Racial relations in Atlanta (Duluth, Kennesaw: schools, subdivisions, to live in)

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by bclark3434

Well, i am white. dont act like racism does not still go on. If u dont want blacks to be angry and tell them to get over it....why cant whites get over the death of nicole simpson?

Do real people outside of the media really care about that crap? I sure don't.

[backfist]

Originally Posted by diva05

Atlantagreg30127,

MountainLovin' Mom, I have taught for some years at predominately black, desperately poor schools in Atlanta. Your children would not be made fun of for being mixed, but as with most schools in the country your children would be made fun of for being culturally different from my students.

Hopefully, "culturally different" isn't a euphamism for being resentful of biracial children who come from two-parent families, and who value educational achievment.

[pirate_lafitte]

Racists aren't representative of the whole Atlanta population. That I know. I am just dissapointed by Atlanta and the fact that it wasn't what I thought it would be. When I here the phrase "The City Too Busy To Hate", I roll my eyes because I live here and know from experience. As for those persons who have prospects of moving here, I am here to tell you that no place is perfect. You might find a good job down here. If you like milder winters and less costly homes, you'll find it down here. If you want diversity, that can be found easily(especially in Gwinnett County). I don't want to turn anyone off from moving here. I am just giving my 2 cents about Atlanta. You might find that it suits you just fine. Chances are you might not get a cross burned on your yard(never happened to me.), but there is prejudice here.

[backfist]

Well said, pirate_lafitte. If I might add:

If racists aren't representative of Atlanta--which I believe is true--then neither is the Black male criminal that we see on the local news each and every day.

I've been similarly disappointed by Atlantans for standing by and watching this kind of thing. Yes, news outlets in other cities can get away with that kind of negative portrayal, but I thought Atlantans would have stood firm against it as a matter of principle. I thought surely, if one could go anywhere and not see the usual negative Black and Brown images and depictions in media, it would be Atlanta. It says a lot about the media that produces it, and the consumers who accept it.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by backfist

Well said, pirate_lafitte. If I might add:

If racists aren't representative of Atlanta--which I believe is true--then neither is the Black male criminal that we see on the local news each and every day.

I've been similarly disappointed by Atlantans for standing by and watching this kind of thing. Yes, news outlets in other cities can get away with that kind of negative portrayal, but I thought Atlantans would have stood firm against it as a matter of principle. I thought surely, if one could go anywhere and not see the usual negative Black and Brown images and depictions in media, it would be Atlanta. It says a lot about the media that produces it, and the consumers who accept it.

What's your suggested remedy- should the news go out and hire whites to perpetrate more crimes to even the reporting, or should they stop reporting crimes if they're perpetrated by blacks? Are you saying that there are crimes by whites that aren't being displayed on the news as quickly as those by whites (I'm asking because I honestly don't know the answer to that)?

I do know that every time I turn on the news, it seems like almost every robbery, rape, shooting, etc., that's reported seems to be occuring in either Clayton, Fulton, or Dekalb Counties- are you saying that it's media bias, or what? I'd find that to be pretty unusual seeing how Monica Pearson is the one reporting the stories, and I'd think she'd be more than a bit pissed if that was the case, no?

[otoatlanta]

Originally Posted by backfist

Hopefully, "culturally different" isn't a euphamism for being resentful of biracial children who come from two-parent families, and who value educational achievment.

I can't imagine it would be. I haven't noticed black nor white people make fun of biracial/transracial/mixed children for their being "culturally different", whatever that means. All that I have noticed is either total admiration and ridiculous peddle-stooling, or plain old mean spirited jealousy. In a lot of predominantly "black" areas in the south, having "good" hair and being "light-skinned" or having "light" eyes is most desirable. Any flack that mixed kids catch in these areas has nothing to do with their having a different culture. Same with predominantly "white" areas that I've been in, especially the south. A lot of the kids find "desirable" traits to be darker skin(light brown or tan, like the black kids like as well) and fuller lips(on women). When mixed kids catch flack in this instance, it's nearly always jealously(imo), having nothing to do with "cultural differences".

Diva05, I wouldn't agree that it is "normal" for 14-year children to pick at and tease each other, as this theory has been tested and failed in other cultures and American environments(for instance, in many American homeschooling environments). Public school systems and other school systems that do not work democratically with the children, and instead practice top down management, are breeding grounds for a a pecking order mentality. I think this mentality is worse the poorer the school district, because typically the poorer the district, the less freedom the children are likely to have.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by backfist

Well said, pirate_lafitte. If I might add:

If racists aren't representative of Atlanta--which I believe is true--then neither is the Black male criminal that we see on the local news each and every day.

Serious question: Are there readily available statistics regarding the racial makeup of the people actually committing crimes in the Atlanta metro area?

I would hope that the percentage of media reports involving black suspects is the same as the percentage of crimes which take place that actually involve black suspects.

Even if the media is unbiased, however, a biased police force could also skew the coverage because the police would be biased in reporting suspects to the media, so it's not always easy to place the blame even if a bias exists.

In any case, without real hard data points to work with, it's hard to tell whether or not media coverage is biased in any way.

Just out of curiousity, are you suggesting that most crimes in the Atlanta metro are committed by people other than blacks? That could be true, but I'd like to see numbers one way or the other. What is your source?

[backfist]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

What's your suggested remedy- should the news go out and hire whites to perpetrate more crimes to even the reporting, or should they stop reporting crimes if they're perpetrated by blacks? Are you saying that there are crimes by whites that aren't being displayed on the news as quickly as those by whites (I'm asking because I honestly don't know the answer to that)?

I do know that every time I turn on the news, it seems like almost every robbery, rape, shooting, etc., that's reported seems to be occuring in either Clayton, Fulton, or Dekalb Counties- are you saying that it's media bias, or what? I'd find that to be pretty unusual seeing how Monica Pearson is the one reporting the stories, and I'd think she'd be more than a bit pissed if that was the case, no?

I can't tell anyone what to watch or read. But it's clear that what most TV viewers want to see are crime stories and the faces of said crimes. I'm not suggesting that anyone commits more or less crime than anyone else. That's for folks who need to support their own biases. I'm saying that too many people take what they see as an allegory of Atlanta.

Now, you might not have intended to, but you made my point. Monica Pearson, Brenda Wood, and other news reporters who sit in front of the camera have no final say about the content of the news that they're reading. Responsibility for content comes from news directors and other content-related managers. I've checked the ranks of those managers within the local Atlanta networks. Primarily white. Coincidence? OK fine. But it speaks volume about the lack of concern for negative portrayals and imagery.

I would think that people who actually know and are personally acquainted with the Black communities in and around Atlanta would be equally put off by the constant parade of criminal imagery that you yourself speak of.

But in the end, the consumer gets what the consumer wants.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by backfist

Now, you might not have intended to, but you made my point. Monica Pearson, Brenda Wood, and other news reporters who sit in front of the camera have no final say about the content of the news that they're reading. Responsibility for content comes from news directors and other content-related managers. I've checked the ranks of those managers within the local Atlanta networks. Primarily white. Coincidence? OK fine. But it speaks volume about the lack of concern for negative portrayals and imagery.

But you're climbing the ladder of inference here, and assuming that the news directors are biasing the news because they're white. You're also giving people like Monica Pearson very little credit- while you can say that she "just reports the content that the producers give her", I highly doubt that she'd just sit there and let them pull her strings like a puppet if the news wasn't accurately reflecting statistics.

Originally Posted by backfist

I would think that people who actually know and are personally acquainted with the Black communities in and around Atlanta would be equally put off by the constant parade of criminal imagery that you yourself speak of.

Well, that makes it sound as if there's either no one who is willing to stand up for this bias crime (which I'd highly doubt is the case), or that perhaps the bias that you think is being shown doesn't really exist. Don't you think Reverend Al or someone else would be standing on the steps of City Hall shouting about the injustices that the "news machine" are perpetrating upon his people?

Originally Posted by backfist

But in the end, the consumer gets what the consumer wants.

And why do you think that the consumer only wants to see blacks as the criminals, or that they only want to see crime in counties they don't live in? Personally, if there are murders and violent crimes being committed in my city or county, I've got far more interest in hearing about those crimes than I do hearing about crimes in Fulton, Dekalb, or Clayton- regardless of the color of the suspects. I don't need to be tricked into thinking that there's no crime in Cherokee County just to give me a warm and fuzzy about where I live.

I'm thinking it could have alot more to do with the fact that there were only 7 murders in Cherokee County in 2005, while there were somewhere around 150 in Fulton County in the same time frame. That probably has far more bearing on how often I'll see a murder reported in Fulton County vs. how often I'll see one reported in Cherokee, than the color of the suspect's skin or the news director's bias does . But I damn well want to know when one happens in Cherokee.

[backfist]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Serious question: Are there readily available statistics regarding the racial makeup of the people actually committing crimes in the Atlanta metro area?

I'm sure there are. I don't know how readily available they are, but they're surely available.