When Keisha Lance Bottoms first ran for mayor of Atlanta in 2018, part of her campaign’s appeal was that she was deeply rooted in Black Atlanta. Supporters loved to wear T-shirts emblazoned with “My mayor’s name is Keisha” from the barbershop to the neighborhood BBQ. Proudly repping the city’s southwest side, she declared victory after […]
immigration
Black Immigrants in Atlanta Mobilize Amid Rising Deportation Threats
A small group of Black Atlanta immigrants listened intently last month as Uzo Akpele shared guidance on how to navigate the heightened threat of detention and deportation under a second President Donald Trump administration. “If you are undocumented, you should have a plan in place for if you get detained,” the Nigerian immigration lawyer told […]
What to Do If You’re Detained or Questioned by ICE in Atlanta
Uchechukwu Onwa likens his three-month detention by immigration agents — when he was apprehended at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2017 after fleeing homophobic violence in his Nigerian homeland — to the treatment of African ancestors being transported to America during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. “I was handcuffed from my hands down to my waist and […]
Black Immigrants in Atlanta Face New Risks As Trump Signs Laken Riley Act
President Donald Trump is moving forward with his plans to crack down on immigration, and Black Atlantans could soon find themselves targeted by a related bill Trump signed into law on Wednesday. The Laken Riley Act, which passed the House and Senate last week, requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain any undocumented immigrant […]
How Donald Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims Can Impact Black Atlantans Beyond the Election
Christina Louma has just one word to describe former President Donald Trump and his supporters’ claims of rampant noncitizen voting leading up to Election Day: “foolishness.” “I feel like they’re indirectly trying to intimidate us against voting,” Louma, a DeKalb County resident whose parents immigrated to the U.S. 25 years ago, told Capital B Atlanta. […]
The Dawn of a New Trump Era Begins. What It Means for Black Atlantans in 2025.
The dread many Black people in Atlanta feel about Donald Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential election isn’t misplaced: He organized his reelection campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris around revenge — around how he and his allies can inflict the greatest amount of suffering on vulnerable groups and on those he considers enemies. Making […]

