Georgia State University #1 In Graduating Black Students - Just As "Dr King" Would Have Wanted To Have The Land Around His Compound Used For

Georgia State ranked top for graduating African-Americans

Georgia State University was ranked No. 1 in the nation for awarding the most bachelor's degrees to African-Americans, according to a report from Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

Georgia State awarded 1,262 degrees to African-Americans this year, a one-year increase of 17 percent. That pushed the college past Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T State universities.
The college has also received national recognition for its success with Asian and Latino students. More than half of the school's nearly 32,000 students are minority.

Earlier this week I was debating my dear friend and debate adversary NSangoma on his belief that Georgia State University was a "second tier" institutions, not worthy for a Black-American from a wealthy family to attend.

It turns out that Georgia State University has found the formula on how to effectively prepare and graduate a bevy of intelligent Black students for release into the American economy.

Georgia State is now rated as the #1 source for Black undergraduates.  The school should be honored for this achievement.  

Now we need far more than the 1,262 degrees distributed in order to fortify the economic base of our community with more "professional services agents" that can lift up our community to the desired "standard of living".

The Great Land Rush By Georgia State University, Encroaching Upon "The (Protected) Promised Lands"

The green box above represents the portion of Auburn Avenue to the west of the connector.  This space is "protected space", largely underutilized and many of its buildings in a state of relative decay.   What SHOULD BE turned into a lively strip of stores, restaurants and sports bars for the student population of Georgia is instead largely mothballed due to the "Civil Rights History" that those who often intimate the leadership in the city from making decisions that are in the best long term interests of the city  because they "Marched With King" and claim to understand how he would feel if any of these buildings were to slip out of the hands of his protectorates that are still alive today.

They would rather look at abandoned buildings as they cleave toward yesteryear than to provide TODAY'S young people with a more fulfilling college experience, allowing them to bring the largely dormant area back to life.

Don't let any financial constraints suffered by the City of Atlanta or Fulton County trigger any austerity cuts.   They will march against "Social Justice Violations" but will NEVER come to see that their own ECONOMICALLY SUPPRESSIVE ANTICS which stifle the tax base from growing is a greater problem than their focus on the threat from the "Super White Cities" on the north-side of the county that seek to split off in a separate county to get away from their kind of thinking as they go it alone in support of their own permanent interests. 

Despite the good news from GSU on its graduation of Black students - the school's long term reputation (from the perspective of the "Civil Rights Pharisees" that have a strong influence on Atlanta politics) will be sculpted based on how the university handles the sensitive subject of its expansion into the land and the buildings in the "King Compound".  

The "King Compound" is the name that I have assigned to the area around the "King Center for Non-Violent Social Change", the various churches, "Sweet Auburn Avenue", up to and including the "Atlanta Life Insurance building" and the "Auburn Avenue Research Center".

Despite the recent revitalization efforts on Auburn Avenue about 3 years ago - the area remains as an economic under-achiever from its full potential.  The restaurant that had opened in the condo complex built by "Big Bethel" and "Bank Of America" has closed after an initial run of success via the support of the (mostly) Black patrons.  I am unaware of the residency rate in the condo (or apartment) units in the building above.

Over on Edgewood Avenue - the nightlife sprung to life back in 2006 (or so) as several bars that catered to Black and White urban professionals opened up along the strip, bound by Boulevard down to Hilliard St. 

The economic downturn unfortunately moderated the growth in the area as people's discretionary income took a hit.

The area is in a perfect location, a walking distance from downtown with a growing number of GSU students.  As GSU built dorms during its transition from a commuter school to a more traditional university with student housing it began expanding northward, building dorms that were beyond its traditional campus boundaries.  

In the walk along Piedmont Avenue from the central campus to the dorms on the corner of Ellis - there is a lack of development in response to the growing presence of students. 


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But for the influence of the "Civil Rights Pharisees" that want to cleave to the past stature of Auburn Avenue - many of the underutilized buildings (or land) would have been deployed in support of the residential and entertainment needs of students.

It is clear that no lessons were learned after the fiasco around the "Pascals Motor Lodge" building.  After successfully blocking the razing and construction of a new student dorm for Clark Atlanta University students - who will be the FUTURE Black leaders in America - no one took a hit on their credibility as, about 5 years later, the building remains abandoned.    The scheme to move "The Busy Bee Cafe" into the building fell through.  It was clearly just a stalling tactic.

In as much as it is the case that there is no tax revenue generated in that building along MLK Jr Drive - what benefit can be claimed for this eyesore of a building beyond nostalgia? 

Auburn Avenue From The I75/85 Connector up to Piedmont should be rechristened into a student oriented entertainment and 'healthy living' sector - allowing them to live out their undergraduate lifestyle in a safe environment that is merely walking distance from their dorms.

With GSU having the diversity of a 50% minority student population - what is the downside of this plan, aside from stepping on the calloused toes of the forces who don't know how to "Let Go and Let God"?

They should see that with this plan their annual reenactments of the "1906 Atlanta Race Riots" would be more fully populated as the students look upon them with amazement that their fair city once housed such hatred but has now become more open toward looking at the future and not seeking to hold on to their power, thus denying the opportunity for growth.