Intown Atlanta - A Tinderbox On Race Waiting To Explode?

Creative Loafing: Intowners claim crime has grown more brazen


On Friday I hung out with some friends in the "Martin Luther King Jr" district of Atlanta. The hangout that is bounded by Auburn Avenue to the North and Edgewood Avenue to the South - Boulevard (that is the name of the street) to the East and Piedmont Road to the West is thriving as an entertainment district. Bush is seen to have destroyed many good tidings within the Black community but he definitely did not destroy the development of this district which has sprung up from its suspended animation of the last 20 years or more.

I went from a business meeting with a few good friends of mine down to "Cafe Circa" which is near the corner of Boulevard and Edgewood Ave. The place was jam packed on this "recession Friday". There were no seats to be found anywhere.

Fresh from my previous intelligence of the area I suggested to my friend that we go down the street to another bar that had recently opened. Prior to the election I took the kids on a walking tour of the area on a Sunday morning. The night prior I drove down Edgewood and noted the great amount of activity and the array of White folks that were hanging out in areas that they would not dare go just a few short years ago.

We walked down Edgewood Ave to go to this place. Two big Black guys from the North that we are are street wise enough to keep an eye out on the environment that we are entering into. On the right there were a group of Black males huddled up - shooting the breeze. On the left there were individuals walking, crossing the street into our general direction. There were two Black males standing on the sidewalk in our path. No problem - me and my friend knew that we should move into the street so that if they did have any ill-will against us - they would have to walk toward us. The context of the street warranted it.

Then we ran across an old homeless woman who asked both of us for money. (Did I mention that my friend is a big time Black liberal?) She stated that she wanted to buy some food. I said to her "come on with us I will buy you some food from the Jamaican restaurant down the street". I wanted to see if she just wanted the money. I asked her "Did you vote for Barack Obama?" in order to tweak my friend a bit. She said something inaudible. I gave her $2. She asked for the third dollar that I had. I told her that I had to eat too.

We got to the place on the south-side of the street. Right next door there were two buses that were filling up with Black kids going on some type of overnight trip. (it was 9pm at the time). As we walked into the bar I noticed that the place was full of White folks.

My friend and I commented on the gros irony of this situation. This place is like an island. On this street that has gross poverty, seeming drug dealing a bit further down the street and partying Black professional bourgeoisie up the street were WHITE FOLKS eating at an Italian deli themed bar and restaurant. Where the heck did they come from?

As we sat down and talked about the irony of this situation we noted that there was a stream of Black and White walking (and biking) up and down the street at 9pm on a Friday night. I made the case that all of this is hanging on one racial confrontation where either a White person is mugged on this street OR where Black folks riot and break out the windows of this and other places that have been refurbished and are seen as "White hang outs".

A short time a friend of my friend joined us. He lived a few blocks up the street in Inman Park. Once again the situation was set up - me in a conversation with 2 Black liberals.

As the friend discussed the community he focused in on the "poor Blacks who are hanging out on the corner". He stated that as the community upgrades the buildings to bring the area back to life this "element" is going to be run out. He told about how some of the old businesses are really fronts for drug operations. There is no way that they generate enough income from their legitimate operations.

I assure you - if this guy was a Black Conservative - HE would be said to "hate Black people" because of his comments. I just sat back and took notice so that I could document all of this.

These "open minded Black progressives" plotted on how the poor Blacks are going to be run out of the area. He pointed to several stores and apartment complexes that needed to go so that the "element" could be removed from the area.

My injection to the conversation was "In MLK Central" it is not going to go down like that. To be sure the Civil Rights Warlords would raise up and resist having the "original residents" summarily thrown out so that a new play ground for middle class Whites and Blacks could be constructed. (Think of the conspiracy theories surrounding New Orleans).

I argued that some transaction would have to be crafted where some affordable housing development would be required to be built if not on the exact place, somewhere nearby.

The guy agreed that what we are seeing is the growth from Inman Park/Little Five Points, steadily coming down the street where prized properties that were long abandoned are being scooped up. This site is just too close to the prime real estate of downtown to be left in such an unproductive and downtrodden state.

The bottom line of it all - the claim of DIVERSITY is about to be tested where this time BLACK FOLKS will be the ones expected to be accepting of it.

I did think that it is possibly me who is guilty of assuming the worse about the interplay between WHITE and BLACK. Then I thougth back to how "UnderGround Atlanta" and then "The Buckhead Village" were once integrated environments until the "ghetto element" came in and chased the White folks away and then the "Progressive Blacks".