WEBVTT - The Myth of Atlanta 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:11.520 On Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather Friends Media. 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:13.720 You are listening to. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:26.000 It's four oh four day. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:34.520 For those not from the city. 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.120 Fall Fall Day is Atlanta Day, the day we celebrate 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:39.600 everything Atlanta. 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:40.720 What you got for us? 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:48.160 Katie well An anecdote. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.680 Two years ago. I had just been laid off, riding 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:59.160 around the city, probably looking for tacos, when a song 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.280 I had never heard of came on. I didn't know 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.120 it yet, but the song was about to go viral 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.480 and cause a star in Atlanta and the surrounding areas. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.280 So I'm driving down ponds right, dodging potholes, and Amaretta 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.800 the Great song Sorry Not Sorry comes on? 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:17.759 You heard of it? 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.960 The one where she's saying, who is and isn't Atlanta exactly? 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.200 For the uninitiated, Amareda the Great calls out different locations 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.839 in the Atlanta metro for not being Atlanta, College Park, 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.360 clay Coo, Decatur, Roswell, etc. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:32.840 Etc. 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.120 I'm rid of the Great asserts that she's an a baby, 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:37.040 so she gotta. 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.120 Start pulling folks cards. She says she and other real. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.920 At Aliens had to live in the zoo where you 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:45.960 don't make it out so I don't give a fuck 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:46.840 what they say. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.160 Okay girl, but is that a flex? 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:50.920 And not to get off on its tangent. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.080 But the music video for this song was shot at 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.200 the New Braves Baseball Stadium, which is also not Atlanta. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.000 But I digress. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.840 Being someone who's been here since child, I've seen the 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.040 city change so much, so I thought the punchline for 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.120 the song would be Atlanta. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:07.000 It's not Atlanta. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:07.960 That's a hot take. 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.160 I mean, think about it. With the gentrification of Atlanta, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.560 the culture that Atlanta has broadcasted to the world has 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.560 been pushed out to the suburbs and beyond the same places. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:19.720 I'm rid of the great calls out for not being Atlanta. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.200 I'm struck by all the murals around the city with 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.280 black women with gold grills and bands who knots and 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.120 neighborhoods they used to be black but are decidedly not anymore. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:29.520 It's like the city. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.200 Puts black folks in the public art once it has 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.839 successfully priced out all the real niggas. But the myth 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.239 of this magical land for black people persists. 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:38.880 I'm Katie and I'm Eves. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:58.160 In today's episode The Myth of Atlanta. 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.160 So for four or four day You're coming for Atlanta's nick. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:59.040 I mean yeah. I think James Ballways said it best. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.320 I love America more than any other country in the world, 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.120 and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:10.119 to criticize her perpetually. And that's how I feel about Atlanta. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.120 I love the city so much, and I want to 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:13.920 see it be the city it purports to be. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.320 That's fair enough. Let's hear these myths. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.160 Before I get into the particular miss of Atlanta. Are 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:24.320 you familiar with the tale of Atalanta, the renowned huntress 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:25.800 of Greek mythology. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:26.799 Not really tell me about it. 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.600 At Talanta was known for her exceptional speed and unwavering 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.880 commitment to virginity. She declared that she would only marry 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.080 the man who could beat her in a foot race. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.000 She also declared that any man who lost to her 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.560 would be killed immediately. This served to dissuade would be suitors, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.200 as at Talanta was known as one of the fastest 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.760 runners in history and was confident that no man would 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:58.520 best her. One of the suitors, Hippomenus, challenged Attlanta to race, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:00.600 but he knew he couldn't beat her based on his 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:05.000 speed alone, with the help of the goddess Aphrodite, Hippomenus 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.120 executed his plan. He placed three golden apples along the 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.040 race's route, each more irresistible than the last. Caught off 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.000 guard by the shimmering temptation, Atalanta couldn't resist pausing to 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.200 retrieve the golden apples. In that pivotal moment, her focus wavered, 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.000 allowing Hippomytus to surge ahead and claim victory in the race. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.440 In his Essay of the Wings of Atalanta, which is 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.880 the fifth chapter of the Salts of Black Folk, du 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.680 Bois revisits the myth of Atalanta and its relevance to 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.240 the city of Atlanta. He states, if Atlanta be not 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.760 named for Atalanta, she ought to have been. Du Bois 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.600 warns against being tempted into thinking that golden apples are 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.120 the goal of racing and not mere incidents. By the way, 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.400 he uses his myth to critique the materialistic pursuits and 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.360 values that he observed in the city of Atlanta. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.200 Dubois is onto something. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.200 I think it makes sense for him to draw that 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.320 connection between the two, and you know, I love a 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.040 connection to sort of mythology in something. 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.359 So he has some points. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:03.880 Yeah. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.239 I first heard of the myth while reading doctor Maurice 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.719 Jay Hobson's The Legend of the Black Mecca, Politics and 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.440 Class and the Making of Modern Atlanta. In that book, 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.560 he traces the rise of the black elite and the 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.760 bargains they made for prosperity. The book illuminates the wide 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.880 gap between the black political elite and the poor city dwellers. 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.800 It really complicates the long held view of Atlanta as 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.920 this mecca for black people. The book conformed a lot 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.599 of my thoughts about Atlanta as a myth maker. So 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:39.240 let's get into these myths. Myth Number one Atlanta is 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:44.320 the City Too Busy to Hate. To promote Atlanta as 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.080 a racially progressive city and to distinguish Atlanta from the 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.720 racial violence occurring in other Southern cities, city leaders coined 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.320 the moniker the City too Busy to Hate in the 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.360 nineteen sixties. Here's Ambassador Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.919 reflecting on what he's most proud of about Atlanta. 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.800 I'm most proud of the fact that we set out 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.200 a slogan as cided to visit the hate, and it 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:09.480 looks like we're living. 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.240 Up to it. Blying this phrase were the deeply embedded 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.880 segregation laws, policies, and practices that restricted all aspects of 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.640 black folks lives. But Black Alantans were making progress, but 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.039 always within the constraints of racial inequality. For example, in 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.000 nineteen sixty the city of Atlanta had forty two barks 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.160 for whites, three for blacks, twelve swimming pools for whites 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:37.000 again three for blacks, sixteen recreation centers for whites. Guess 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:41.720 how many for blacks three three thirty for blacks. There 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.679 were four thousand hospital beds available for whites in only 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.599 seven hundred and eighty for black folks. And despite some 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.600 three hundred thousand African American citizens of Atlanta, no African 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.360 Americans were serving on the Atlanta Board of Aldermen, Board 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:58.400 of Education, nor the boards for recreation, the library, or 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:04.280 public welfare. Separate and unequal, And even after the Supreme 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.719 Court had ruled against segregation in schools in nineteen fifty four, 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:13.160 Atlanta schools remained segregated until nineteen sixty one. Gradie Hospital 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.440 was ordered by the Supreme Court to desegregate all of 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:16.880 its facilities in nineteen sixty two. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.080 Do you think Grady did that, absolutely not. 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.480 It waited till nineteen sixty five to fully desegregate. 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.640 It sounds like Atlanta still made time to hate, basically exactly. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.200 Atlanta was busy, but it made time. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.120 So where did the phrase come from? Did people like 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.480 come together and vote on the city motto or something? 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.040 Girl? No Girl? 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.920 This was a marketing campaign created by Helen Ballard, a 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.360 Coca Cola employee, and endorsed by and popularized by then 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.120 mayor Ivan Allen. Have you heard this phrase before? 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:50.600 Yeah, I had heard it before. 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.040 What were your first impressions when you heard it? 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.800 So it sounds very rose colored glasses, very like harp 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.040 sound in the background, rainbow, the city too busy to hate. 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.160 I feel like it was before my era where people 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.840 were really serious about it. You know, I grew up 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.480 in the nineties in Atlanta, but I never I guess 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.600 I never fell for it because I saw the world 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:13.080 around me. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.640 I grew up in a low income area. I grew 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:17.720 up where niggas was fighting. 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:22.040 Okay, we're hating and we're writing, all right, So yeah, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:23.320 I guess I never fell for it. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:24.760 So you've been woke, girl? 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.040 I always saying that definitely would never say that about myself. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:28.880 But I'm giving woke. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:29.920 Okay, I'll take you there. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.840 So the slogan highlighted Atlanta's commitment to economic growth, emphasizing 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:38.400 the city that prioritized business development and cooperation across racial 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:43.239 lines rather than racial division. This strategy helped attract businesses, investors, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.960 and visitors to Atlanta. As we see, Atlanta is full. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.360 I know you don't believe that, but no, I. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.040 Don't believe that, but in attractive visitors. 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.520 It showcased the city that was forward thinking, and it 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.280 really set the stage for Atlanta's reputation in the country 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:58.280 and throughout the world. 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.400 The word choice of the phrase is really interesting to me. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.680 Too busy to hate, not too moral, not too kind, 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:08.199 and not too intelligent, just busy. 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.240 They're like, girl, I'll hate you later when I got 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:12.240 time moved. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:13.160 Yeah. 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.920 It was purely marketing, aimed to set Atlanta apart from 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.480 other cities in the Deep South like Jackson, Montgomery, Birmingham, 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.960 and as I mentioned before, Atlanta had its racial disparities 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.040 too in public accommodations and representation in local politics. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.400 And in nineteen o six, white. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:33.240 Atlantans committed a bitter massacre against Black Atlantin's killing at 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.440 least twenty five people in wounding dozens. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:36.640 But I know what you're thinking. 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:38.000 What am I thinking? 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.359 That was nineteen oh six? 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:42.520 Atlanta became the City Too Busy to Hate in the 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.600 nineteen sixties. The city has moved on. 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:46.840 You got me? 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.040 Well, let me tell you about the Summer Hill Rebellion 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:56.400 of nineteen sixty six, which happened while Ivan Allen was mayor. 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.960 And spreading the city too Busy to Hate gospel. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:09:59.880 I'm listening. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.199 The rebellion began following the police shooting of an unarmed 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:07.559 black man named Harold Prather, sparking protests against ongoing inequities 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.920 such as discriminatory policing, poor housing, inadequate public services, and 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.800 urban renewal policies affecting the neighborhood. Mayor Ivan Allen blamed 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.640 Stokely Carmichael and the Student nine Violent Coordinating Committee also 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.319 known as SNICK for inciting violence, using that all too 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.840 familiar outside agitator's trope to explain why Summer Hill was rebelling. 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.960 In a photo essay pamphlet I found in Ivan Allen's 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.320 archive at Georgia Tech, Julius Leicester wrote about why they rebelled. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.559 Thus it began. How many other times had white policemen 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.200 shot black men? How many other times had white policemen 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.240 beaten black men and taken them off to jail? How 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.440 many other times? But this time was the one time 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.560 too many. In Cleveland, it was not being able to 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.199 get a glass of water in a bar run by 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.360 a white man. In Watts, it was the simple arrest 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.840 of two men on a traffic violation, always something that 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:04.800 has happened an infinite number of times before, but on 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.840 one occasion it becomes the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.040 His testimony definitely doesn't align with what Ivan Allen would 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.960 like to telegraph about Atlanta to the rest of the world. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.280 Nah, it was indirect opposition, and Julius Luster calls out 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.520 directly how black politicians are used as mouthpieces to quell 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:26.960 dissent from the black masses. 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:27.840 He writes. 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.439 Ivan Allan says Snick is responsible for the rebellions. Those 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.920 black men he has bought off with tea and cookies 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.360 can say, as did the Reverend Otis Smith. Our main 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.199 concern is Stokely Carmichael. Whether or not we have a 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.720 riot is up to him. The Reverend William Holmes Borders 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.480 can say, We've got to stop him before he stops us. 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:48.880 Doctor O. W. 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.880 Davis can say, mister Carmichael is an albatross around our next. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.719 Whether Snick lives or dies is not important, because the 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.520 black community will continue to fight until a society is 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.360 created in which the black man will be able to 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.320 fulfill himself. In that society, there will be no place 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.200 for the Ivan Allens who think a city's image and 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.960 progress can be separated from the people of that city. 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.480 I think it shows that because this was are in 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:19.280 in nineteen sixty six, and actually in Ivan Allen's archive 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.480 there was a note saying that they got it from 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:23.840 a Negro girl passing it out on the street. So 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.480 I think sometimes we can get this idea that people 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.160 were like buy into this back then wait, they got. 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:31.920 What from a Negro girl passing out on the street. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:36.520 They got the photo essay that the quotes come from. Okay, 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:37.920 like they were passing it on the street, trying to 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:41.000 get people to understand why they were rebelling. And it 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.040 just shows that, like people were aware that this myth 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.760 was in fact a myth. It wasn't true you know, 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.319 they're doing urban renewal what we would call like gentrification now, 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.160 but the urban renewal is very violent. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.520 They were just coming in and knocking down people's homes. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.559 I'm going to be condemned. There's a picture in the 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.200 essay of a man just like holding up a rat. 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.200 These are the conditions they were living in, and they 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.280 saw that it was violent to have people living like 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.200 this in your city while you're like telegraphing this like 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.440 international great city to the world. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:11.800 That's violence and that's hateful. 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.240 And I think just this artifact that I'm very glad 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.640 that they have it in the archive, shows that people 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.000 were already aware that this was some bs even back then. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.720 Governments and politicians and authorities and power make it seem 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.120 like the people can't see what the hell is going 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:28.520 on right in front of them. It's like, I can 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:32.000 starkly see this big difference between how you're portraying the 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.640 city to the outside world and how we're literally living it. 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:36.760 And this made that clear. 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.200 And it's like this was a public kitchen that was 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.160 very grassroots, like you're not going to see this in 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.360 the AJAC not at this time. You're not going to 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.400 turn on the evening news and hear the members of 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.680 Synic saying that there's going to be no room for 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.679 Ivan Allen's if they think the city's image can be 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:54.559 separated from the people. You know, they're not going to 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.040 get that airtime. So you have to put it out 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:58.920 to yourself, you know, passing it out on the corner, 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.040 like hey, hey, you heard the news, like this is 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:02.559 what we do and this is why we're doing it, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:05.120 Just like putting it out theirself and not really waiting 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.360 on these establishment places to validate your experience and how 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.520 you see what's going on right before your eyes. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.640 And I think it's powerful for it to be. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.040 We've talked about previously in episodes about the power of 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.199 photos and storytelling and how they can really show what 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.880 was happening. But you know, in this way, often when 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.720 we have situations like this, when the media is misrepresenting 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.040 the reasons that protests are happening, you end up having 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.160 to create a counter narrative. But it feels even wrong 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:33.120 for me to use the term counter narrative because it's 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.880 really the true narrative and the media's narrative is the 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:40.440 counter narrative. But that's what it becomes because whoever is involved, 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.760 whatever the mainstream media says is the thing that's going 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.640 to settle into people's spirits because that's the thing. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.400 They're going to hear over and over. It's going to 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.360 be the historical record exactly. So you got to come 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.680 up with your own. And I think the picture is 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.160 really like you can say, so you're blue in the face, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:56.080 like this is what they're doing. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.360 But that picture of the man who owed the rat, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:58.480 I don't need to hear nothing else. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:00.320 All I need to see was a rat, you know 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.640 what I'm saying, Like, no more evidence needed, no care close, 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:04.600 Like this is germ. 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:06.040 How would you get a hold of this? 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:07.040 You know what I'm saying. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:08.040 Yeah, I believe you. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.440 But what really strikes me about the myth is Atlanta's 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.280 focus on outside perception versus internal relations. It's kind of 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.840 like a microcosm for America itself. I know you've heard 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.840 of the myth of American exceptionalism, and I think that's 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.640 what this myth is getting to Atlanta. Exceptionalism, Like it's 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.280 just not the case for the majority of black people 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.840 who call the city home. And this myth is really 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:34.120 foundational to the city's lore. And appeal. And this Atlanta 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.880 exceptionalism is still weaponized today. Remember during Atlanta's twenty twenty 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.520 George Floyd protests, when protesters took to downtown and Atlanta 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.560 Americacilia's Bottom held a press conference with rappers Killer Mike 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.000 and Ti, and Ti said. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.720 Atlanta is a place where we can set an example 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.720 of prosperity. When you don't get treated right in New York, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.320 when you don't get treated right in LA, when you 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.360 don't get treated right in Alabama, Atlanta has been here 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:01.160 for this city. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:01.880 Don't deserve it. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.720 We can't do this here. This is what condo, It's sacred, 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:05.720 must be protected. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.080 This is what kanda, Atlanta's special. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:11.240 We don't do that here. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.320 Mind you, these are multi millionaires who made a lot 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.440 of money talking about how Atlanta is the trap the 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.400 hood both sold drugs and did other illegal activities in 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.600 their youth at least what is still doing very illegal 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.600 things in the city to this day, allegedly. But when 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.800 a coalition of people come together demanding better for the 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:35.920 city from elected officials and from sworn quote peace officers, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.080 you get on TV and tell them to stop, tell 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:39.960 them to respect law and private property. 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:41.520 Because this is Atlanta. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.280 Yeah, he didn't fall out say the city too busy 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.080 to hate, but it's like he internalized it. It's like 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.760 this little marketing slogan is the bloodstream of so many 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:50.680 folks in Atlanta. 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:54.120 That's the thing about marketing slogans, right, They're catchy, often 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.360 earworms that stick with us, and most importantly, they're selling something, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.320 and unfortunately too many of us have bought in. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.360 Stay with us because after the break, we'll get into 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:27.000 myth number two. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.720 And we're back with more myths about Atlanta. Myth number two, 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.240 Black political representation is a win for all black Atlantans. 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.439 So, speaking of Keisha Lance Bottom summoning Killer Mike and 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.159 t I during George Floyd protests, I remember when she 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.040 was elected in twenty eighteen and there were shirts and 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.600 buttons and status updates that proudly stated I have a 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.560 mayor named Keisha, as if having an identifiably black name 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.480 automatically makes you gang gang. 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.200 And this isn't a new phenomenon in the city of Atlanta. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:52.320 It goes way back before Atlanta even had a black mayor. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.520 Pop quiz uh oh okay, So what time period did 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.320 the moniker black Mecca come. 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.280 About nineteen fifties. 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:04.720 Okay, why do you think that. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:13.000 I don't know, like girl, just because like the city 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.040 was burgeoning, you know, but it was still pre sixties. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.520 I think it came before a more modern era. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:20.439 Okay, I could see why you would say that, but 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.359 it actually started way before it actually happened in the 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.639 eighteen sixties. So remember there's like the Freedman Bureau was around, 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:31.320 that was in Atlanta, and so there's also the Battle 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.800 of Antietam in Maryland, which was a Union victory that 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.520 gave the North a lot of momentum in the Civil War. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:43.440 So when General Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground, newly 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.480 free slaves followed him to Atlanta and found refuge here 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.280 because there was a lot of Union troops around, and 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.840 you know, the South lost. So Atlanta they're like, Okay, 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.680 this is the new South. We're focusing on industry development. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.240 You know, they lost all their free labor from the 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.720 slaves Civil Wars, so they're like, we're a new city. 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.680 We're going to be industrious being. 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.639 Focused on industry. That sounds really familiar. 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.720 Some things never changed, and it was also in Atlanta. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:15.040 Piedmont Park specifically where Booker T. Washington delivered the infamous 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.879 Atlanta Compromise speech. Here's a pull quote from Booker T. 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.879 The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.119 questions of social equality is the extremist folly. 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.840 In other words, black and white leaders agreed that Black 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.080 Atlantans would submit to white political rule in exchange for 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.119 education and due process under law. It really codified segregation 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.200 and struck a deal with white supremacists. But some middle 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.639 class black Atlanta's did benefit, particularly business owners. There was 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:47.000 a cluster of businesses on Auburn, av And Hunter Street, 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.439 and you know, the city was segregated, so they had 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:50.680 to study stream of customers. They was. 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.320 They was cool with it, but black folks still can't 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.200 vote or really participate in civic life fully. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:57.440 Nope, couldn't. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:02.159 Georgia had an all white primary until nineteen forty and afterwards, 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.199 black leaders John Wesley Dobbs and At Walden founded the 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:09.880 Atlanta Negro Voters League, which basically broker deals with white 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.320 political candidates like, oh, we'll get the black people to 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.720 vote for you, Like we're gonna support this group. But 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.280 they didn't really consult Atlanta's black working classes. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.240 They're just like, yeah, so. 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.120 They just picked without seeing what regular black folks wanted. 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.159 Basically, yeah, like back room handshakes type of deal. Scholar 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.720 Tamiko Brown Nagan calls this tactic the Atlanta way. Black 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.679 elites compromise with white business leaders at the expense of 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:33.320 the poor. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.600 But still using the poor to win elections and ignoring 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.280 their needs once in office. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:40.280