On Aaron Turpeau's Open Letter Regarding the Atlanta Mayoral Race

The Atlanta Mayor's Race burst wide open a few weeks ago when a controversial memo made a big splash in the otherwise placid pool of candidates and campaigning, bringing the perennial contention of race back into Southern politics -- if it ever really left.

The bold reactions of the mayoral candidates to the "Black Agenda" memo that has circulated the city has been nothing compared to the reconnaissance of those involved in creating the story; from an unnecessarily hostile public response from a lame-duck freshman of the State House to a castigating press conference by the Clark Atlanta University professors who authored the fiery research that spurned this hellish parade. And just when one thought that this egregious stunt and superfluous headline had finally been laid to rest, now named antagonist Aaron Turpeau, local political veteran and the primary proprietor of this debacle, has released his own open letter in defense of his and the Atlanta Black Leadership Forum's (ABLF) actions.

When this series of events began to unfold a couple of weeks ago, I (like probably most people following the race) was slightly perplexed. I knew only vaguely of Aaron Turpeau's local fame, absolutely nothing about the Atlanta Black Leadership Forum, and in all of my political savvy couldn't quite muster why Lisa Borders had come out so strongly against what appeared to me to be a trivial document and a non-issue. To be honest, I thought that she and her campaign were grand-standing on the issue of race – a more than obvious emottional under-current in Southern socio-economic politics – to drum up support from her White base. However, this was before the initial memo that spurred her denunciations hit the wire and made national news, all but forcing Ms. Borders to come out against it so early and publicly just to stay on the offensive.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the memo. On the one hand, I certainly see value in the claims that the document and its intentions are contentious and incendiary, injecting into what was becoming a placid and tepid election season the vile and prejudice of a darker time in our city’s (hell, our nation's) past. On the other, race (along with class, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other divisive classifications) is still a very controversial and taboo reality, especially for us here in Atlanta, GA. If Ms. Borders had never responded to it, even had the memo never been publicized or written, that wouldn’t have changed the fact that many of us are still thinking about race and the ramifications of a candidate’s race on our segregated agendas – more importantly, that many of us take our thoughts on race with us into the voting booth. At least now the conversation has been catalyzed and put on the table, however cumbersomely.

And, while I certainly have no problem with Mr. Turpeau, the ABLF, or any other entity commissioning research or articulating an agenda to progress the ideals of their organization, I do take slight issue to any agency advocating for the interests of any group/community without the buy-in of those constituents. A political agenda by the ABLF for the ABLF is fine – great, even. An agenda by the ABLF for Atlanta’s Black community, however, is hollow and arrogant without the input and buy-in of the city’s Black citizenry. We expect open debate with our political leaders – why do our social leaders hold themselves to less scrutiny?

Ms. Borders, Mr. Turpeau, Rep. Ralph Long (D-Atlanta) are all somewhat right in their respective analyses -- which I guess also makes them all wrong, at least in part. What I do know is that there is a need to return to the civility and good faith of leadership that seeks to unite our communities toward solving our most difficult challenges. The practice of dividing genuine will to act in the best interests of the public by either 1) incubating hate and reinvigorating dormant pain with cheap, dirty identity politics or 2) flagging attention away from the issues that really matter with haughty platitidues & empty rhetoric, is antiquated and opaque. Furthermore, it's ultimately unconstructive.

I hasten the day when we can campaign in prose, but govern in poetry.

Get in to Aaron Turpeau’s response letter at:

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2009/09/09/a-postscript-turpeau-says-banishment-followed-mayoral-memo/?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider_jim_galloway
And the memo that started it all at:

www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0500.html

There’s still about seven weeks left in this race, so much is still in the air. I think it’s safe to say, however, that Mr. Turpeau and the Atlanta Black Leadership Forum won’t be supporting Mary Norwood.