</a> to the law want to have an impact on policy – and see the law changed or repealed – money has to be at stake, as I learned in <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=3029506">my own research</a> on how North Carolina changed its 2015 law only after companies began boycotting the state. Delta and Coca-Cola employ <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2020/12/17/coca-cola-job-cuts-atlanta-restructuring.html">thousands of people</a> and generate <a href="https://news.delta.com/deltas-economic-impact-metro-atlanta-georgia">billions of dollars in economic activity</a> in the state. That’s serious leverage they could use if they felt the voting rights issue was important enough. </p>
<p>Words and press releases alone usually aren’t enough. </p>
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<h2>Making a difference</h2>
<p>Ultimately, this threat of lost business is what makes corporations a formidable adversary. The question, then, is what it would take for them to leave Georgia.</p>
<p>Without knowing MLB’s internal deliberations, I cannot say why the league dropped Atlanta with so little hesitation, but there are some likely possibilities. </p>
<p>First, just as a matter of timing, MLB may have been concerned about holding the All-Star game in the midst of a political controversy, drawing unfavorable attention, especially in light of its own <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/statement-from-major-league-baseball">recent commitment</a> to have zero tolerance when faced with racial injustice. <a href="https://www.mlb.com/diversity-and-inclusion/social-justice">MLB may have</a> also taken an opportunity to show solidarity with <a href="https://theplayersalliance.com/">its players</a>, given the <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2020/1123/Athletes-have-taken-social-stands-before.-Why-this-time-is-different">high-profile advocacy for social causes</a> of many professional athletes. Research suggests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-activism-is-more-than-a-marketing-gimmick-141570">employee diversity</a> is an <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-and-politics/article/abs/why-do-corporations-engage-in-lgbt-rights-activism-lgbt-employee-groups-as-internal-pressure-groups/8A0D1F32974A1466B4384BE51DA4E318">important consideration</a> for corporations on matters of social justice. </p>
<p>Finally, just as a practical matter, moving the All-Star game may have offered MLB some public relations benefits at relatively low cost to itself.</p>
<p>And those same reasons are likely why other sports leagues – such as the NCAA in North Carolina and the NFL with the 2016 Georgia bill – are often out front on these types of social issues. Georgia should not count on any backlash subsiding soon; the NCAA withheld championship games from <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2015-07-10/ncaa-lifts-ban-holding-championships-south-carolina">South Carolina</a> for 15 years until the state removed the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. </p>
<p>For now, MLB’s decision has not prompted the kind of mass corporate revolt that could force change. On April 12, Will Smith’s production company said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/business/will-smith-emancipation-georgia.html">it was pulling its upcoming slavery-era drama, “Emancipation,”</a> out of Georgia because of the voting law. </p>
<p>But it’s unclear, in particular, whether any Georgia-based corporations will follow MLB’s lead by removing business operations from the state. The voting law that passed is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/us/politics/georgia-voting-law-republicans.html">actually less restrictive</a> than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/politics/churches-black-voters-georgia.html">earlier versions</a> of the bill, suggesting that criticism – <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/voting-rights-advocates-plan-economic-boycott-to-pressure-georgia-firms/XNVL4QSSRBCMNA5BR6Y6M2F2YU/">including from companies</a> – likely had some impact. Lawmakers may have made some changes precisely to avoid sparking a stronger corporate response. </p>
<p>But if companies like Delta and Coca-Cola really want to make a difference and use their leverage on this issue, they will need to go beyond words. Their actions would speak much louder. </p>
<p><em>Article updated on April 12 to add references to production of “Emancipation” being moved out of Georgia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158684/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Means does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Usually, companies use this power to secure financial benefits for themselves, such as tax or regulation relief. But increasingly, they’re using it for social causes as well.Benjamin Means, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1582812021-04-11T11:47:51Z2021-04-11T11:47:51ZWriting from 130 years ago shows we’re still dealing with the same anti-Asian racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393621/original/file-20210406-21-1r2zfi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C201%2C4183%2C2443&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community members gather for a vigil in memory of the victims of the Atlanta shootings and to rally against anti-Asian racism in Ottawa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In March, when a white man <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2021/03/8-people-killed-in-atlanta-rampage-6-of-them-asian-women.html">targeted and killed eight women in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian</a>, mainstream media and police initially <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atlanta-attacks-were-not-just-racist-and-misogynist-they-painfully-reflect-the-society-we-live-in-157389">refused to categorize it as a racially motivated hate crime</a>. But for Asian people, across North America and globally, this tragedy was one more episode in a long history of anti-Asian violence. </p>
<p>Over 150 years ago, <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11825013">white settlers in the United States rounded up Chinese merchants and miners</a> and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256941/driven-out">put them onto burning barges, threw them into railway cars and even lynched them</a>. But this story is not limited to the U.S. — early Chinese immigrants were not welcome in Canada either. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-americans-top-target-for-threats-and-harassment-during-pandemic-158011">Asian Americans top target for threats and harassment during pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>This is documented in the life and works of Chinese-Canadian author and journalist <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/eaton_edith_maud_14E.html">Edith Eaton</a> (1865-1914). While researching <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/becoming-sui-sin-far-products-9780773547223.php"><em>Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism, and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton</em></a>, I discovered numerous accounts of early Canadian anti-Chinese racism in her work.</p>
<h2>Memoirs from the past show similar hatred</h2>
<p>In Eaton’s memoir <a href="http://essays.quotidiana.org/far/leaves_mental_portfolio/"><em>Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian</em></a>, she recalls being called “Chinky, Chinky, Chinaman, yellow-face, pig-tail, rat-eater,” after moving to North America with her family — a white father, Chinese mother and five siblings — in 1872.</p>
<p>Soon after the family’s arrival in Montréal, locals would call out “Chinese!” “Chinoise!” as they walked down the street. Classmates would pull Eaton’s hair, pinch her and refuse to sit beside her.</p>
<p>These taunts and torments were felt deeply by Eaton throughout her life. She wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have come from a race on my mother’s side which is said to be the most stolid and insensible to feeling of all races. Yet I look back over the years and see myself so keenly alive to every shade of sorrow and suffering that it is almost a pain to live.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Eaton published <a href="https://broadviewpress.com/product/mrs-spring-fragrance/#tab-description">a book of short stories depicting Chinese immigrants’ encounters with racism</a> under the pseudonym “Sui Sin Far” (Cantonese for narcissus). And her advocacy was appreciated by Chinese people in Montréal <a href="https://winnifredeatonarchive.org/timeline.html">who erected a memorial beside her grave</a> with the inscription “Yi bu wang hua,” which means “The righteous one does not forget China.” </p>
<p>Since the Atlanta shootings, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">Asian women have been assaulted and even killed</a>. Asian people have been accused of causing <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/26/980480882/why-pandemics-give-birth-to-hate-from-black-death-to-covid-19">COVID-19</a>, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/03/sery-kim-texas/">stealing intellectual property</a> and more. What Eaton described in her fiction and memoir continues to happen today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="1896 newspaper article titled 'The Chinese Defended'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a signed letter to the editor, Edith Eaton defends Chinese people in Montréal who have been the target of hate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Montréal Daily Star</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1890s headlines interchangeable with today’s</h2>
<p>Eaton also documented anti-Chinese violence and championed the rights of Chinese immigrants in stories published in the <em>Montréal Star</em> and the <em>Montréal Witness</em> throughout the 1890s. </p>
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/early-chinese-canadians/Pages/history.aspx#rac3">white men were convinced that Chinese immigrants were taking their jobs away</a> and that Chinese men — many of whom lived alone behind their shops (because of the <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/the-chinese-head-tax-and-the-chinese-exclusion-act">Head Tax</a> — had an unfair advantage over white men with families. </p>
<p>In the <em>Montréal Star</em>, Eaton published <a href="https://issuu.com/reillyreads/docs/a_plea_for_the_chinaman?backgroundColor=%2523222222">A Plea for the Chinaman</a>, in which she called out politicians for mistreating Chinese men in Canada: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Every just person must feel his or her sense of justice outraged by the attacks which are being made by public men upon the Chinese who come to this country.… It makes one’s cheeks burn to read about men of high office standing up and abusing a lot of poor foreigners behind their backs and calling them all the bad names their tongues can utter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anti-Chinese violence was so common in 1890s Montréal that Chinese men carried police whistles in their pockets. In an <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/becoming-sui-sin-far-products-9780773547223.php">1895 article, titled Beaten to Death, Eaton noted</a> that even when they blew their whistles, no one would come to Chinese men’s aid. Bystanders often refused to identify their assailants and police told the men who had been assaulted that they should be arrested for bothering them.</p>
<p>The recent reports of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">security guard’s refusal to act when a Filipino woman was brutally beaten</a> uncannily recall the anti-Asian violence Eaton documented 125 years ago.</p>
<p>My research leads me to suspect that Eaton published other <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419804834/?terms=Chinese%2Blaundries">unsigned articles documenting anti-Chinese racism</a> in Montreal newspapers at this time. She may have written a <em>Gazette</em> article reporting on youth who would gather nightly in Montreal’s Chinatown to <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419785179/?terms=Chinese%2Bwindows">throw stones at passing Chinese men and through the plate glass windows of their businesses</a>, or those describing Chinese men being <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419785179/?terms=Chinese%2Bwindows">punched, kicked or beaten to death</a>.</p>
<h2>What was written when?</h2>
<p>Looking at literature and journalism of the past such as Eaton’s can help illuminate the challenges of today. Her observations about people’s motivations — ignorance, jealousy, suspicion, competition — invite us to reflect on the motivations of today’s perpetrators of anti-Asian violence and conclude that not much has changed.</p>
<p>The anti-Asian racism recorded in Eaton’s work and journalism across Montreal persists today. Recent reports of <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/new-report-details-disturbing-rise-in-anti-asian-hate-crimes-in-canada-1.5358955">racist violence</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7734109/anti-asian-racism-canada-what-to-do/">hate crimes</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7726666/guelph-woman-anti-asian-slurs/">verbal harassment</a>, <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/opaque-policing-two-deaths-other-attacks-loom-as-asian-montrealers-fear-unrecognized-hate-crimes-1.5353647">opaque policing</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/03/983406365/in-response-to-anti-asian-hate-incidents-groups-step-up-trainings-for-bystanders">passive bystanders</a> could have been written more than a century ago. </p>
<p>We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to make up for over a century of treating Asian people like they do not belong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Chapman receives funding from SSHRC and UBC's Faculty of Arts. </span></em></p>Chinese-Canadian journalist Edith Eaton documented anti-Asian racism in Canada in the late 19th and early 20th century. Over 100 years later, not much has changed.Mary Chapman, Professor of English and Academic Director of the Public Humanities Hub, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573892021-03-19T13:33:12Z2021-03-19T13:33:12ZThe Atlanta attacks were not just racist and misogynist, they painfully reflect the society we live in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390476/original/file-20210318-19-1x9uh3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C2986%2C2245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Those that were killed were targeted not only because of their race and gender but also their perceived work and immigration status.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I am heartbroken but I’m not surprised.</p>
<p>The targeted <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth">killing of eight women in Atlanta</a>, six of them Asian, is a brutal result of decades-long exclusion and oppression, legitimized in law and colonial reverberations, that allow a white-dominated settler society to thrive, justifying differential treatment of racialized migrants. </p>
<h2>Let’s unpack this a bit</h2>
<p>Many blame former U.S. president Donald Trump for calling COVID-19 the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-can-t-claim-kung-flu-doesn-t-affect-asian-n1231812">“Asian flu,” “Kung Flu” and “China Virus,”</a> among other terms, for this increase in violent attacks and harassment. And while it’s certainly contributed, these violent attacks, harassment and hate expressed against people of Asian descent did not begin with Trump or the pandemic.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-asian-racism-during-coronavirus-how-the-language-of-disease-produces-hate-and-violence-134496">Anti-Asian racism during coronavirus: How the language of disease produces hate and violence</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Here is where the <a href="http://reappropriate.co/2021/03/mari-matsuda-critical-race-theory-is-not-anti-asian/">toolkit built by critical race and feminist theorists</a> can help us understand that the tragic deaths of these women are not new, not isolated, but represent racist, misogynist violence and are reflective of the society we live in. </p>
<p>Those who were killed were targeted not only because of their race and gender but also because of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpymp/atlanta-georgia-shooting-shows-how-police-are-failing-asian-women">their perceived work and immigration status</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, they were targeted because of their intersectional identities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Police seen handing out flyers to community members" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390479/original/file-20210318-21-172nnee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The New York Police Department Community Affairs Rapid Response Unit hands out flyers with information on how to report hate crimes to residents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The intersectionality of identities</h2>
<p>Women were killed. It is undeniable that violence against women is <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-domestic-violence-the-leading-preventable-cause-of-death-and-illness-for-women-aged-18-to-44-94102">one of the leading causes of death</a> of women around the world. The <a href="https://femicideincanada.ca/2020_victims">Canadian Femicide Observatory recently confirmed</a> that 160 women and girls were killed by violence in Canada in 2020, with 90 per cent of the incidents involving a male accused.</p>
<p>Six of the eight women in Atlanta were Asian. We’ve seen a <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/reports-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-surging-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5351481">significant increase in violence against Asians during the pandemic</a>. In the United States, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/16/asian-americans-hate-incidents-pandemic-study">Stop AAPI Hate, 3,800 incidents were reported during the pandemic</a>, with 68 per cent of them being reported by women. </p>
<p>This is a 150 per cent increase in the number of hate incidents against Asians — and Canada is not immune. Per capita, Canada has a greater number of incidents reported than the United States. According to <a href="https://www.covidracism.ca/map">Fight COVID Racism, there have been 928 incidents of violence due to discrimination against Asians</a> since the pandemic began.</p>
<h2>Perceived immigration and citizenship status</h2>
<p>Tied to this is the perceived immigration or citizenship status of Asians in North America. Immigration <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023119852788">status has long been used as a way to separate and exclude racialized people</a> in the post-colonial project of preserving a white-dominated settler society.</p>
<p>The 1923 <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-immigration-act">Chinese Exclusion Act</a> was designed to keep racialized persons from settling in Canada. It was also designed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-yellow-peril-revisited-134115">keep the “Yellow Peril” out</a>, and for 24 years provided a mechanism to conduct health examinations based on misunderstandings that such persons were contagions. </p>
<p>This early identification of “foreigners with disease” has framed our current discourse.</p>
<p>While history tells us how North Americans may have come to fear Asian people and how Asians have been and still are perceived as vectors of disease, our current laws continue to justify differential treatment of racialized migrants. </p>
<h2>Migrant workers</h2>
<p>Migrant <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-canada-stigmatizes-jeopardizes-essential-migrant-workers-138879">essential workers in agriculture</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-reveals-the-necessity-of-canadas-migrant-workers-136360">caregiving</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19s-impact-on-migrant-workers-adds-urgency-to-calls-for-permanent-status-148237">health care</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/olymel-workers-1.5922392">meat processing</a> and other sectors come to Canada with temporary residence status without their families. Because of their precarious immigration status, they are subject to abuse, long working hours and the withholding of pay, all with little legal protection or recourse. </p>
<p>During the pandemic, <a href="https://theconversation.com/migrant-worker-segregation-doesnt-work-covid-19-lessons-from-southeast-asia-155260">they have been blamed for COVID-19 outbreaks</a> despite risking their lives to care for our young and sick and to put food on our tables. These migrant workers are predominantly racialized and are given different treatment than other “higher” skilled workers in industries where permanent residence and family reunification are available.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Flowers left outside a business" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390478/original/file-20210318-23-1736cbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A makeshift memorial is captured on March 17, 2021, outside a business where multiple fatal shootings occurred.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Criminalized and precarious</h2>
<p>Finally, we should not ignore the perception that the women killed are being seen as sex workers. Although <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/18/atlanta-spa-shootings-anti-sex-worker-racism-sexism">lawmakers in Atlanta say there is no evidence that those killed were sex workers</a>, the shooter — and in turn, some media outlets — perceive them to be. Sex work has long been viewed, in North America, as immoral, unclean and dangerous, and laws were enacted to criminalize it. </p>
<p>In Canada, as the Supreme Court recognized the harms and unconstitutionality of <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13389/index.do">laws that criminalize sex workers and their workplaces</a>, the federal government introduced <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36faq/">new laws purported to target women</a> assumed to be exploited. Current policy and legal approaches focus on police and law enforcement to conduct raids and investigation of sex work establishments in the name of anti-trafficking — subjecting sex workers to surveillance, harassment, detention and deportation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-laws-designed-to-deter-prostitution-not-keep-sex-workers-safe-107314">Canada’s laws designed to deter prostitution, not keep sex workers safe</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Migrant sex workers are therefore not only criminalized, but subject to precarious immigration status because sex work is not recognized as work that one could obtain a work permit for. It can also be <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/sex-workers-further-victimized-by-deportations-groups-say-1.3069626">identified as a reason to render someone inadmissible to Canada</a> on criminal grounds. </p>
<p>Weave this in with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F08861099211001460">the fetishization of Asian women and how they are viewed</a> as disposable objects and the normative message our laws send. All this allows people to think it is OK to treat migrant sex workers violently and inhumanely.</p>
<h2>More than anti-Asian hate</h2>
<p>In trying to make sense of what happened, it’s important to see the tragedy as more than just violence against women and anti-Asian hate.</p>
<p>If you think this is confined to the U.S., think again. One need only look at our farms, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/hospital-racist-white-only-hire-quebec-1.5954111">health-care facilities</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-the-quebec-city-mosque-attack-islamophobia-and-canadas-national-amnesia-152799">places of worship</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cbsa-racism-complaint-1.5762676">borders</a> and <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/houses-of-hate-how-canadas-prison-system-is-broken/">prisons</a> to see how racialized people suffer because of their perceived immigration status, religion, race, gender and work.</p>
<p>Don’t let the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/206071/everybody-was-kung-fu-fighting-by-vijay-prashad/">model minority</a> myth that <a href="https://time.com/5859206/anti-asian-racism-america/">Asians are the “desirable … non-threatening person of colour”</a> be used to hide the systemic racism that is experienced by Asians and other marginalized people in our community.</p>
<p>If you are feeling powerless, there is something you can do. Support grassroots, community-led organizations like <a href="https://www.swanvancouver.ca/">SWANVancouver</a>, <a href="https://www.butterflysw.org/">Butterfly: Asian and migrant sex workers network</a>, <a href="https://acwa.ca/">Asian Canadian Women’s Alliance</a> and the <a href="https://migrantworkersalliance.org/">Migrant Workers Alliance for Change</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Chai Yun Liew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In trying to make sense of the recent mass killing in Georgia, it’s important to see that it was more than just violence against women and anti-Asian hate.Jamie Chai Yun Liew, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1546892021-03-04T13:12:54Z2021-03-04T13:12:54ZPublic transit drivers struggle to enforce mask mandates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385904/original/file-20210223-23-9av9im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C36%2C5902%2C3920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public transit drivers are now responsible for preventing unmasked passengers from boarding and removing unruly customers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/am-tuesday-march-24-2020-governor-gretchen-whitmer-ordered-news-photo/1208192021?adppopup=true">Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many U.S. <a href="https://www.masstransitmag.com/safety-security/article/21208164/face-mask-mandate-for-transit-goes-into-effect-late-feb-1">metropolitan areas</a> report that <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/2-dekalb-cities-ask-marta-to-reinstate-bus-service-to-needy-communities/G76S6M7IXBEPHAIRCK4PX3PDWE/">at least 90% of public transit passengers</a> wear masks while on buses to prevent the spread of coronavirus. </p>
<p>However, some passengers still wear their masks incorrectly. And some refuse to wear them at all, threatening the health and safety of others on board.</p>
<p>Staff at many transit systems have already faced the difficult task of enforcing passenger compliance with local and state <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/these-are-the-states-with-mask-mandates">mask mandates</a>.</p>
<p>Now, staff and passengers of public transit systems must also comply with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/transportation-mask-mandate/2021/02/01/32aa36d8-64b8-11eb-8c64-9595888caa15_story.html">federal orders</a>, issued in January and February. Passengers who violate the federal mask orders may <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2021/01/31/tsa-implement-executive-order-regarding-face-masks-airport-security">face penalties </a> of US$250 for a first offense and up to $1,500 for repeat offenses. </p>
<p>In addition to driving, public transit drivers are now responsible for preventing unmasked passengers from boarding, monitoring passengers for compliance and removing unruly customers. </p>
<p>These responsibilities create hurdles for public transit drivers, particularly when public transit systems prefer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/septa-federal-mask-mandate-public-transit-enforcement-20210207.html">customer-friendly approaches</a> instead of civil or criminal penalties to increase compliance. </p>
<h2>Federal mask orders</h2>
<p>President Joe Biden issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/executive-order-promoting-covid-19-safety-in-domestic-and-international-travel/">executive order</a> on Jan. 21 mandating that certain federal government agencies require travelers to wear masks while on commercial airlines, trains and buses. </p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/Mask-Order-CDC_GMTF_01-29-21-p.pdf">issued its own order</a> on Jan. 29. It requires all passengers to wear masks, except babies and toddlers under age 2 and persons with disabilities. The order also requires transportation companies and public transit systems to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/30/962390180/cdc-issues-sweeping-new-mask-mandate-for-u-s-travelers-extends-eviction-moratori">enforce mask-wearing</a> in airports, seaports, train terminals and bus stations.</p>
<p>The Transportation Security Administration also issued a <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/sd-1582_84-21-01.pdf">directive</a> on Jan. 31 supporting President Biden’s directive and implementing the CDC’s orders. The TSA also issued guidance to public transit systems for reporting violations so that the TSA can issue fines.</p>
<p>Through ongoing <a href="https://hazards.colorado.edu/news/award-news/covid-19-and-transportation-recently-funded-quick-response-research">research</a> funded by the <a href="https://hazards.colorado.edu/">Natural Hazards Center</a>, our <a href="https://urbaninstitute.gsu.edu/micromobility-lab/">team</a> of lawyers, sociologists and urban planners at the <a href="https://urbaninstitute.gsu.edu/">Georgia State University Urban Studies Institute</a> conducted focus groups with public bus drivers in the Atlanta metro area to assess public transit’s response to COVID-19. </p>
<p>The goal of the research is to develop policies to prevent future disease spread, maintain service during emergencies and protect community access to public transit.</p>
<p>The bus drivers in the focus groups shared the difficulties they have faced so far when enforcing mask orders. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bus drivers across the country have faced violence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/387084/original/file-20210301-15-1y6a1eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bus drivers across the country have faced violence when trying to enforce mask mandates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bus-driver-wearing-a-mask-and-gloves-gestures-at-los-news-photo/1210143411?adppopup=true">Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Driver problems</h2>
<p>Besides their traditional job of safe driving and maintaining a timely schedule, public bus drivers now must encourage passengers to wear masks and remove passengers who refuse. They must also promote social distancing by limiting the number of passengers and clean buses between routes.</p>
<p>Drivers report that buses often don’t have enough masks for passengers who arrive without one. Many public transit systems have installed mask kiosks at rail or bus stations, but bus stops don’t have them. Though many buses have been retrofitted with mask dispensers, supplies must be monitored and regularly replenished, another new responsibility that usually falls to the bus driver. </p>
<p>Train operators are separated from passengers because they are in a separate, closed-off compartment. They are spared from having to enforce mask orders. But this leaves compliance largely unchecked.</p>
<p>On buses, however, drivers do have contact with passengers and must enforce mask orders. But, drivers are generally the only staff on board. They cannot easily remove passengers for not following orders. They also fear endangering themselves or other passengers.</p>
<p>Across the country, drivers have faced <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/transit-workers-face-growing-rate-of-assaults-theres-not-much-we-can-do/594959/">hostility</a> and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/nyregion/mta-bus-mask-covid.html">violence</a> when trying to enforce mask mandates.</p>
<p>We found that drivers use several tactics to address passenger refusal to wear masks.</p>
<p>Drivers can call security to provide help. These calls are not always answered quickly, and sometimes they are not answered at all. When security does respond, drivers report actions that reward noncompliant passengers. To defuse a situation, security may provide a free taxi or ride-share service. This promotes future noncompliance by passengers. </p>
<p>Drivers can also refuse to move the bus as leverage to force passengers to wear masks. However, this can make the bus and its passengers late. Other passengers may file complaints for delays or missed connections. And drivers may be reprimanded by supervisors. </p>
<p>Drivers worry these complaints may jeopardize performance reviews and job security.</p>
<h2>Potential solutions</h2>
<p>Based on our interviews, there are some potential solutions that public transit systems might take to support drivers and increase mask usage on buses.</p>
<p>These include:</p>
<p>• Hiring more staff to assist with enforcement.</p>
<p>• Supplying masks and replenishing distribution kiosks frequently.</p>
<p>• Developing clear policies on what measures drivers are expected to take when enforcing mask mandates.</p>
<p>• Providing driver training on enforcement methods, including how to deescalate upset passengers. </p>
<p>• Training management on how to balance supporting drivers with maintaining customer service.</p>
<p>All these efforts would cost more money. So providing <a href="https://rsph.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=5fa90ac9-7771-4320-82db-ac870158d561&start=2735">local, state and federal funding</a> for these efforts, including money from the <a href="https://www.transit.dot.gov/cares-act">CARES Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/coronavirus-response-and-relief-supplemental-appropriations-act-2021">Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act</a>, may help public transit systems increase passenger mask-wearing. </p>
<p>These solutions could help to protect the health and safety of passengers and staff as full service is <a href="https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/article/21210397/new-york-mta-to-see-partial-restoration-of-night-service-next-week">restored</a> and more passengers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-ridership-increases-as-agency-begins-restoring-service-to-prepandemic-levels/2020/08/22/b8bdcbc6-e331-11ea-8181-606e603bb1c4_story.html">return</a> to public transit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacie Kershner receives funding from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Johnston receives funding from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.</span></em></p>Recent federal mask mandates on all public transit have burdened bus drivers with difficult and sometimes dangerous duties to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.Stacie Kershner, Associate Director, Center for Law, Health & Society, Georgia State UniversityKaren Johnston, Associate Director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1539692021-02-05T18:27:51Z2021-02-05T18:27:51ZSlave-built infrastructure still creates wealth in US, suggesting reparations should cover past harms and current value of slavery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382613/original/file-20210204-14-1kyoub7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5301%2C3520&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Port of Savannah used to export cotton picked by enslaved laborers and brought from Alabama to Georgia on slave-built railways. Cotton is still a top product processed through this port.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/shipping-in-the-port-of-savannah-savannah-georgia-news-photo/144072885?adppopup=true">Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4978">American cities</a> from Atlanta to New York City still use <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/11/26/how-slave-labor-built-and-financed-major-u-s-cities/">buildings, roads, ports and rail lines</a> built by enslaved people. </p>
<p>The fact that centuries-old relics of slavery still support the economy of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/16/20806069/slavery-economy-capitalism-violence-cotton-edward-baptist">United States</a> suggests that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/anti.12704">reparations for slavery</a> would need to go beyond government payments to the ancestors of enslaved people to account for profit-generating, slave-built infrastructure. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/from-40-acres-and-a-mule-to-lbj-to-the-2020-election-a-brief-history-of-slavery-reparation-promises-114547">Debates about compensating Black Americans for slavery</a> began soon after the Civil War, in the 1860s, with promises of “40 acres and a mule.” A national conversation about reparations has reignited in recent decades. The <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/reparations-definition-2020-candidates/590863/">definition of reparations varies</a>, but most advocates envision it as a two-part reckoning that acknowledges the role slavery played in building the country and directs resources to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/16/20806069/slavery-economy-capitalism-violence-cotton-edward-baptist">communities impacted by slavery</a>. </p>
<p>Through our <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yi48Sl4AAAAJ&hl=en">geographic</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=s4pLMm0AAAAJ&hl=en">urban planning</a> scholarship, we document the contemporary infrastructure created by enslaved Black workers. Our study of what we call the “landscape of race” shows how the globally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html">dominant economy of the United States</a> traces directly back to slavery. </p>
<h2>Looking again at railroads</h2>
<p>While difficult to calculate, <a href="https://railroads.unl.edu/views/item/slavery_rr">scholars estimate</a> that much of the physical infrastructure built before 1860 in the American South was built with enslaved labor. </p>
<p>Railways were particularly critical infrastructure. According to “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442262287/The-American-South-A-History-Volume-1-From-Settlement-to-Reconstruction-Fifth-Edition">The American South</a>,” an in-depth history of the region, railroads “offered solutions to the geographic barriers that segmented the South,” including swamps, mountains and rivers. For inland planters needing to get goods to port, trains were “the elemental precondition to better times.”</p>
<p>Our archival research on Montgomery, Alabama, shows that enslaved workers built and maintained the Montgomery Eufaula Railroad. This 81-mile-long railroad, begun in 1859, connected Montgomery to the Central Georgia Line, which served both Alabama’s fertile <a href="https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/money/business/2014/11/07/cotton-dominates-montgomerys-early-history/18634383/">cotton-growing region</a> – cotton picked by enslaved hands – and the textile mills of Georgia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sepia-toned lithograph of six Black men and women in sunhats and overalls in a cotton field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382777/original/file-20210205-20-1q117t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in 1867.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/2015650292">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Eufala Railroad also gave Alabama commercial access to the Port of Savannah. <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlantic-slave-trade-savannah">Savannah was a key cotton and rice</a> trading port, and slavery was integral to the growth of the city. </p>
<p>Today, Savannah’s deep-water port remains one <a href="https://gaports.com/press-releases/savannah-top-port-for-u-s-exports/">of the busiest container ports in the U.S.</a> Among its top exports: cotton. </p>
<p>The Eufala Railroad closed in the 1970s. But the company that funded its construction – Lehman Durr & Co., a prominent Southern cotton brokerage – existed well into the 20th century. </p>
<p>Examining court affidavits and city records located in the Montgomery city archive, we learned the Montgomery Eufaula Railroad Company received US$1.8 million in loans from Lehman Durr & Co. The main backers of Lehman Durr & Co. went on to found Lehman Brothers bank, one of Wall Street’s <a href="https://atlantablackstar.com/2013/08/26/17-major-companies-never-knew-benefited-slavery/">largest investment banks</a> until it collapsed in 2008, in the U.S. financial crisis. </p>
<p><em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.</p>
<p>Slave-built railroads also gave rise to Georgia’s largest city, Atlanta. In the 1830s, Atlanta was the <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/visitors/history#:%7E:text=Atlanta%20was%20founded%20in%201837,%2D%2D%20as%20in%20the%20railroad">terminus of a rail line that extended into the Midwest</a>. </p>
<p>Some of these same rail lines still drive Georgia’s economy. According to a <a href="https://www.georgia.org/sites/default/files/wp-uploads/2016/03/2013_Georgia_Logistics_Report-FULL.pdf">2013 state report</a>, railways that went through Georgia in 2012 carried over US$198 billion in agricultural products and raw materials needed for U.S. industry and manufacturing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white image of an old train depot" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382779/original/file-20210205-17-1j3wt4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 1872 Vicksburg & Brunswick Depot, a passenger and freight station in Eufala, served the Eufala and Georgia Central rail lines, among others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/habshaer/al/al1300/al1302/photos/193383pv.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rethinking reparations</h2>
<p>Savannah, Atlanta and Montgomery all show how, far from being an artifact of history, as some <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/case-against-reparations-slavery">critics of reparations suggest</a>, slavery has a tangible presence in the American economy. </p>
<p>And not just in the South. Wall Street, in <a href="https://www.nycurbanism.com/blog/2019/6/18/a-short-history-of-slavery-in-nyc">New York City</a>, is associated with the trading of stocks. But in the 18th century, enslaved people were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49476247">bought and sold there</a>. Even after New York closed its slave markets, local businesses sold and shipped cotton grown in the slaveholding South.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black-and-white lithograph of a wide street lined with large buildings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382616/original/file-20210204-16-hl2pv1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wall Street around 1850.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nypl.getarchive.net/media/wall-street-faac73">New York Public Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Geographic research like ours could inform thinking on monetary reparations by helping to calculate the ongoing financial value of slavery. </p>
<p>Like scholarship drawing the connection between slavery and <a href="https://civilrightstrail.com/attraction/the-legacy-museum-from-enslavement-to-mass-incarceration/">modern mass incarceration</a>, however, our work also suggests that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/economy/reparations-slavery.html">direct payments to indviduals</a> cannot truly account for the modern legacy of slavery. It points toward a broader concept of reparations that reflects how slavery is built into the American landscape, still generating wealth.</p>
<p>Such reparations might include government investments in aspects of American life where Black people face disparities. </p>
<p>Last year the city council in Asheville, North Carolina, voted for “reparations in the form of community investment.” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/054c0c9061e168d4a685b71e9bb3aa95">Priorities could include</a> efforts to increase access to affordable housing and boost minority business ownership. Asheville will also explore strategies to close the racial gap in health care. </p>
<p>It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to calculate the total contemporary economic impact of slavery. But we see recognizing that enslaved men, women and children built many of the <a href="https://notevenpast.org/slavery-and-freedom-in-savannah/">cities</a>, rail lines and ports that fuel the American economy as a necessary part of any such accounting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153969/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua F.J. Inwood's research was made possible by a grant from Penn State and UC Berkeley. He knocked on doors for Joe Biden's presidential campaign in the 2020 election. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was made possible with research support from the University of California, Berkeley. Anna Livia Brand is affiliated with the Democratic Party and volunteered for the 2020 election. </span></em></p>Geographers are documenting slave-built infrastructure, from railroads to ports, in use today. Such work could influence the reparations debate by showing how slavery still props up the US economy.Joshua F.J. Inwood, Associate Professor of Geography Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn StateAnna Livia Brand, Assistant Professor, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1495962020-11-07T17:56:57Z2020-11-07T17:56:57ZGeorgia’s political shift – a tale of urban and suburban change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367818/original/file-20201105-17-t2zl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C7%2C4687%2C3276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Incumbent Republican US Sen. David Perdue wanted to avoid a runoff.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/republican-senate-candidate-u-s-sen-david-perdue-walks-off-news-photo/1283218548?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 36 years, the state of Georgia has voted for Republican presidential candidates in every cycle except 1992, <a href="https://www.270towin.com/1992_Election/">when voters backed Bill Clinton</a>. In the past 20 years, it voted consistently for Republican governors and for Republicans in the U.S. Senate. </p>
<p>But if the results, as currently reported, stand, Georgia will have helped elect Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. Control of the U.S. Senate, too, may be decided in Georgia, as the voters forced two Senate races into runoff elections to be held on Jan. 5.</p>
<p>Biden’s Georgia lead is only razor-thin and did not materialize until the morning of Nov. 6, as the final votes were tallied. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/11/07/election-recount-rules-state-margins-biden-trump-georgia-arizona-florida-georgia-nevada-pennsylvania/6190424002/">A recount is set to take place</a>.</p>
<p>U.S. Senate races in Georgia that do not deliver an absolute majority of the vote go into <a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/ga/title-21-elections/ga-code-sect-21-2-501.html">a runoff phase that pits the two leading contenders</a> against one another. </p>
<p>Incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue faced challenges from Democrat Jon Ossoff and Libertarian Shane Hazel. Perdue’s share of the vote dipped below 50% on Nov. 5 and did not recover. In the runoff, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/5/21537684/senate-results-georgia-perdue-jon-ossoff-runoff">he’ll face Ossoff</a>. </p>
<p>In the other Senate race in the state – a special election for Republican Johnny Isakson’s seat – 20 candidates competed. Incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/us/politics/georgia-warnock-loeffler.html">will advance to the runoff</a>.</p>
<p>In some ways, these two candidates couldn’t be more opposite. Loeffler is a white, wealthy, suburban woman who campaigned on her close ties to Trump; Warnock is the progressive, grassroots-oriented, African American pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached.</p>
<p>Regardless of the final outcomes of Georgia’s two Senate races, the results from the 2020 elections reflect just how much the state’s political landscape has changed in recent years. </p>
<h2>An outlier in the South</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/american-suburbs-radically-changed-over-the-decades-and-so-have-their-politics-147731">The key drivers</a> of Georgia’s changing electorate are ongoing demographic shifts, combined with urban and suburban growth. </p>
<p>Since 2000, the population of the Atlanta metropolitan region has grown tremendously, making it one of the three <a href="https://33n.atlantaregional.com/special-features/growing-slowing-2017">fastest-growing metro areas in the nation</a>. It now contains about two-thirds of Georgia’s entire population. The rest of the state’s growth has been concentrated in other smaller metro areas, such as Savannah and Macon. At the same time, large swaths of rural Georgia have witnessed population decline.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Raphael Warnock points as he speaks during an Election Night event." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367589/original/file-20201104-13-1xhl8sf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock will advance to a Jan. 5 runoff in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-u-s-senate-candidate-rev-raphael-warnock-speaks-news-photo/1229447824?adppopup=true">Jessica McGowan/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/census-metro-atlanta-has-4th-fastest-growing-population-nation/UvQfqt3mW8EQsJ5zI94ohP/">The bulk of that growth</a> has been in the suburbs, which have become <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/the-life-of-north-american-suburbs-4">increasingly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity and class</a>. In the suburbs that do remain majority white and middle class, women are now more likely to be college-educated working professionals. These trends generally <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/08/the-2018-midterm-vote-divisions-by-race-gender-education/">favor the Democratic vote</a>, and it’s why the suburbs – in Georgia and across the nation – <a href="https://www.newswise.com/coronavirus/blue-metros-red-states-america-s-suburbs-and-the-new-battleground-in-presidential-politics">have become important electoral battlegrounds</a>. </p>
<p>It is not just that many urban, historically Democratic, counties turned out the vote in 2020; it is that many outer suburbs became much less red. Take, for example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-suburbs-radically-changed-over-the-decades-and-so-have-their-politics-147731">Fayette County</a>, one of Atlanta’s large southern suburbs, which has about 68,000 votes: Trump won Fayette with a 19-point margin in 2016 but that margin shrunk to 6 points in 2020. </p>
<p>No other state in the South has such <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2020/pop-estimates-county-metro.html;%20https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-state-total.html">large urban and suburban populations</a> relative to the overall state population. If Georgia is demographically and politically becoming unlike neighboring Republican strongholds like Alabama and Tennessee, it has, in some respects, moved in a similar direction as Arizona, where the two major metropolitan regions of <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/estimates-county-metro.html#table5">Phoenix and Tucson</a> make up over 80% of the state’s population, and where Democrats have improved their standing in recent years.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-important">The Conversation’s most important election and politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter</a>.</em>]</p>
<h2>Georgia on everybody’s mind</h2>
<p>This is not to overstate Georgia’s blue turn. It is only the slightest shade of blue, based on the slimmest of margins. The state may have helped the Democrats back into the White House, but could just as well end up sending two Republicans back to the Senate, with the promise of federal government gridlock. </p>
<p>Over the next two months, all eyes will be on these two runoffs. If Democrats can pull off two victories, they’ll assume control of the Senate.</p>
<p>In a 2017 special election, Ossoff ran for a House seat in Atlanta’s suburbs. It became seen as a referendum on Trump’s nascent presidency, and <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/17/early-voting-georgia-special-election-2017-239663">over US$50 million was spent</a>, making it, at the time, the most expensive House race in U.S. history.</p>
<p>With not one but two races – and control of the Senate in the balance – money will likely pour into Georgia at an unprecedented clip over the next couple of months.</p>
<p>Perdue and Loeffler will find themselves as favorites – even if their close association with Trump may now be cause for some strategic repositioning. Perdue secured the most votes in the first round, and while <a href="https://elections.ap.org/dailykos/results/2020-11-03/state/GA">Warnock had the largest share of the votes in the special election</a> – 33% – the Republican candidates nonetheless outperformed the Democratic candidates in the 20-candidate field by a slim margin. Furthermore, Trump’s defeat will likely motivate Republicans to go all out to preserve their Senate majority. To both Democrats and Republicans, it could feel like Georgia gives with one hand and takes with the other. </p>
<p>That would be a fitting finale from one of the most divided states in a deeply divided nation, but the outcome is far from certain. With Democrats energized, Georgia might just flip the U.S. Senate as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149596/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Nijman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>No other state in the South has had such large urban and suburban population growth since 2000.Jan Nijman, Distinguished University Professor, Urban Studies Institute and Geosciences Department, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426202020-07-31T12:22:32Z2020-07-31T12:22:32ZWhy a Canadian hockey team’s name recalls US Civil War destruction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350483/original/file-20200730-13-fp5gmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3522%2C2340&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Czech-born goaltender for a Canadian hockey team wears a jersey recalling the 1864 burning of Atlanta, Georgia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Flames-Predators-Hockey/a0c87ed448414065a8e72a4c6e41fae8/128/0">AP Photo/Mark Zaleski</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the National Hockey League gets its abbreviated season back underway, a team with a name hearkening back to the Civil War will <a href="https://www.nhl.com/flames/schedule/2020-08-01/MT">take the ice</a> – in Canada.</p>
<p>In September 1864, having conquered the city of Atlanta, U.S. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman proposed marching his army to the coastal city of Savannah, Georgia, destroying railroads, factories, farms and other major sources of Confederate power along the way. <a href="https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/rethinking-shermans-march/">Sherman’s March to the Sea</a> was an example of a military strategy called, in Sherman’s words, the “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">hard hand of war</a>,” in which an army destroys not only military targets but takes supplies from the residents, leaving the civilian population demoralized and short of food and shelter.</p>
<p>In 2017, I was in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for a conference, when I took an opportunity to see a hockey game between the Calgary Flames and the Ottawa Senators. There, as I sat high up in the seats with a beer and a burger, the word “Flames” was in the air, and a light show depicted flames on the ice and around the arena’s perimeter. I wondered if I, an early American historian, was the only person in the place thinking about how a 21st-century hockey team connected with Gen. Sherman’s 1864 Atlanta campaign and the destructive journey to Savannah.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soldiers chop up railroad tracks and burn buildings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350498/original/file-20200730-13-10ifgwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1864, the Union Army destroyed railroad tracks and burned buildings in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.09326/">Alexander Hay Ritchie engraving after F.O.C. Darley drawing.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A city ablaze</h2>
<p>There were actually two conflagrations of Atlanta – one that was authorized and another that was not. </p>
<p>The Sherman-authorized burning targeted Confederate military resources, including machine shops, railroad depots and arsenals. When the fires reached munitions housed in a machine shop, the explosion made the Atlanta night “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">hideous</a>,” Sherman wrote. </p>
<p>Despite orders that nonmilitary structures not be torched, Union soldiers drunk with either rage or with spirits went on to burn much more. As the fire spread, Sherman noted that “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">the heart of the city was in flames all night</a>.” </p>
<p>When Sherman and his army rode out of Atlanta on the morning of November 16, 1864, he and others looked back “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">upon the scenes of our past battles</a>.” There stood Atlanta, Sherman recalled, “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">smouldering and in ruins</a>, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city.” </p>
<p>As they left the ruined city behind, a band “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4361/4361-h/4361-h.htm">struck up the anthem</a> of ‘<a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010565/">John Brown’s soul goes marching on</a>’; the men caught up the strain, and never before or since have I heard the chorus of ‘Glory, glory, hallelujah!’ done with more spirit, or in better harmony of time and place.” </p>
<p>Ulysses S. Grant, the Union commander who would later become the 18th president of the United States, commented in his memoirs that Gen. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm">was managed with the most consummate skill</a>” and “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm">was one of the most memorable in history</a>.” Grant, like others, argued that its <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm">success contributed to Abraham Lincoln being elected</a> to a second – and, as it turned out, fatal – term. “The news of Sherman’s success reached the North instantaneously, and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4367/4367-h/4367-h.htm">set the country all aglow</a>,” Grant wrote.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An 1864 photo of Atlanta, showing chimney stacks where buildings used to be." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350523/original/file-20200730-33-jpz3qz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In November 1864, downtown Atlanta stood in ruins, with chimney stacks showing where buildings used to be.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2005681133/">George N. Barnard/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Southerners, of course, saw Sherman’s fiery and destructive march differently. Southern writer Eliza Andrews, then 24, <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/andrews/andrews.html">wrote in her journal</a> during the war that “The dwellings that were standing all showed signs of pillage, and on every plantation we saw the charred remains of the gin-house and packing-screw, while here and there, lone chimney-stacks, ‘Sherman’s Sentinels,’ told of homes laid in ashes. The infamous wretches[!]” </p>
<p>According to Sherman biographer James Lee McDonough, Sherman’s name would “<a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/William-Tecumseh-Sherman/">come to symbolize that terrible time in Atlanta</a>, when a deep and lasting scar, which rankles to this day, was created in the hearts of many Southerners.”</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="332" src="https://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365546468/" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" seamless="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<h2>A wound that still burns</h2>
<p>More than a century later, the National Hockey League decided to add a team in Atlanta, as well as one in New York. To select a name for the Atlanta team, its owner, the real-estate developer and owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, Tom Cousins, held a contest in 1971 that received 10,000 entries.</p>
<p>The name chosen was “Flames,” though hockey writer Stephen Laroche notes in his book “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/changing-the-game-a-history-of-nhl-expansion/oclc/967847196&referer=brief_results">Changing the Game: The History of NHL Expansion</a>,” that it got only 198 of the total ballots.</p>
<p>Even in the early 1970s the memory still burned of Union troops under Sherman’s command setting fire not only to factories, farms and warehouses but also to homes and shops in the city center that were destroyed in the unauthorized fire.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two hockey players vie for control of the puck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350490/original/file-20200730-33-1pjyblb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the 1970s, the Flames called Atlanta home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Blackhawks-Flames-Mikita/f787161f5a4f4f1d8d17995650d22970/71/0">AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By bringing the Atlanta Flames into the NHL, the league began its own march into the South. It was a slow start, but the sport would eventually win over fans in the former Confederacy. In the 2020 season, the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/standings/2019/conference">NHL has teams in Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida</a> – which has two.</p>
<p>A group of Canadian businessmen led by Nelson Skalbania bought the Flames and moved the team to Calgary after the 1979-1980 season. They <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/name-game-football-baseball-hockey-basketball-how-your-favorite-sports-teams-were-named/oclc/1083042707&referer=brief_results">kept the name</a> because some of the team’s new owners were in the oil industry, which is also associated with flames.</p>
<h2>Named for calamity</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A basketball player dunks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350487/original/file-20200730-35-1fdvwcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The University of Illinois at Chicago Flames are named for a different fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/flames-guard-braelen-bridges-with-the-slam-dunk-during-the-news-photo/1206487220?adppopup=true">Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Naming a sports team after a destructive event may seem peculiar. Strangely, it is not – especially when it comes to destruction by fire. I’m writing from a suburb of Chicago, where the <a href="http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1740.html">Great Fire of 1871</a> killed 300 people, destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, and left homeless more than 100,000 people – a third of the city’s population. It also provided scorching monikers for the professional soccer team, the <a href="https://www.chicagofirefc.com/">Chicago Fire</a>, the <a href="https://uicflames.com/">University of Illinois at Chicago Flames</a> and the short-lived <a href="https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/World_Football_League">World Football League team from Chicago</a>, also called the Fire for its one and only season in 1974.</p>
<p>Also, the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/avalanche/">Colorado Avalanche</a>, the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/">Carolina Hurricanes</a>, and the <a href="https://cyclones.com/">Iowa State Cyclones</a> are all named after devastating natural forces. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The Atlanta Flames were unique, however, for being named after an intentional destructive event, not a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-named-carolina-hurricanes-florence-sports-teams-natural-disaster-1120674">force of nature or a natural tragedy</a>.</p>
<p>The Civil War echoes elsewhere in the NHL, too, with the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/">Columbus Blue Jackets</a> – the only team from Sherman’s home state of Ohio – which celebrates the Blue Jackets’ goals with <a href="https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/news/cannon-crew-blue-jackets-goal-celebration/c-305805094">booming cannon fire</a>. As professional hockey resumes across North America, even fans newly aware of the country’s struggle with the legacy of slavery may not be thinking about their Civil War history. But the team names are there to remind them anyway.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hockey player controls the puck behind his own net." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350485/original/file-20200730-27-1mdv0mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are the Columbus Blue Jackets still fighting for the Union?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Wild-Blue-Jackets-Hockey/1192b2b3cf574c0b8e23c135eaa07b51/116/0">AP Photo/Paul Vernon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher J. Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A 21st-century hockey team is connected with Gen. Sherman’s Atlanta campaign and the destructive journey to Savannah.Christopher J. Young, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Director of the Center for Innovation and Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, and Professor of History, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1401052020-06-12T12:14:33Z2020-06-12T12:14:33ZStudents demand removal of ‘mild racist’ from Georgia landscape<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341035/original/file-20200610-114124-76t9hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C44%2C2811%2C1872&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People raise their fists outside Atlanta City Hall during a protest over the death of George Floyd on June 6, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-raise-their-fists-outside-atlanta-city-hall-during-a-news-photo/1218022947?adppopup=true">Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the lead of African American activists, a coalition of young people has taken to the streets to <a href="https://theconversation.com/2020-uprisings-unprecedented-in-scope-join-a-long-river-of-struggle-in-america-139853">protest police brutality and systemic racism</a> across the country. Protesters in the South have demanded the removal of Confederate monuments and other symbols of white supremacy. In some cases, they have <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/7/21283003/protesters-tore-down-confederate-statue-virginia-monuments-alabama-new-orleans">taken matters into their own hands</a>.</p>
<p>In Atlanta, a <a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/protests-over-george-floyd-ahmaud-arbery-breanna-taylor-planned-downtown-friday/ZJ5VURBKPFCHPD6NUIX53QM4NA/">large crowd of demonstrators</a> recently gathered at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/amid-atlanta-unrest-a-volunteer-cleanup-crew-ponders-the-mess-things-have-become/2020/06/01/f0c65efa-a42c-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html">a statue of Henry W. Grady</a>, the late 19th-century American journalist and orator who championed white supremacy. They chanted “We can’t breathe!” and stood on the statue’s terraced pedestal with signs reading “Black lynching must go!” and “Black lives matter.”</p>
<p>Some state and city leaders have responded by pledging to remove <a href="https://www.axios.com/confederate-monuments-racism-flashpoint-07bd1074-5635-4939-9a55-e572543483b7.html">Confederate monuments in Virginia and Alabama</a>, despite <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/confederate-statues-george-floyd.html">laws that forbid their removal</a>. But the fate of the Grady statue remains unresolved.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.umass.edu/journalism/facultyStaff/bio/forde">journalism historian</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-editor-and-his-newspaper-helped-build-white-supremacy-in-georgia-111030">I’ve written about Grady,</a> the former managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution (now the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Grady was also a celebrated spokesman of the <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory2ay/chapter/the-new-south-and-the-problem-of-race-2/">New South</a>, which promoted Northern investment in Southern industrialization, and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/georgia/articles/2020-02-11/students-remove-white-supremacists-name-from-high-school">leader of the white supremacist ring</a> of Democrats who controlled Georgia after Reconstruction. </p>
<p>Grady is typically depicted as a brilliant editor and a “<a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-hey-grady-babies-old-henry-might-not-have-liked-you/pW8IxuKQgCvGB1qF2QC31J/">mild racist</a>” who helped build modern Atlanta. My take is different. Grady used his newspaper as a political tool to help kill off Reconstruction’s biracial experiment in democracy. In its place, he helped create a profoundly anti-democratic, white supremacist social order that lasted in the South until the <a href="https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=592919&p=4172702">Civil Rights act of 1964</a> and the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/voting-rights-1965">Voting Rights Act of 1965</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Rename Grady’</h2>
<p>Today’s young protesters are forcing a reappraisal of Grady’s legacy.</p>
<p>In December, Georgia State University’s student newspaper <a href="https://georgiastatesignal.com/mayor-bottoms-tear-down-this-statue/">published an open letter</a> to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, asking her to “<a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-state-students-demand-atlanta-mayor-move-henry-grady-statue/gaWZYwDGe7bh1r87V8NWlM/">tear down this statue</a>” in reference to the Grady statue in the diverse university’s neighborhood. </p>
<p>In February, students at Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/grady-high-school-students-call-for-school-name-change/fEV4GL25rqnpGrUxNElF9O/">petitioned the school board</a> to give the school a name that doesn’t “honor a segregationist.” </p>
<p>And last week, as protests against police brutality consumed the country, the student newspaper at the University of Georgia <a href="https://www.redandblack.com/opinion/guest-column-its-time-for-uga-to-give-the-journalism-school-a-new-name/article_4762ea4e-a4d2-11ea-9782-f37db0848d88.html">ran an op-ed</a> calling for the school to rename its Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, where the motto is “We are Grady.” <a href="https://www.change.org/p/university-of-georgia-rename-uga-s-grady-college-for-charlayne-hunter-gault?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_22596998_en-US%3Av10&recruiter=442472218&recruited_by_id=1ffd7b50-9c2f-11e5-81fc-e17bd24139d8&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi">A petition</a> demands that the Board of Regents “Rename Grady” to honor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlayne-Hunter-Gault">Charlayne Hunter-Gault</a>, a journalist who helped integrate the university in 1961.</p>
<h2>Grady and convict leasing</h2>
<p>These demands are important because the consequences of Grady’s beliefs are still being felt today. </p>
<p>To understand the roots of anti-black bias in modern policing, the history of convict labor in the South is a good place to start. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1880s, Grady used the pages of the Atlanta Constitution to defend Georgia’s brutal <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/convict-lease-system">convict leasing system</a>. Under the policy, the state arrested and convicted black men, women and children for vagrancy, minor offenses and false charges. State leaders then leased prisoners to private industrial enterprises that exploited their labor. </p>
<p>Why did Grady protect such a scheme? Every member of his <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/henry-w-grady-1850-1889">Atlanta Ring</a> – the cabal of Democratic Party leaders who cycled through the governor’s office and the U.S. Senate – lined their pockets with profits from the convict lease. Some built enormous fortunes.</p>
<p>Their camps were places of horror. Convicts were forced to work from sunup to sundown with inadequate food, clothing and shelter. Women were assaulted, and children were born and raised in captivity. Inhumane punishments included flogging, stringing up by the thumbs, the sweat box and the water torture, akin to water boarding. Death ran rampant, by torture, disease, accident and suicide. </p>
<p>One of Grady’s close friends, Robert Alston, attempted to expose the system and was murdered in a <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/9780881464306/Murder-State-Capitol-Biography-Col-0881464309/plp">suspicious incident in the Georgia State House</a> involving members of the Atlanta Ring. Grady covered the sordid affair in the Constitution, soon became managing editor and part owner, and spent the rest of his life protecting <a href="https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/convict-leasing/">convict leasing</a>. </p>
<h2>Black resistance mounts</h2>
<p>During Grady’s era, black journalists fiercely condemned Grady’s New South doctrine and the systems of white supremacy he helped build. </p>
<p>As William J. White, a prominent black editor and founder of what became Morehouse College, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Schooling_Jim_Crow/qPKyAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22red%20with%20the%20blood%22">put it</a>: “The fortunes of many a prominent white Georgia family are red with the blood and sweat of Black men justly and unjustly held to labor in Georgia prison camps.” </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14975?msg=welcome_stranger">“Southern Horrors</a>,” the first of her many lynching reports, Ida B. Wells blamed Grady and his New South doctrine for racial terror lynchings in the South. And in <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t1612/?st=gallery">“Lynch Law in Georgia</a>,” she laid bare the active role the Atlanta Constitution and other white newspapers played in inciting lynching, including the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/atthehandsofpersonsunknown.htm">brutal lynching of Sam Hose</a>. “The Southern press,” she wrote, “champions burning men alive.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C49%2C3547%2C2346&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341018/original/file-20200610-34666-1cb8c75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protester faces off with police during rioting and protests in Atlanta on May 29, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-faces-off-with-police-during-rioting-and-protests-news-photo/1216247525?adppopup=true">JOHN AMIS/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the Constitution, Grady covered lynching with disturbingly lighthearted headlines. A story about a triple lynching was headlined “Triple Trapeze.” Another headline rhymed: “Two Minutes to Pray Before a Rope Dislocates Their Vertebrae.” He oversaw coverage that actively incited lynching and demonized victims as “miscreants,” “brutes” and “fiends.” </p>
<p>Like Wells, <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/fortune-t-thomas-1856-1928/">T. Thomas Fortune</a>, the most influential black journalist of the period, would have none of Grady’s insistence that the South must be left alone by the North to solve the “problem” of the “Negro.”</p>
<p>“Grady appeals to the North to leave the race question to ‘us’ and ‘we’ will settle it,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Xet1AAAAMAAJ&q=fortune+afro-american+agitator&dq=fortune+afro-american+agitator&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwior9mcq7HgAhXCdN8KHbEFCxwQ6AEIKDAA">Fortune wrote</a>. “So ‘we’ will; but the ‘we’ Mr. Grady had ‘in his mind’s eye’ will not be permitted to settle it alone. Not by any means, Mr. Grady. Not only the White ‘we,’ but the Colored ‘we’ as well, will demand a share in that settlement.” </p>
<p>Fortune repeatedly confronted Grady, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Way_it_was_in_the_South/zpmjRm4cdswC?hl=en&gbpv=1">calling Georgia’s convict system</a> a “cesspool of degradation and crime” that thrived “under the very nostrils of the prophet Grady.”</p>
<p>In the last speech of his life, Grady attacked Fortune as an “Afro-American agitator,” apparently anxious about Fortune’s creation of the Afro-American League, a national civil rights group. </p>
<p>In 1889 in Boston, Grady spoke against the Lodge Bill, federal legislation meant to protect the black vote in the South. Congress defeated the measure and the white South was left to disfranchise black voters by law, fraud and violence for generations.</p>
<p>Black Americans who lived during Grady’s day understood the man and his work for what they were. And they left a record in their journalism. White, Wells, Fortune and others created a black public sphere that has worked ever since toward building a more inclusive, egalitarian America. </p>
<p>Students in Georgia, having learned their history, have joined the struggle. What happens next matters if we are ever to achieve the America we all deserve.</p>
<p><em>University of Massachusetts Amherst journalism graduates Ethan Bakuli and Natalie DiDomenico conducted research for this article. Portions of this article originally appeared in a previous article published on Feb. 15, 2019.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathy Roberts Forde's previous article on Henry W. Grady in The Conversation was referenced in the Georgia State student editorial, and she has supported efforts to remove Grady's name from the public landscape in Georgia.</span></em></p>As protests over George Floyd’s death consume the country, students are forcing a reappraisal of a controversial editor and orator who helped build modern Atlanta.Kathy Roberts Forde, Associate Professor, Journalism Department, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1292132020-03-25T12:27:44Z2020-03-25T12:27:44ZDeal with ransomware the way police deal with hostage situations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321108/original/file-20200317-60915-zw675f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C88%2C7326%2C4814&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">it's never good to find your data locked up.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sadness-company-agent-woman-finding-working-659365795">PR Image Factory/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When faced with a <a href="https://www.us-cert.gov/Ransomware">ransomware</a> attack, a person or company or government agency finds its digital data encrypted by an unknown person, and then gets a demand for a ransom. </p>
<p>As that type of digital hijacking has become <a href="https://iapp.org/news/a/the-ransomware-epidemic-explained/">more common in recent years</a>, there have been two major <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/congress-still-doesnt-have-an-answer-for-ransomware/">ways people have chosen to respond</a>: pay the ransom, which can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, or hire computer security consultants to recover the data independently.</p>
<p>Those approaches are missing another option that we have identified in <a href="https://kelley.iu.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/profile.cshtml?id=SJSHACKE">our</a> cybersecurity policy <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YtgRGx0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studies</a>. Police have a long history of <a href="https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/crisis-or-hostage-negotiation-the-distinction-between-two-important-terms">successful crisis and hostage negotiation</a> – experience that offers lessons that could be useful for people and organizations facing ransomware attacks.</p>
<h2>Understanding the problem</h2>
<p>In the first nine months of 2019, more than 600 U.S. government agencies – including entire municipal governments – <a href="https://statescoop.com/report-70-percent-of-ransomware-attacks-in-2019-hit-state-and-local-governments/">suffered</a> ransomware attacks. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards was forced to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/louisiana-declares-state-of-emergency-after-cybersecurity-attack-2019-11">declare</a> a state of emergency following ransomware attacks on state government servers that caused widespread network outages at <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/hackers-paradise-louisianas-ransomware-disaster-far-from-over/">many state agencies</a>, including the Office of Motor Vehicles and the departments of Public Health and Public Safety.</p>
<p>Many of those victims chose to pay the ransom demanded by whoever hijacked their data. Lake City, Florida, for instance, <a href="https://www.hipaajournal.com/fbi-new-ransomware-guidance-extent-us-ransomware-epidemic-revealed/">paid US$460,000</a> to unlock its data. </p>
<p>Other targets, like the city of Baltimore, chose to fight back instead of paying the ransom. Rather than handing the attackers the $76,000 they demanded, Baltimore paid more than $10 million to purchase new equipment and absorbed more than $8 million in <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-ransomware-email-20190529-story.html">lost revenue</a> from taxes and fees that went unpaid while systems were down. </p>
<p>Those moves were in line with <a href="https://www.welivesecurity.com/2016/05/09/fbi-ransomware-extortionists/">FBI advice</a> saying that paying the ransom could increase the likelihood of additional attacks, both on previous targets and new ones.</p>
<p>More recently, the FBI has <a href="https://www.ic3.gov/media/2019/191002.aspx">softened its stance</a> to open the door to the paying of ransom in certain cases, but to always <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/03/fbi_softens_stance_on_ransomware/">report doing so</a> to law enforcement. Although the agency still underscores that paying a ransom does not guarantee that the encrypted files will be recovered, or that the victim will not be targeted again, it does recognize that “<a href="https://www.ic3.gov/media/2019/191002.aspx">all options</a>” should be considered in these cases.</p>
<h2>Preventing ransomware</h2>
<p>The best protection against ransomware is <a href="https://edscoop.com/indiana-u-cybersecurity-clinic-local-organizations/">prevention</a>. </p>
<p>Learn, and teach your coworkers and employees, <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-cybercrime-120062">how best to protect yourselves</a>, both personally and professionally, from hackers. Keep software up-to-date with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-petya-ransomware-attack-shows-how-many-people-still-dont-install-software-updates-77667">latest security upgrades</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, ensure your <a href="https://www.csoonline.com/article/3331981/how-to-protect-backups-from-ransomware.html">data is backed up regularly</a>. That way, if a ransomware attack happens, the victims can get professional help removing the malware from their systems, restore their data and move on. </p>
<p>Many companies have purchased <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-digital-threats-grow-will-cyber-insurance-take-off-104371">insurance coverage</a> to help pay the costs of recovering from ransomware – but some of those policies also <a href="https://www.hipaajournal.com/insurance-companies-are-fueling-the-ransomware-epidemic-by-paying-ransoms/">include paying ransoms</a> in the event of an attack.</p>
<p>Getting the data back isn’t a sure thing. Of the organizations that have paid the ransom, <a href="https://features.propublica.org/ransomware/ransomware-attack-data-recovery-firms-paying-hackers/">20% haven’t actually recovered</a> their data.</p>
<p>That presents victims with the certainty of spending some amount of money – whether it’s a ransom payment or a bill for a cybersecurity specialist – and not necessarily getting their data back. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321133/original/file-20200317-60910-14l6yta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t rush to hand over the cash a ransomware attacker demands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/case-full-dollar-33091483">Andrey Burmakin/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An opportunity to engage</h2>
<p>We have found another approach that could reduce the amount of money spent and simultaneously increase the certainty of data recovery.</p>
<p>Negotiating with hostage takers is tricky business, both online and offline. But many cybercriminals are often willing to bargain over the price of a ransomware payout. In fact, nearly three out of four ransomware hackers would <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1353-4858(16)30096-4">return stolen data for a discounted price</a>. </p>
<p>With cybercrime overall – of which ransomware is a large and growing component – slated to cost the global economy <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-rod-j-rosenstein-delivers-remarks-cambridge-cyber-summit">$6 trillion a year</a> by 2021, the opportunity to lower costs could be very valuable. For people or organizations without insurance coverage, there is little to lose by trying.</p>
<p>When a ransomware attack begins, affected computers’ screens normally announce the attack, include a demand for payment, and show a countdown clock, after which, allegedly, the hijacked data will become irretrievable.</p>
<p>That time is a window of opportunity to negotiate with the attackers. Usually, ransomware attackers require their victims to buy <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/what-is-bitcoin/">bitcoin</a>, a form of <a href="https://theconversation.com/cryptocurrencies-blockchains-and-their-dark-side-4-essential-reads-103567">digital currency</a>, in order to pay the ransom. Most people don’t know how to buy bitcoin in the first place, so often an attacker has to teach the victim what to do. This opens a channel of communication between the victim and the attacker, which is analogous to the starting point police experts use to defuse hostage situations.</p>
<h2>Negotiating with cybercriminals</h2>
<p>In general, the less the victim knows about how to purchase bitcoin, the more time the victim has to build up rapport and trust with the cybercriminal. During a negotiation, an attacker may <a href="https://www.elliptic.co/our-thinking/4-step-response-plan-bitcoin-ransomware-attacks">extend payment deadlines</a>, lower the ransom, decrypt some data as a show of “good faith” or provide step-by-step assistance in purchasing bitcoin.</p>
<p>These steps may be understood as offers to gain the hostage’s trust and may reveal the hacker’s willingness to be flexible. A victim can request some data be restored, in part to prove that the hacker actually controls the files. </p>
<p>If the attacker doesn’t provide any decrypted data, it may be a sign that the ransomware is one that <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/08/ransomware-wiper-malware-attacks-have-more-than-doubled-ibm-team-says/">just erases data</a>, rather than holding it hostage. That type of attack cannot be reversed, even if a ransom is paid. </p>
<p>If that’s the case, then it may be smart to terminate negotiation and not consider paying the ransom, either.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321114/original/file-20200317-60901-15njg82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2018, U.S. federal prosecutors charged a North Korean agent with computer crimes, including a ransomware attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/first-assistant-u-s-attorney-tracy-wilkison-announces-news-photo/1027773930?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A risky business</h2>
<p>No strategy for dealing with a ransomware attack is without risk. </p>
<p>Paying the ransom <a href="https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/ransomware/ransomware-to-pay-or-not-to-pay/">appears to increase the chances</a> of being targeted again in the future, according to one 2018 report. In a future attack, the attackers will be less likely to believe that you don’t know how to buy or send bitcoin.</p>
<p>Paying the ransom also lets the criminals, and at times rogue nations like <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/19/571854614/u-s-says-north-korea-directly-responsible-for-wannacry-ransomware-attack">North Korea</a> who also mount ransomware attacks, earn significant amounts with minimal risk, possibly increasing the likelihood of others being targeted as well.</p>
<p>Declaring that you won’t pay the ransom has its own dangers, as Baltimore saw, paying millions in fees to recover data and rebuild systems. That data could, at least potentially, have been reclaimed for just thousands of dollars. </p>
<p>In a similar situation, the city of Atlanta was hit by “<a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/atlanta-ransomware-attack-hit-mission-critical-systems/">GoldenEye</a>” ransomware, with cyberextortionists demanding $51,000 in bitcoin. Atlanta, like Baltimore, refused to pay. The city ended up spending <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-atlanta-budget/atlanta-officials-reveal-worsening-effects-of-cyber-attack-idUSKCN1J231M">more than $9.5 million</a> in taxpayer dollars for recovery. </p>
<p>These events make clear the moral and ethical dilemma around fueling crime and efficiently using public resources, a quandary that can be lessened, if not relieved entirely, by negotiating.</p>
<p>More organizations are trying this new approach, seeking to lower ransom payments and recover data less expensively. For example, the municipal government of Mekinac, Quebec, Canada, managed to <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/cyber/quebec-municipality-hit-with-major-cyberattack-117002.aspx">lower its ransomware payment by 55%</a> through negotiations. In our view, it’s worth a try – and while certainly not risk-free, it could help.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Shackelford is a principal investigator on grants from the Hewlett Foundation, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and the Microsoft Corporation supporting both the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance and the Indiana University Cybersecurity Clinic.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Wade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Police experience in crisis and hostage negotiation could come in handy when dealing with cybercriminals who have, effectively, kidnapped data.Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana UniversityMegan Wade, Master of Public Affairs Candidate in Information Systems, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218622019-08-16T12:52:36Z2019-08-16T12:52:36ZWhy are people still dying from Legionnaires’ disease?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288192/original/file-20190815-136208-s9lota.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Inhaling mist contaminated with _Legionella pneumophila_ can lead to Legionnaires' disease.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-shower-behind-misted-glass-takes-1227823831">Denis Klimov 3000/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the nearly 50 years since epidemiologists first discovered Legionnaires’ disease, we have learned how to test for it, treat it and prevent it. So why are people still dying from it and why are more and more people becoming sick with it every single year?</p>
<p>Most recently, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/07/us/legionnaires-disease-atlanta-death.html">one woman died</a> and over 70 other people were infected in the largest outbreak of the disease in Georgia history after staying at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in mid-July. </p>
<p>From 2000 through 2017, the number of reports of Legionnaires’ disease <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/about/history.html">increased over 500% in the United States</a>. Many factors contribute to this increase: a true increase in cases, an older population at higher risk, better diagnosis, improved disease reporting and more thorough investigation of outbreaks by health departments. However, the fact remains that each year over 6,000 people are infected and over 250 people die from a disease that is <a href="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/06/cdc-most-healthcare-acquired-legionnaires-cases-could-be-prevented">largely preventable</a>.</p>
<p>I am an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health. For nearly 15 years, I investigated outbreaks of disease for the health department in Las Vegas and I dealt with Legionnaires’ disease in Las Vegas Strip hotels <a href="https://vegasinc.lasvegassun.com/business/2011/aug/23/aria-guests-sue-after-acquiring-legionnaires-disea/">on</a> <a href="https://lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jan/30/guest-who-stayed-luxor-dies-legionnaires-disease/">numerous</a> <a href="https://knpr.org/knpr/2012-02/legionnaires-strikes-again-mgm-hotels">occasions</a>, including repeatedly investigating one resort that spent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268811002779">eight years fighting the pathogen</a>. </p>
<h2>What is Legionnaires’ disease?</h2>
<p>Legionnaires’ disease is a respiratory disease that occurs when the bacteria <em>Legionella pneumophila</em> infect the lungs. In order to become sick, you have to inhale microscopic droplets of water that are contaminated with the bacteria. Simply drinking contaminated water is not enough to make you sick, and you cannot catch the disease from someone else who is sick. </p>
<p>It can take up to 10 days for symptoms to appear, and when they do, they initially look like a bad case of flu. The illness typically begins with a high fever, a cough, shortness of breath, muscle ache and headache. After a couple of days, these symptoms progress to pneumonia, a buildup of fluid in the lungs that makes it difficult to breathe. In <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/health-depts/surv-reporting/2014-15-surv-report-508.pdf">2014 and 2015</a>, more than 95% of people with Legionnaires’ disease wound up being hospitalized. While the disease is treatable with antibiotics, about 1 in 8 still died from their infection. </p>
<p>Although the bacteria can infect people of all ages, more than 80% of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/health-depts/surv-reporting/2014-15-surv-report-508.pdf">reported cases</a> were 50 years old or older and about 60% were men. Smokers and people with underlying lung diseases – such as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – or weakened immune systems, due to medicines or health problems such as cancer or diabetes, are also at higher risk of infection.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288195/original/file-20190815-136230-e48t2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease resemble the flu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/legionnaires-disease-legionellosis-legion-fever-signs-302169239?src=CuKPbXkOCKSoAr3Ynyy-Cw-1-5">Designua/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How does it spread?</h2>
<p>We have learned a lot about the disease and how it spreads since it was discovered and named nearly 50 years ago. In 1976, an estimated 180 attendees of American Legion convention in Philadelphia developed a mysterious respiratory illness and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00045731.htm">29 died within days of the event</a>. It wasn’t until months after that outbreak that the responsible organism, <em>Legionella pneumophila</em>, <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/11/ET-2311_article">was first discovered</a>. The bacteria was found growing in the hotel’s cooling tower and was spread throughout the hotel via the air conditioning system.</p>
<p>We now know that <em>Legionella pneumophila</em> can be regularly found in fresh water all over the world, which makes preventing disease a particular challenge. We also know that man-made water systems, including <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/legionnaires-outbreak-traced-back-playboy-mansion/story?id=12924405">hot tubs</a>, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1097%2FPHH.0000000000000558">cooling towers</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/11/us/mist-in-grocery-s-produce-section-is-linked-to-legionnaires-disease.html">misters</a>, <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/1/01-0176_article">fountains</a>, hot water tanks, and even the complex plumbing systems in big buildings can grow and spread <em>Legionella</em>. </p>
<p>Two things have to happen for a person to develop Legionnaires’ disease. First, a person has to be exposed to the bacteria through inhaling small droplets of water. Then the bacteria has to multiply until there are enough of them to cause disease. The first factor is impossible to control, as exposure occurs through breathing contaminated water. For example, if you take a shower, there is no way to prevent breathing in the fine mist created by the shower head. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288197/original/file-20190815-136203-1gcvhbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Legionnaires’ disease was named for an outbreak at a conference of the American Legion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Glynnis Jones/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>High risk times for <em>Legionella</em></h2>
<p>Because these bacteria are found everywhere in fresh water, it is impossible to keep them from being introduced into a water system. That leaves society with the challenge of controlling the number of bacteria. The bacteria can live a long time in the pipes that are part of a larger water system, such as those that are in hotels and nursing homes, and when a person turns on the shower in a hotel, <em>Legionella</em> comes tumbling out, too.</p>
<p>The most important factor in preventing <em>Legionella</em> growth in pipes and the water system is to control the temperature of the water. These bacteria grows best at temperatures between <a href="https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emerging/legionella.pdf">77 and 108 degrees Fahrenheit</a>. The longer water sits in pipes, such as those in a hotel room that is unoccupied for several days, the more likely it is that it will be in that temperature danger zone and the bacteria will flourish. This is why Legionnaires’ disease cases spike in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/health-depts/surv-reporting/2014-15-surv-report-508.pdf">summer and early fall</a> when it is harder to keep the water out of that temperature danger zone. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the responsibility for preventing Legionnaires’ disease falls on the shoulders of the building owners and managers to implement a comprehensive <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/wmp/index.html">water management program</a> of the complex water systems in their facility. Unlike private homes, commercial buildings have miles of pipe where water may sit for long periods of time, water-based cooling systems, large spas and decorative fountains – and these all have to be properly maintained to prevent <em>Legionella</em> growth. This is particularly important for hospitals and nursing homes, as 20% of Legionnaires’ cases are acquired in health care settings by people who are at high risk for infection. However, as we have seen in the outbreak in Atlanta, and in hundreds of other outbreaks over the years, Legionnaires’ disease can affect anyone at any time. </p>
<p>As we start to understand <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/officials-confirm-first-legionnaires-death-linked-atlanta-outbreak/qlcU6tCtW4hA3LRQThlfiK/">what went wrong in Atlanta</a>, public health experts might learn more about how to prevent Legionnaires’ disease. It’s then up to building owners and operators to put the necessary protections in place throughout the country. Unfortunately the public can’t do much more than hold their breath. </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=signupinsight">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter to get insight each day</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Labus was previously funded by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for disease surveillance and outbreak investigation activities, including Legionnaires' disease.</span></em></p>A woman recently died from Legionnaires’ disease at an Atlanta hotel. Why? The cause is known and the disease is largely preventable. Yet the number of cases in the US continue to rise.Brian Labus, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada, Las VegasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1088212019-02-01T11:40:08Z2019-02-01T11:40:08ZSuper Bowl LIII and the soul of Atlanta<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256475/original/file-20190130-127151-13yv0ky.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">During Super Bowl LIII, will Atlanta's long struggle for racial equality be highlighted or glossed over?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/petercirophotography/25561248997">Peter Ciro/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/180852120">historian who studies W.E.B. Du Bois</a> – and as someone who once lived in nearby Athens, Georgia – I’m struck by the significance of Atlanta hosting the Super Bowl at this moment in the country’s history.</p>
<p>When Du Bois lived in Atlanta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a place of both opportunity and peril for blacks. During the civil rights era, it headquartered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, while serving as a base for black student activism. Today, many view it as America’s “<a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469635354/the-legend-of-the-black-mecca/">Black Mecca</a>.” It has a solid black middle and upper class, possesses a vibrant soul and hip-hop music scene and serves as a base of black political power.</p>
<p>Atlanta hosting the Super Bowl, however, creates an undeniable paradox. </p>
<p>Over the past few seasons, the NFL has found itself grappling with the issue of whether to allow its players to protest the killings of unarmed black men and women by kneeling during the national anthem. The league has made clear that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/17/nfl-plans-no-change-national-anthem-policy-least-through-season-perhaps-longer/?utm_term=.3a2b20282d0f">it doesn’t support players’ right to protest</a>, and many of the Americans who cheer for these players every Sunday object to those same players standing up against the racial inequalities that persist in American life.</p>
<p>While much of the focus of Sunday’s game will be on the pageantry and competition, I think it’s worth reflecting on how Atlanta evolved into the city it is today, the forces that threaten its progress, and how hosting the Super Bowl symbolizes this tension.</p>
<h2>Two Atlantas, two warring ideals</h2>
<p>In 1897, Du Bois came to Atlanta to establish a center of social scientific research at Atlanta University. During this time in Du Bois’ life, Atlanta was ground zero for America’s racial tensions. It was strictly segregated and subject to Jim Crow laws, and 241 blacks were lynched in Georgia <a href="https://uncpress.flexpub.com/preview/the-legend-of-the-black-mecca">between 1888 and 1903</a>.</p>
<p>In 1899, Du Bois lost his infant son, Burghardt, to diphtheria, a bacterial infection. Du Bois believed Burghardt died from a lack of prompt treatment because white doctors in Atlanta would not treat black patients. That same year, a black man named Sam Hose <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/w-e-b-du-bois-georgia">was brutally lynched</a> in nearby Newnan, Georgia, after being accused of raping a white woman. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256481/original/file-20190130-112314-1k8gu6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">W.E.B. Du Bois’ feelings about Atlanta alternated between hope and despair.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Motto_web_dubois_original.jpg">National Portrait Gallery</a></span>
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<p>These two events tremendously influenced Du Bois, his relationship with Atlanta, and his understanding of race in America. In 1903, he published “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm">The Souls of Black Folk</a>,” in which he declared, “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color-line.” </p>
<p>Du Bois foresaw a future in which black Americans would endure the “psychic tension” of living in a society that encouraged them to be Americans yet condemned them to second-class citizenship. </p>
<p>“One ever feels his two-ness,” he wrote, “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”</p>
<p>Following the book’s publication, Du Bois continued to face challenges in Atlanta. In 1906, riots broke out after <a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlanta-race-riot-1906">a local paper published rumors</a> of black men raping white women. In response, Du Bois penned the poem “<a href="https://www.bartleby.com/269/26.html">A Litany of Atlanta</a>,” petitioning God for understanding and intervention. </p>
<p>“A city lay in travail, God our Lord, and from her loins sprang twin Murder and Black Hate,” he wrote.</p>
<p>Despite his grief, Du Bois held out hope that Atlanta, the “city of a hundred hills,” could become a beacon of greater democracy.</p>
<h2>Of Atalanta and golden apples</h2>
<p>In “The Souls of Black Folk,” Du Bois also draws on Greek mythology to recount the legend of the “winged maiden” Atalanta, who, disinclined to marry, says she will only marry a man who can beat her in a foot race. When a suitor, Hippomenes, challenges Atalanta, he lures her off course with three golden apples. Atalanta’s greed costs her the race and she is forced to marry Hippomenes.</p>
<p>The story is a cautionary one. For Du Bois, Atlanta had the potential to be a great city. But if it worshiped materialism and chased wealth, it too would suffer the curse of Atalanta. Instead of reaching for golden apples, Du Bois encouraged Atlanta to establish and support universities that promote democratic ideals of “truth,” “freedom” and “broad humanity,” while striving to “Teach thinkers to think.”</p>
<p>In many ways, Atlanta has lived up to Du Bois’ dreams for the city. Today, it is home to the vibrant Atlanta University Center Consortium, which comprises Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse, Spelman and Morehouse School of Medicine; Atlanta, along with Washington, D.C., <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2018/01/15/the-cities-where-african-americans-are-doing-the-best-economically-2018/#173716261abe">is considered by Forbes as the best U.S. city economically for blacks</a>; and <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/mayor-s-office/meet-the-mayor">Keisha Lance Bottoms</a> serves as the city’s seventh consecutive black mayor. </p>
<p>Yet, as historian Maurice Hobson <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-atlantas-new-mayor-revive-americas-black-mecca-86902">has pointed out</a>, Atlanta also has a large percentage of its black population living in poverty. At certain points over the past five years, 80 percent of black children in Atlanta resided in poverty-ridden communities and unemployment among blacks <a href="https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/georgia/report-puts-atlanta-among-the-50-worst-cities-to-live-in-the-country/93-564459928">has been as high as 22 percent</a>.</p>
<p>There is still work to be done, and golden apples can be tempting. According to the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the Super Bowl <a href="https://www.ajc.com/sports/football/new-stadium-lures-2019-super-bowl-atlanta/kJKUJdLlOwzOmoVAMkEFkO/">will reportedly have a US$400 million economic impact on the city</a>. While attracting revenue can be beneficial, the city has already lost of some its legacy as a result of development. </p>
<p>In fact, the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be held, sits on the grounds of the historic Friendship and Mount Vernon Baptist churches – a symbol of how <a href="https://bittersoutherner.com/lightning-the-atlanta-community-lost-to-super-bowl-dreams">the forces of development can silence history and wipe out communities</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256484/original/file-20190130-110834-1jyg271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Police on horseback patrol the parking lot of Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead of Super Bowl LIII.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Super-Bowl-Security/884a3a226dc24138a0d03c5ba04ab99d/1/0">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span>
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<h2>What to watch for</h2>
<p>Du Bois’ ideas in “The Souls of Black Folk” provide a framework for understanding the complexities of the Super Bowl taking place in Atlanta. </p>
<p>While black players are lauded for their on-field accomplishments, the harsh criticism they receive for peacefully protesting racial inequality creates the double consciousness Du Bois so eloquently described. It raises, again, a question Du Bois famously posed: “How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.”</p>
<p>Will the Super Bowl organizers showcase Atlanta’s civil rights history, or gloss over it? Will they bring attention to the city’s rich legacy of peacefully protesting racial injustice? I’m not getting my hopes up.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256489/original/file-20190130-112314-m6kxfl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A man paints a mural on a building near the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta as part of a program to highlight Atlanta’s civil rights legacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Super-Bowl-Civil-Rights-Murals/c967734d665a4ec08c271f8769ff8ef5/4/0">AP Photo/John Bazemore</a></span>
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<p>As I watch the halftime show, I will appreciate singer Rihanna’s <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/rihanna-declined-super-bowl-liii-halftime-show-offer/">refusal to participate</a>; I’ll also be thinking about Jay-Z’s decision not to perform at last year’s Super Bowl, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/sports/football/jay-turns-down-offer-perform-super-bowl/QhaU4XIe7YYWX98Ry7ez9H/">reportedly in support of players’ peaceful protests</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the paradox of hosting the Super Bowl, the city does seem to understand that this is an important opportunity to provide the nation with a teachable moment.</p>
<p>Last year, city officials launched an initiative <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/civil-rights-themed-murals-grace-atlanta-before-super-bowl/fCwsRPTKS44B7HK7i7ls5M/">to paint murals</a> around the city to commemorate the civil rights movement in the months leading up to the Super Bowl. In addition, the NAACP and other civil rights groups <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/civil-rights-groups-rally-piedmont-park-ahead-super-bowl/IBlm7ZLIQYIzbIFtwF4a3J/">will hold a protest</a> on the day before the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>I hope that this tradition will continue – that, in the long run, Atlanta will resist the temptation to be enticed by Hippomenes’ golden apples, that it will bring attention to racial injustices by advocating for “truth,” “freedom” and “humanity.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derrick P. Alridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The country’s ‘Black Mecca’ is hosting the Super Bowl. With the NFL’s national anthem controversy still lingering, this creates an undeniable paradox.Derrick P. Alridge, Professor of Education, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/869022017-12-07T19:18:10Z2017-12-07T19:18:10ZCan Atlanta’s new mayor revive America’s ‘black mecca’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198212/original/file-20171207-11325-hmznti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keisha Lance Bottoms.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/John Bazemore</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Atlanta mayoral showdown between Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood was a political battle 30 years in the making.</p>
<p>Atlanta was poised to elect its first white mayor in decades. However, Bottoms, who is black, claimed a <a href="http://www.myajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/recount-unlikely-favor-norwood-atlanta-mayor-race/deIcq2TERof8fpeXJVkueK/">narrow victory</a> with a few hundred votes more than her opponent. Norwood, who is white, has called for a recount that is unlikely to alter the results.</p>
<p>The election demonstrated the complicated nature of race, class and gender in southern politics. The world has watched Atlanta – the “Black Mecca” – emerge as the vanguard for political inclusion through black electoral politics. Yet, tensions have <a href="http://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/marta-tsplost-transportation/">long simmered</a> just below the surface of the so-called City Too Busy to Hate, as I write in my book, “<a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469635354/the-legend-of-the-black-mecca">The Legend of the Black Mecca</a>.” Atlanta’s pomp and circumstance of the “Black Mecca” is in jeopardy.</p>
<p>Will keeping Atlanta’s executive leader black help resolve these tensions?</p>
<h2>The black new South</h2>
<p>It has been 44 years since <a href="https://saportareport.com/lets-salute-maynard-jackson-40-years-after-becoming-atlantas-mayor-changing-citys-history/">Maynard Jackson Jr.</a> became the first black mayor of Atlanta. And yet, by and large, Atlanta’s working and poorer classes have suffered as the city has risen to global prominence.</p>
<p>The 1980s dealt a deafening blow when President Ronald Reagan <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/reagans-real-legacy/">cut federal funding</a> to American cities. During that time period, Atlanta’s mayors had no choice but to expand the city through developments made by international investors with profit in mind, but no interest in helping the city’s poor. For example, by the 1980s, Atlanta had the second-highest poverty rate in the country, a large homeless population, a high high school dropout rate along with a drug crisis and a recession. As I explain in my book, Atlanta was also one of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/14/us/drugs-in-atlanta-a-lost-generation.html">top-ranked cities</a> in the country for incidence of violent crimes. </p>
<p>In 1987, Atlanta’s white business community and the black city government started a bid to host the Centennial Olympic Games. In the bidding process, they promoted the city to the world but did little for Atlanta’s natives. Since then, as I see it, Atlanta’s black leadership has been compromised. </p>
<p>The city’s white business elite saw the Olympic bid as a means to recapture Atlanta’s urban center from blight, triggered by white flight of prior generations. They constructed the <a href="http://www.1ac.com/thelocation.php">Atlantic Center</a>, a master-planned, multiphase office complex with 3 million square feet of premium office space. They also created the <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/local/red-dog-disbanded/YX52PfLGA4pDORgnbcgJCK/">Red Dogs</a>, a military-style police outfit, an aggressive police force in black neighborhoods with high occurrence of drug sales and use as well as violent drug-related crimes. In just seven months after its founding, the Red Dogs were responsible for 721 felony arrests.</p>
<p>During this time, white money transcended black political power. Black politicians became pawns between the city’s white business, black middle classes and poor, and international Olympic delegations.</p>
<h2>Atlanta anticipated</h2>
<p>As I explain in my book, the popular political sentiment of the black masses is one of distrust and resentment toward leadership. They believe black leaders pursued policies that benefited white and black elites to the exclusion of the vast majority of black citizens who had brought them to power. </p>
<p>Take housing, for example. From 1974 to 1984, funding for the city’s public housing was slashed by 74 percent. So, Atlanta’s leadership demolished much of it, displacing thousands. The city is now 30 years into a 40-year plan to take back downtown real estate and set housing at market prices – making it unaffordable to working Atlantans who don’t have generational wealth.</p>
<p>I am disheartened by my generation’s negligence. As of Dec. 5, 2017, 640,861 voters <a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/2017-city-of-atlanta-general-election/2017-election-results">were registered</a> in Atlanta’s Fulton County and DeKalb County districts. Only 92,169 voters cast ballots for the mayoral race. For black Gen Xers, this mayoral race demonstrates how negligent we are in understanding history. Our parents bore witness to disenfranchisement and second-class citizenship until the mid-1960s, only for us – the black electorate of Atlanta – to became idolaters of power and popularity, splitting the black vote and forgetting to perform politically.</p>
<p>Narrowly, black Atlantans delivered this election for Bottoms. The vote was divided by race. Maps show that Bottoms’s victory came from <a href="https://atlanta.curbed.com/2014/6/2/10092862/how-segregated-is-atlanta">predominantly black</a> neighborhoods of Atlanta’s west, southwest, south, southeast and east sides. Norwood carried neighborhoods in the predominantly white northern half of the city. Strikingly, the numbers indicate <a href="http://www.myajc.com/news/atlanta-mayoral-runoff-election-2017-precinct-results-map/nnKzoJYBcvkd4E5Hit38CM/">poor voter turnout</a> for both candidates. What does this mean for the future of a city branded as “the City Too Busy to Hate,” “The Black Mecca” and “Hotlanta”?</p>
<p>Let’s be clear: Atlanta is liberated territory for black, brown and other communities on the fringes. Yet, it may be too much to ask our city to live up to all of its competing images. Journalist John Helyar once wrote, “If New York is the Big Apple and New Orleans is the Big Easy, Atlanta is the Big Hustle.” Perhaps Atlanta can focus inwardly – recalibrating virtue and merit – casting aside its conniving spirit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maurice J. Hobson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The city’s image as a model for black mobility and civil rights is crumbling. An expert on race and class politics takes us behind the veneer of one of the South’s most important cities.Maurice J. Hobson, Assistant Professor of African-American Studies, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/869702017-11-09T04:00:31Z2017-11-09T04:00:31ZCould Atlanta be on track to elect a white mayor?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193866/original/file-20171109-14167-2b7kxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Atlanta mayoral candidates Keisha Lance Bottoms (left) and Mary Norwood will face off in December.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/David Goldman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Nov. 7, none of the 12 candidates for mayor of Atlanta received more than 50 percent of the vote.</p>
<p>That means the two candidates with the most votes, Councilwomen Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood, will face off in a Dec. 5 runoff. Lance Bottoms is black. Norwood is white.</p>
<p>Could 2017 be the year that Atlanta elects its first white mayor in more than a generation?</p>
<p>Going into the runoff, I anticipate that the African-American candidate, Councilwoman Lance Bottoms, has the advantage. She won the most votes on the first ballot, and black voters are still a force to be reckoned with in this city. Still, the race demonstrates the ways that changing urban demographics can alter the contours of political competition within historically black cities.</p>
<p>As majority black cities welcome increasing numbers of new, nonblack residents into their city limits, the probability that nonblacks will run for and win top leadership posts increases. However, it is important to realize that even under these conditions, African-Americans can and do win elections in jurisdictions where blacks comprise less than a majority of the population. </p>
<h2>Race to the runoff</h2>
<p>Until early October, polls showed that Mary Norwood had an early, consistent lead in a crowded field. Norwood is no stranger to Atlanta mayoral races. In 2009, she came within <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/us/10atlanta.html">714 votes</a> of beating now-incumbent Mayor Kasim Reed in a runoff.</p>
<p>In addition to Norwood, reporters were also following the trajectory of Peter Aman, the city’s former chief operating officer, who is also white. Aman emerged from obscurity in the early polls to become a contender, leading some to speculate that it was quite possible that two white candidates could emerge from the original slate to challenge each other in a runoff. </p>
<p>That didn’t happen. Norwood won second place. Aman finished a respectable fourth – after Cathy Woolard, the former city council president, who is also white. The strong performances by these candidates, who represent a range of ideological perspectives and have different bases of support, suggest that white candidates are viable in this city which once boasted a supermajority black population. </p>
<p>For years, African-Americans in Atlanta leveraged the concentration of blacks in the city – in part due to white flight – to become key players in city politics. The city’s black majority population has elected black mayors for more than four decades. However, the city’s black population has been shrinking for a generation. Whereas blacks comprised <a href="https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.pdf">two-thirds of the city’s population in 1990</a>, that number dropped to 54 percent by the <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF">2010 census</a>. Given the amount of development and gentrification going on the city today that is pricing older, poorer black residents out of the city, it is probable that the 2020 census will reveal an even smaller black population. As the population shifts, it is reasonable to assume that nonblack candidates will emerge as viable candidates for high-profile offices that blacks have held for nearly two generations.</p>
<h2>Don’t count black politicians out yet</h2>
<p>Despite Atlanta’s shrinking black population, African-American voters remain an important, influential voting bloc. While the performance of candidates Norwood, Woolard and Aman is notable, we must also remember that Councilwoman Lance Bottoms qualified for the runoff in first place. She benefited from the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Reed. Public polling also suggests that she had started to <a href="https://twitter.com/wsbtv/status/926573560822452225/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsbtv.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fatlanta-mayoral-race-new-poll-shows-shakeup-at-top%2F638346105">consolidate the African-American vote</a>, while Norwood, who was polling as high as about 20 percent among blacks <a href="https://media-beta.wsbtv.com/document_dev/2017/03/10/Atl%20Poll%20March%208th%20_7504877_ver1.0.pdf">in the spring</a>, started <a href="https://media-beta.wsbtv.com/document_dev/2017/08/29/Landmark%20Communications%2C%20Inc.%2C%20Poll%202%20City%20of%20Atlanta%20Mayor%20%20election_8997146_ver1.0.pdf">to lose black support</a>.</p>
<p>As we turn to the runoff, we should remember a few things. </p>
<p>First, we should seek to understand how demography matters in elections. As my colleagues Michael Leo Owens and Jacob Brown showed in a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/juaf.12067">paper about the 2009 Atlanta mayoral election</a>, racially polarized voting is a real phenomenon in Atlanta politics and should not be ignored. However, demography is not destiny in the ways that we think it is. </p>
<p>For starters, just because Atlanta’s black population is shrinking does not mean that black candidates cannot win office. As the 2014 election of Mayor Muriel Bowser in Washington, D.C. demonstrates, black candidates can still win office in larger cities even when their population falls below 50 percent. And one cannot discount the ability for black candidates to even win election in cities with few to no black residents. For instance, Wilmot Collins made history on Nov. 7 by being elected the first black mayor of Helena, Montana. He follows in the tradition of politicians like Wellington Webb of Denver and Norm Rice of Seattle, who, in 1989, became the first black mayors in majority white cities.</p>
<p>We often forget this, but in 1970 the Census Bureau estimated Atlanta’s black population to be only 51 percent. Three years later, Maynard Jackson became the city’s first black mayor.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, Atlanta has billed itself as <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/the-night-atlanta-truly-became-the-city-too-busy-to-hate-">“The City Too Busy to Hate.”</a> That slogan belies a complex racial history, but it connotes city leaders’ desire to demonstrate a progressive racial politics. As political scientist Clarence Stone showed in his classic “<a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/subjects/political-science-urban-politics/978-0-7006-0416-6.html">Regime Politics</a>,” electing black mayors has served as an important manifestation of the mantra. </p>
<p>One day, Atlanta will elect a nonblack mayor. However, that does not mean that Atlanta will no longer be “The City Too Busy to Hate,” “Black Mecca” or any of the other monikers that people popularly invoke to describe Atlanta as being a hub of black social, economic and political mobility. And it does not mean that all of a sudden, blacks can no longer be competitive candidates for citywide office or that black voters will not remain influential in determining the outcome of elections. It just means that contests will take on a new dimension of competitiveness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andra Gillespie has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation. She directs an Institute funded by the Mellon Foundation.</span></em></p>Atlanta is a black majority city that has elected black mayors since 1973. Two candidates now face a runoff in December.Andra Gillespie, Associate Professor, Political Science, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839162017-09-13T02:37:12Z2017-09-13T02:37:12Z5 ways to stretch your disaster relief dollars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185699/original/file-20170912-3792-fkaxxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hurricane Irma caused major damage to Naples and other Florida cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hurricane-Irma/4de2e5b77abc4882a1aa93e503771faa/63/0">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Americans want to help the people suffering from recent natural disasters in the U.S. and elsewhere. </p>
<p>There’s no shortage of media reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/12/irma-victims-need-for-relief-is-only-beginning.html">listing groups</a> that are taking these donations, which may ultimately total <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-generosity-after-disasters-4-questions-answered-83277">billions of dollars</a>. But how can you make the most of your contributions?</p>
<p>Having researched giving in the wake of disasters and taught students how to be effective philanthropists, I’ve learned that it’s hard to make good decisions regarding donations – especially when there are many urgent needs and countless ways to spend charitable dollars.</p>
<p>Here are some best practices you may want to consider before you contribute.</p>
<h2>Give money, not goods</h2>
<p>The ideal way to show your compassion is to donate money to a charity that you respect rather than shipping cartons of diapers and cases of canned chili.</p>
<p>It’s easy to think of disasters in personal terms: “What if it were me or my family?” and picture what you’d need if you suddenly became homeless: clothes, food or toys. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/search/result?sg=8b3ed693-4733-4f4b-9cb7-1c5ab3c36ad8&sp=1&sr=1&url=%2Fwhy-giving-cash-not-clothing-is-usually-best-after-disasters-83405">goods given</a> during emergencies often go to waste. Giving these things may make you feel like you’re making a real difference, but they can even do more harm than good when they interfere with disaster response efforts. </p>
<p>Besides, you aren’t likely to know what people on the (drenched) ground need. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183862/original/file-20170829-6691-u72cc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">These relief workers from the Red Cross offered food to people affected when Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola, Florida, in 2004.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/relief-workers-red-cross-offering-food-107991452?src=cWLGND1X--_x6vp8kF3M_Q-1-10">Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Donate to organizations operating on the scene</h2>
<p>But where should you send that money? It’s generally a good idea to support groups operating in the midst of the disaster. They can give money and other aid to the people who need it directly.</p>
<p>But first, do your homework to learn about an organization’s past performance. Established organizations are usually your best bet because they are the most apt to have staff, experience, infrastructure and roots in affected communities. National organizations like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-hurricane-harvey-donors-shouldnt-boycott-the-red-cross-83289">Red Cross</a> and the Salvation Army have long track records in disaster response – albeit with <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/10/29/359365276/on-superstorm-sandy-anniversary-red-cross-under-scrutiny">some baggage</a>.</p>
<p>To give locally, support groups firmly rooted in the affected area. Most American cities have United Way chapters and community foundations. After disasters these organizations typically raise money for relief work and make an effort to direct donations to where the funds are most needed. In the aftermath of both Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/">United Way Worldwide</a> has established funds to support relief efforts in <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/hurricane-harvey">Texas</a> and <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/hurricane-irma">Florida</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, community foundations based in <a href="https://ghcf.org/">Houston</a>, <a href="https://www.cfsetx.org/">Beaumont</a>, Texas and <a href="http://miamifoundation.org/">Miami</a> have established relief funds. These organizations have a long history of service to their local communities.</p>
<p>Sadly, many people outside the United States are also suffering from recent disasters. Not only has Hurricane Irma ravaged the Caribbean, but Mexico experienced its <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/08/americas/earthquake-hits-off-the-coast-of-southern-mexico/index.html">largest earthquake</a> in a century, which also caused damage in Guatemala. The <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mexico-earthquake-1.4284655">death toll</a> is nearing 100, yet it has garnered scant attention in the U.S. </p>
<p>The earthquake as well as floods and landslides in <a href="https://theconversation.com/facing-disasters-lessons-from-a-bangladeshi-island-80706">Bangladesh</a> and other <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2017/sep/12/bangladesh-severe-disaster-flooding">South Asian countries</a> also require disaster relief. Established international organizations such as <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/donate/disaster-relief-help-protect-children-harm/32787?ms=referral_dig_2017_emergencies_20170908_Unicefweb&initialms=referral_dig_2017_emergencies_20170908_Unicefweb">UNICEF</a> and <a href="http://www.americares.org/en/">Americares</a> are seeking donations to support those efforts. </p>
<h2>Consider long-term priorities</h2>
<p>Photos and video clips of streets transformed into rivers, stranding residents, can create an urge to make a difference immediately. But, as previous disasters like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina showed, the needs are sure to mount. That’s why more than one in four organizations <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Lessons-of-9-11/157903">created after 9/11</a> was still providing relief five years later. </p>
<p>Be mindful that people in afflicted areas throughout Texas, Florida, Mexico, Guatemala, the Caribbean and South Asia will need our money long after recent disasters stop making headlines. Your donation may matter six months or even years from now as much as it does today. Nonetheless, donation forms may offer you the option to indicate how you want your contribution used – including having it spent right away if you feel strongly about it.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183865/original/file-20170829-6710-5y2v71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, third from the left, and other local leaders took part in this groundbreaking ceremony in 2011 for a US$1.2 billion hospital complex that replaced facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Charity-Hospital/5430e2221daf4adba43d95bd9e0860b4/44/0">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span>
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<h2>Maximize the speed and size of your gift</h2>
<p>Many nonprofits are encouraging people to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-irma/hurricane-irma-how-help-storm-victims-n800101">donate by sending texts</a>, an approach that may seem like the fastest way to give.</p>
<p>But wireless companies tend to wait until you officially cover the donation’s cost – by paying your bill – before passing that money along to the charity. That can delay payments by weeks or even months.</p>
<p>If getting your money to Jacksonville, Florida or another community fast is your top concern, make online donations with a credit card or a debit card. Even “a check in the mail” would transmit funds faster than texting, says <a href="https://twitter.com/CountingCharity/status/901958062940069892">Brian Mittendorf</a>, who teaches accounting at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. </p>
<p>Mittendorf also cautions that giving through crowdfunding can mean that intermediaries <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-12/america-s-health-care-crisis-is-a-gold-mine-for-crowdfunding">skim fees</a> that might otherwise go to disaster relief or another cause you support. Credit card companies also usually collect <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/donate-charities-corporations/">transaction fees</a>.</p>
<p>In short, being an informed donor is the best way you can start to make a difference for the people who have lost their homes, cars and more.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183870/original/file-20170829-5092-38pdv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How much of your donation will cover transaction fees?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-sharing-profit-closeup-shot-560291707?src=afpK7FbSHJp0BwQFOhkNXg-1-51">OBprod/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 30, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Campbell has served on Charity Navigator's academic advisory board; and a board member for the United Way of New York State. </span></em></p>The desire to help during emergencies like Hurricane Irma is admirable. Doing some homework might make your contributions go farther.David Campbell, Associate Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.