The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 14 No. 21…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…May 23, 2011

Intuit's Vibe

White Flight

By Robert B. Cooke

I do yard work because it's easier

I work in north Shelby County, and

They always tell me they bought there

Because their broker said they should,

Because it was a good neighborhood.

Because they left their neighborhood closer to Birmingham,

Because they left their parents' neighborhood.

And I mow their lawns and trim their shrubs,

And when the bones begin to surface in their yards

And stink and rot in the light

With blood and putrid flesh,

They always tell me to plant another shrub there.

Plant nandina, plant forsythia,

plant holly, plant boxwood

Plant azaleas.

Cover it up.

And they always say,

"I don't know why that keeps coming up in our yard.

We moved here because it was a nice neighborhood."

Bit of History

DeKalb County, Georgia School Desegregation

Georgia began as a prison colony and evolved as a state with an economy built on the enslavement of blacks, thus it became the heart of the Confederacy following secession in 1861. Gen. William T. Sherman's march through Atlanta and DeKalb County, Georgia helped to embed the South's "lost cause" mythology of regaining their slave master dominance in the minds of DeKalb white residents and they embraced the Ku Klux Klan shortly after the end of the Civil War. Stone Mountain, DeKalb County became the center of the Ku Klux Klan's revival in 1915.

Huge cross burnings atop Stone Mountain became the symbol of the Klan's resurgence and served to reinforce white dominance in the minds of blacks across the South well into the 1960s. Consequently, few changes occurred in the lives of African Americans living in DeKalb, as they suffered under the heavy hand of segregation. De jure racial discrimination enabled whites to impose rules and regulations, which severely limited both socioeconomic advancement and political access for blacks. The level of racial hatred that existed was fueled by whites' desires to maintain superiority over blacks. Access to education proved to be the key tactic assuring that whites remained atop society and their basic strategy for dominance was to keep blacks "unschooled and untrained."

The battle to desegregate DeKalb County schools provides a profile of how whites saw the dynamics of race and offers insight into their strategy for maintaining white power in DeKalb. The DeKalb County school system had 74,741 students and of those 3,754 or roughly five percent was black in 1969. Of the county's seventy-seven elementary schools and twenty high schools, five elementary and two high schools were all black.

Desegregation was a long and arduous process in DeKalb County that extended decades following the Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954). County government, through the school board, fought vigorously and viciously to protect the race-based political and socioeconomic structures that were the underpinning of segregation. While litigating to stop Brown V. Board of Education, the school board was very deceptive in implementing the law's minimum requirements.

Repeatedly claiming a lack of resources to dismantle the dual school system, DeKalb County implemented several inefficient programs such as the "Freedom of Choice" plan to satisfy the courts. Introduced in 1966, the "Freedom of Choice" plan was designed to ensure that segregation would not die without a fight. It created "gerrymandered" school zones that gave students in the majority the option of attending the next nearest school. Whites in the minority that lived in black zones were given the "freedom of choice" to transfer to any school. The few blacks able to transfer to predominately white schools were harassed and mistreated by white faculty and students. Blacks that resisted were suspended.

Obviously, DeKalb County Schools were not providing black students with the same education as whites. Test scores were significantly lower for black students compared to white students, black teachers were paid less, facilities and funding were not proportionate between black and white schools. Also, all white schools were maintained well below capacity, while all black schools were overcrowded. Not only was the school system providing unequal opportunities for white and black students, they continued operating a dual-system based on segregation.

The Supreme Court threw out "freedom of choice" plans in Green v. School Board of New Kent County in 1968. The court felt such plans "were not an effective way to desegregate schools." Also that year, several black high school students from DeKalb County, including Willie Eugene Pitts, and their parents in addition to four white students and their parents filed a class action lawsuit against the DeKalb County school system. The suit alleged that the county, not only failed to integrate the school system, it failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Threatening to deprive the DeKalb County school system of 2.3 million dollars in federal funding, DeKalb County began to deal seriously with desegregation. It implemented the "equalization plan," which pumped money into facilities, teacher pay, services, activities, and programs to bring inferior black schools up to par with white schools. However, the school system ignored the unconstitutionality of continuing the separate but equal doctrine. The school board simply hoped blacks would be satisfied and voluntarily accept segregation in the school system.

The Supreme Court applied "all deliberate speed" in June of 1969 and ordered the DeKalb County school board to completely desegregate all grades, including kindergarten by the start of school that fall. The board had to redraw school zones to eliminate all black or all white school districts. Moreover, the court order closed all black schools, transferring black students to previously all white schools. This mandated immediate desegregation, forcing blacks and whites to attend school together.

Whites reacted to school desegregation with a massive demographic shift. They sold property before districts could be labeled "black neighborhoods." Whites moved out as real-estate values plummeted. Many moved out of DeKalb to surrounding predominately white suburbs, while others moved into the predominately white north end of DeKalb County. This exodus facilitated an influx of new black residents, who took advantage of falling property values. Approximately 47,000 blacks moved from the inner city of Atlanta to the southern side of DeKalb County. White flight produced a demographic shift that physically divided the county along racial lines creating a black South DeKalb and a white North. Political and economic power followed this trend and the schools took a similar shape.

The change in racial dynamics caused by school desegregation also changed the political dynamics in DeKalb County over the next 3 decades. DeKalb County, Georgia has a population of 691,893 according to the 2010 US census. Today, not only is the school system predominately black but the school board and the county commission are similarly complexioned, as well as the Chief Executive Officer of the county. (Sources: http://mgagnon.myweb.uga.edu, http://guides.main.library.emory.edu and www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/about/history.html)

Politics Y2K11

A New Type of White Flight

By John Burl Smith

Following school desegregation in DeKalb County during the 1960s, massive white flight began in the 1970s. Many whites, who refused to accept that all children were entitled by law to the same level of education regardless of their race or economic conditions, fled the south end of DeKalb County for predominately white areas in the North end of the county. DeKalb County's government was dominated by whites at that time and they used every means to facilitate the exodus north. Community improvement and economic development funds were funneled into these communities to make them white commercial enclaves, while the South end of the county became impoverished.

Even after the county government structure was changed and African Americans elected a black CEO and a majority black County Commission, this trend continued. Now, led by Republicans like Rep. Mike Jacobs, whites in North DeKalb are incorporating these highly economically developed areas into cities. Aided by the Republican controlled state legislature which is circumventing the usual procedure of incorporation and annexation at the local level to bypass voter approval, Jacobs and his supporters are "cherry picking" the areas that have benefitted most from tax revenue collected from all county residents.

Jacobs' latest maneuver is House Bill 428, which will make annexation of unincorporated areas easier and eliminate the county's ability to protect unincorporated areas from annexation. Currently, annexation requires "a resolution by a contiguous city in the same county and a referendum by the residents of the area to be annexed." Jacobs claims, "I been hearing increasing discontent with DeKalb County Government: rising tax bills, fewer services, inefficient government, and a lack of confidence that things are going to get better at the county." Jacobs offers such charges to justify annexation and the incorporation of mini-municipalities.

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-DeKalb), a member of the House Governmental Affairs Committee, whose motion to table the bill failed said, "I opposed the bill because it would set a policy that would apply to new cities created in the future in other areas of the state and upset the balance between cities and counties. A large annexation into Dunwoody would reduce county revenue, which would hurt my constituents." The full committee gave the bill a "do pass" recommendation.

Feeling that DeKalb County is getting stabbed in the back by Jacobs and the Georgia Legislature taking over local processes such as annexation and incorporation, DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis blasted Jacobs "lone ranger" approach, "I would have appreciated a conversation with lawmakers prior to their filing of this bill. The bill was sprung on us without warning; it moved through the subcommittee and committee with minimum input from the county or affected cities. Annexation will end up costing the taxpayers more with an extra, unnecessary layer of government and will negatively impact the finances of DeKalb County. At a time when we should be talking about how to make government more efficient and collaborative, the annexation legislation encourages divisiveness and conflict."

Dunwoody's incorporation has put the General Assembly squarely in the middle of this issue. After creating Dunwoody, the legislature is now dictating and micro-managing Dunwoody's relationship with DeKalb County. The latest episode surrounds the 102-acre Brook Run Park and other recreation facilities inside the city limits of Dunwoody that remain under DeKalb County control. The General Assembly approved a bill allowing Dunwoody to take over the parks by paying DeKalb $100 per acre.

DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader said he expects the county to sue. "There is a provision for the thing to be referred to a court and I think there is a pretty good chance that will happen. We bought the land from the state and spent quite a bit of county money taking down obsolete buildings and we have operated the park without any compensation whatsoever from Dunwoody. The County has sunk about $13 million in the park already and the legislature is literally giving Dunwoody the park."

Dunwoody City Council member Tom Taylor said DeKalb hasn't done a good job of keeping up the parks. "They're being maintained, but at a minimum level." Jacobs inserted language in the bill forcing the DeKalb Development Authority to issue bonds for private construction projects without a voter referendum that gives Dunwoody $7 million more in county bond proceeds earmarked for Brook Run improvements at the expense of DeKalb residents. Gov. Sonny Perdue is set to sign the bill.

This whole process is a case of "taxation without representation" where the legislature is taking county property and imposing taxes on county residents to benefit a special class of whites. This makes DeKalb residents second class citizens subject to the 3/5 Compromise. (Sources: www.thecrier.net and www.decaturmetro.com)

New Towns a Return to Separate but Equal

By John Burl Smith

The controversy regarding incorporation and annexation of unincorporated areas in DeKalb and Fulton Counties came to a head on March 28, 2011 with a lawsuit, case number 1:11-CV-00974, filed in US District Court, Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta division. Plaintiffs include Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and several black residents of North Fulton and DeKalb Counties. The lawsuit alleges that the legislature allowed the creation of majority-majority cities, or white enclaves, cut out of majority-minority counties in what amounts to the dilution of black voting blocs in the form of redistricting in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the aggrieved plaintiffs experienced a drastic reduction in pro rata voting rights, far in excess of the 10% threshold for per se voter dilution recognized by federal law. Furthermore, deviations greater than 10% automatically establish a prima facie violation of one-person one-vote principle for purposes of equal protection claims. As a result of these municipal voting districts (MVDs) carved out of DeKalb and Fulton Counties by the State of Georgia, the state's actions constitute acts of redistricting and reverse annexation.

According to Rev. Lowery, "There are many questions that need to be answered and clarified... to make sure the Voting Rights Act is being honored and recognized. I was invited by the Caucus to support this and I think it's worthy of support. The issue ought to be addressed by the courts." This suit was framed from the perspective of the legislative point of view, which is why the Voting Rights Act is so relevant. However, there are many issues involved in this matter that are administrative and should be of legal concern to the counties involved, which should also be preparing suits.

A major question that needs addressing has to do with the state legislature over stepping its bounds to get around "home-rule." The latest bill HB 428 goes so far as to obligate DeKalb County for a bond issue to avoid a local tax referendum, which denies taxpayers any say in the matter. As long as whites ran DeKalb County, the legislature did not dare take such actions. Now that blacks are in charge, the legislature is functioning as a county commission for disgruntled whites trying to get things done that would be defeated at the local level.

This lawsuit also addresses another effort working its way through the Georgia legislature which will circumvent the usual processes for creating counties. Efforts are currently underway in the Georgia legislature (HR 21) to carve a new County from North Fulton. The new county will be similar in nature to the MVDs and will cause irreparable injury resulting from acts, policies and practices of defendant, according to the suit.

According to Bernie Tokars, a Republican political consultant and critic of the lawsuit, "There's a power base in Atlanta and Fulton who see their voter base eroding with the creation of these cities by the home-rule movement of North Fulton citizens who want self-determination." When whites were in the majority, the shape and makeup of the electorate in DeKalb and Fulton was fine; now that blacks hold the top political offices in these counties, whites are using the state legislature to carve out political power bases by reducing voting districts along demographic lines to ensure white rule.

This political struggle harkens back to school desegregation and the resistance whites showed to providing equal education. Black political leaders have done everything possible to share power with whites, but some whites are still hell-bent on re-establishing segregation and will accept nothing less. The problem is African Americans will not accept anything less than first class citizenship and insist that black people do have rights that a white man is bound to respect. That is why this lawsuit is so important. For your convenience, a copy of the lawsuit is available on The DISH website. Simply click on the link Lowery_Lawsuit.pdf. (Source: http://atlantaprogressivenews.com)

News You Use

Gwinnett County School District et al. v. Cox et al.

On May 16, 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the Charter School Act, becoming the second state in which a state-level commission created explicitly to approve and oversee charter schools has been struck down by legal action. Ironically, the Florida law was struck down in 2008, the same year the Georgia Charter Schools Commission was created.

According to the ruling issued by the high court, the Georgia Charter Schools Commission mandate conflicted with a provision of the state constitution granting local boards of education "exclusive control" over general K-12 schools. Moreover, a constitutional provision allowing the state to operate "special schools," such as vocational schools, does not authorize the state to control charter schools.

In addition to determining the constitutionality of the state's Charter Schools Commission, there was the matter of its ability to withhold some state funds to local school districts after approving a charter school within the district. Georgia public schools are funded by state government and local school boards. After approval by local boards, charter schools are funded in the same manner as public schools.

The Charter Schools Commission is empowered to provide full funding for the charter schools it approves, even if a local board did not approve the school. The Commission can also withhold some state funding to districts in which the Commission-approved charter is located to make up for the lack of local revenue to ensure that the per-pupil funding matched the local school district's per pupil funding level. Several school districts sued the state, claiming the Commission statute requires funding of schools with local tax dollars without any approval by local voters.

The Fulton County Superior Court granted summary judgment to the state and several charter schools, finding that the Commission was constitutional.

On appeal to the Supreme Court, Gwinnett, DeKalb, and Candler County Schools argued, a proper interpretation of the state constitution prevents charter schools from being designated as "special schools" and prohibits the funding of special schools without a local referendum. In its 4-3 majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein, the high court agreed that the state constitution grants exclusive local control of primary and secondary schools and a constitutional provision allowing the state to operate "special schools," such as vocational schools, does not authorize the state to control charter schools.

The court's ruling places state-approved charter schools in limbo. To read the full text of the high court decision and the dissenting opinion, see www.gasupreme.us/sc-op/pdf/s10a1773.pdf.

Disgruntled wants to know: This May, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders, those brave young black and white Americans that rode public buses through the Deep South in an attempt to break the back of segregation in public interstate transportation. In documentaries and still images from that period, we see pictures of these young riders and the buses they rode in before and after white mobs demonstrated their displeasure with the idea of blacks and whites sitting, riding, eating or doing anything together. As older people today, we hear the Freedom Riders speak of the challenges they faced, their fears, the injuries they received, and even the disapproval of friends and family members. What is missing are members from the throngs of segregationists that kicked, beat and spat on these young people so long ago. Surely, they have not all passed away; some were as young or younger than the Freedom Riders! If we truly live in a post-racial society, shouldn't some of these people be offering apologies for their actions and, at the very least, paying lip service to racial equality?

Disgruntled feels: Re-Segregated! 'Whitopia', as defined by Rich Benjamin in his book - Searching for Whitopia - refers to mini-municipalities or 'toy towns' that are much whiter than the nation as a whole and that are some of the fastest growing areas in the country. Benjamin calls what is happening in America balkanization; basically we are a segregated society thanks to white flight. The DeKalb County, Georgia public school system is an excellent example of how re-segregated public education has become. In March of this year, DeKalb reported an enrollment of 24,935 students in its 22 high schools. Of that number, 19,876 or approximately 80 percent of its pupils were black; whites, Hispanics and all other ethnic groups made up the remaining 20 percent. This explains the majority black DeKalb 2011 graduating class. It also begs the question, in what schools are white students in DeKalb County being educated? One can only assume, since they are not in public schools, white students mostly reside in Whitopia and attend private schools. This re-segregated state of public education would explain why some politicians are so willing to gut funding for public education.

Disgruntled says: President Barack Obama gave a major Middle East policy speech this week ahead of a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In that speech, Mr. Obama spoke of the protests across the Middle East and Northern Africa, indicating the US supports peaceful protests for socioeconomic and political reform, even as it ignores the repressive and discriminatory actions of some of its staunchest allies in the region, particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia. On the important issue of borders with regard to the stalled Middle East peace process, Mr. Obama declared a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians should be "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps." Of course, such a notion harkens back to the unanimously adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. The Resolution adopted on November 22, 1967 called on Israel to withdraw its armed forces from territories captured and occupied in the Six Day War. Instead of complying, Israel has vowed never to honor UNSCR 242. Mr. Netanyahu and every other pro-Israeli spokesperson inside and outside the Middle East, including some US elected officials, immediately denounced the idea of Israel giving up any of its annexed territory, even though its failure to do so continues to violate a UN Security Council Resolution. The fact that Israel has never incurred sanctions for failing to comply with this or other resolutions highlights the hypocrisy of US unconditional support for what amounts to a rogue nation.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email http://twitter.com/garanceburke...Christian movement eats last meals, says goodbye, preparing for End of Days on Saturday...By Garance Burke... Some shut themselves inside to pray for mercy as they waited for the world's end. Others met for tearful last lunches with their children, and prepared to leave behind homes and pets as they were swept up to heaven. And across the globe, followers of a California preacher's long-publicized message that Judgment Day would arrive Saturday turned to the Bible, the book they believe predicts the beginning of Earth's destruction on May 21. The doomsday message has been sent far and wide via broadcasts and websites by Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar non-profit ministry based on his apocalyptic prediction. Camping's radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website are controlled from a humble building on the road to the Oakland International Airport, sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader. Family Radio International's message has been broadcast in 61 languages. Camping, however, will be awaiting Jesus Christ's return for the second time. He said his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn't come true because of a mathematical error. "I'm not embarrassed about it. It was just the fact that it was premature," he told The Associated Press last month. But this time, he said, "there is...no possibility that it will not happen."

Email www.wsbtv.com...Delta Rolls Out Platinum Upgrades For Top Republicans...A Whistleblower 2 investigation has found that Delta Air Lines gave some of Georgia's most powerful political figures campaign contributions that lesser flyers would love to have -- upgrades to platinum or gold frequent flyer status. Channel 2's Richard Belcher looked into whether Delta grossly undervalued the contributions. Channel 2 consumer advisor Clark Howard said a platinum upgrade is worth $10-15,000 a year, which is far more than Delta's valuation. Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and five top legislators were on the receiving end for either platinum or gold upgrades, plus one legislator who's no longer in office. "Platinum medallion! No, way!" said Howard. Howard knows those free medallion upgrades are a huge bonus for anyone who's had to put up with air travel's long lines, security checks and add-on fees. Delta valued the gold medallions at just under $1,600 and gave them to Rep. Jay Roberts, chairman of the house transportation committee; Sen. Ronnie Chance, chairman of the economic development committee; and house majority leader Larry O'Neal. "Well, if you ask very frequent flyers, they would tell you that being platinum medallion probably has a value to them of somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $15,000 per year," said Howard.

Email www.thenation.com...Santana is Booed for Using Baseball's Civil Rights Game to Speak Out for Civil Rights...By Dave Zirin...Major League Baseball's annual Civil Rights Game was poised to be a migraine-inducing exercise in Orwellian irony. Forget that this is a team that has done events with Focus on the Family, an organization that is to Civil Rights what Newt Gingrich is to marital fidelity. The reason Atlanta was such a brutally awkward setting for a Sunday Civil Rights setting, was because Friday saw the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, sign HR 87, a law that shreds the Civil Rights of the state's Latino population. Thank God that Commissioner Selig was stupid enough to choose the Civil Rights Game to honor, among others, the great musician Carlos Santana. Santana was supposed to be the Latino stand-in, a smiling symbol of baseball's diversity. But Bud picked the wrong Latino. Carlos Santana took the microphone and said that he was representing all immigrants. Then Santana added, "The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves." In a perfect display of Gov. Nathan Deal's Georgia, the cheers quickly turned to boos. Yes, Carlos Santana was booed on Civil Rights Day in Atlanta for talking about Civil Rights.

Email www.memphisflyer.com...Tennessee's new state planning law (1998) popped forth virtually unnoticed by growth management advocates nationally. It had an unconventional origin--an obscure amendment to another Tennessee law that was adopted by voice vote in the waning minutes of the 1997 legislative session. The stealth amendment suspended Tennessee's annexation laws for one year, wiping out existing cities' powers to veto the incorporation of new municipalities within five miles of their city limits. To ensure against annexation, proposals to incorporate mini-municipalities (dubbed "toy towns" by opponents) sprang up like weeds. To the relief of larger cities, the Tennessee Supreme Court declared the amendment creating the "toy towns" law unconstitutionally adopted by the legislature. By the time the court stepped in, residents of unincorporated areas had initiated proceedings to create forty-four toy towns (including one that was simply a condominium apartment building near Knoxville).