The Joke is on Me and Lots of Others

Back in the 1990s, I bought into the narrative that a New South, led by Georgia, could be an industrial and technology leader in the 21^st Century. It all made sense. Visionary leaders like Governor Zell Miller, Senators Wyche Fowler and Sam Nunn, and Atlanta Mayors Andrew Young and Maynard Jackson, worked together to articulate a vision that made Georgia, and Atlanta especially, look pretty progressive.

Atlanta already has a transportation hub. With major companies like Delta, Coke, Home Depot, UPS and CNN headquartered in Atlanta, the city seemed prime to become the next major metropolis and to lift the entire state.

Then came an era where some chicken farmers named Perdue came to the forefront, yet it still seemed like Georgia was always only an inch away from getting right back on track. The opportunity seemed especially ripe when Stacey Abrams became the Democrat’s gubernatorial nominee.

But, now Georgia has elected – or somehow otherwise allowed – a man to assume the governorship who, unfortunately seems, in both temperament and intellect, much akin to Republican leaders in Washington. Brian Kemp even campaigned on the promise to drive his pickup truck around to round up illegal immigrants.

Georgia isn’t moving forward. No place that systematically disenfranches its citizens is. With Brian Kemp, Georgia has taken a step back to the 1960s and the Old South.

And, it turns out that the joke is on all of us who bought the New South narrative.