Tag: Andrew Young

Last week, five people were arrested for chaining themselves to construction equipment as part of protests against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed "Cop City" by critics. It’s a long tradition in environmental activism: for many decades, protesters have been lashing themselves to equipment to stop construction projects—including right here in Atlanta. Back in the 1980s, decades before "Stop Cop City," there was "Stop the Road," when thousands of Atlantans came together to block the Presidential Parkway. Leading the fight were the Roadbusters, a ragtag group of activists whose protest stunts, like climbing trees and chaining themselves to construction equipment, made headlines across the city.

"One day, when we were all in our early 30s, Martin Luther King Jr. said to our little ragtag bunch, 'Everybody here has got to be clinically insane to think that with no money, no political power, no army, no nothing, we are going to redeem the soul of America.' And then, he said, 'We’ll be lucky to make it to 40. But if we make it past 40, we’re going to have to make it to 100 because this is not an easy job. It’ll take more than our lifetimes to get it right.' Well, I think that planted it in my mind, especially after he was killed, that I had to make it to 100."

"Two brothers brought the community closer. They taught me as a young man to respect other people. They told me to get all of the education you can, and don’t ever look back. Keep going forward, work, and be dedicated to something in life."

For his posthumous memoir, It’s in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior, C.T. Vivian, who Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the greatest preacher to ever live,” revisits his seven decades of activism and the life lessons resulting from those strategies toward advancing equality for all people.

The first Atlanta Pride was held in Piedmont Park 50 years ago to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Our LGBTQ+ community has made many strides over the last half-century. But we have far to go.

Tyler Perry marked the opening of his new, 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios at Fort McPherson with a gala that brought a monumental number of stars, including everyone from Oprah to Hank Aaron to Beyoncé to Andrew Young.

John Lewis likes to remind supporters to never give up. In January 1977, after President Jimmy Carter appointed then U.S. Rep. Andrew Young to be ambassador to the United Nations, Lewis joined a dozen candidates vying to replace Young. Come election night, Lewis lost to fellow Democrat Wyche Fowler. “Two months ago, nobody knew who John Lewis was. This is only the beginning.” Elected to the House in 1986, Lewis began his 17th term in January.

Sixty years ago, as he was building the construction empire that would make him one of Atlanta’s richest and most influential men, Herman Russell fathered a daughter out of wedlock. Now, four years after his death, Joycelyn Alston is fighting her three half-siblings for a portion of their father’s vast estate.

During a rally for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Friday, former President Barack Obama played all of his fans' favorite hits. When someone in the crowd shouted "Obama, I love you," he replied, "I love you back." He said, "Don't boo, vote," his oft-repeated phrase from 2016, multiple times during his hour-long speech at Morehouse College.

It’s now been 15 years since Maynard Jackson’s death, but the issues explored in the new documentary film about his life—the city’s fraught racial history, the expectations placed on a black mayor, the scrutiny on minority contracts for city business—feel very relevant today.