Posted inVoting

Why Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions Matters

Kareemah Hanifa is an Atlanta-based community organizer and activist who helps people with felony convictions restore their voting rights. She leads the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s No Taxation Without Representation campaign, fighting state laws that bar many Georgians with criminal records from casting ballots.  But Hanifa was advocating for people behind bars decades before she […]

Posted inPolitics

Is City Hall Using a Voter Suppression Tactic Against the ‘Cop City’ Vote Coalition?

Georgia’s leading voting rights groups say Atlanta officials’ plan to verify petition signatures gathered by opponents of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center contradicts the city’s legacy as “the cradle of the modern civil rights movement.” The petition forms will be reviewed manually, line-by-line, in a process overseen by the municipal clerk’s office. In order […]

Posted inPolitics

Why the Latest Trump Indictment Matters More for Black Atlanta

Donald Trump and 18 of his associates were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury Monday evening on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. It was the former president’s fourth indictment in less than five months, and experts say it could be the most consequential for Black voters. Concluding more than two years of […]

Posted inCity Politics, Politics, Social Welfare

What City Council Said Before Atlanta Released Its Largest Proposed Budget Ever

Mayor Andre Dickens has released the proposed city budget for fiscal year 2024. The $790 million general fund budget would be the largest in Atlanta’s history if approved.  Between now and then, City Council members will spend roughly 45 days in committee hearings listening to Atlanta service department leaders make their case for their municipal funding requests. […]

Posted inCity Politics, Politics

It’s Not Just the City of Atlanta. Black Residents in DeKalb Have Water Issues, Too

Earlier this week, Janis Gardner sat outside the DeKalb County government office in downtown Decatur looking for answers. It was early in the morning, but she waited, alongside a dozen others, for the 10 a.m. Board of Commissioners meeting.  Next to her were fellow members of the DeKalb Water Watch, a community group created with […]

Posted inCity Politics, Politics

Why More Black People Are Showing Up for Atlanta NPU Meetings

Lynette Grant didn’t know developers were building a new apartment complex in her community before attending the latest Neighborhood Planning Unit meeting Wednesday night. Grant was one of about 30 resident members of NPU-R who participated in the most recent monthly Zoom call to weigh in on issues happening in their predominantly Black, southwest Atlanta […]