Tag: Andrew Young

It was a star-studded evening at the Fox Theatre, honoring the "Rock n’ Roll President," known for his love of music and a keen ability to bring people together. Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song featured performances from Chuck Leavell and Duane Betts, the B-52s, India.Arie, Grouplove, and more.

Today, everybody in the South is living better than they’ve ever lived before, and we are much further along than we realize. The problems that still exist are hard to evaluate—in part because many people who identify as Christians seem to have gotten confused as to which side they’re on. Right now, we have a nation that seems to be completely divided.

Matters involving race have influenced the trajectory of my life and career. It’s been an extraordinary privilege to work for nearly two decades with Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and politician, who often points out the great amount of change that has been achieved, especially here.

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.