Last night in the Atlanta Journal I read that Clayton County is now going to follow DeKalb Counties lead and allow voting on Sunday. And although I have to leave in a few minutes to give the Tara façade tour, as a property owner in Clayton County who grew up there and raised a family there I think I have an obligation to share…and …”speak truth to power”. May I suggest that rather than extending the voting to Sunday (which everyone knows is a scam to allow the churches to bus their constituents to the polls) why not end voting in Clayton County and save time…and money? You see the course of Clayton County was set as a Democrat strong hold when the city of Atlanta demolished all the public housing to make way for Olympic Village before the Games in 1996. Those displaced were sent down to Clayton County with a voucher for housing and a promise of more to come if they voted, and voted correctly. However, with the ensuing cost overruns, economic catastrophes and myriad of lost lawsuits the voting money is now needed to refill the coffers so the County wouldn’t find itself limping along to the land of the mediocre. Funny thing is I don’t remember this kind of fear and cowardice when I was in school in Clayton County. In fact when my folks moved us out of Hapeville out to “the sticks” in 1964 there was only one gas station nearby, no apartment complexes or fast food joints. The hospital that now shades the subdivision where we lived across the street was only open fields that had been left fallow. The closest hospital was South Fulton 15 miles north toward Atlanta and the only colleges that were spoken of locally were in Atlanta or Athens. I swam in the fast moving Flint River, Quail hunted across the road and walked to Riverdale (the closest grocery store) over 6 miles away. We had little money (we struggled to pay the $100.00 per month house payment on Dads VA Loan) but lots of fun. Our Dads lived with our Moms and we sat down at night to eat our meals together. Today we are told that life would be better in Clayton County is it wasn’t for someone else’s failure. Both parents work and may or may not live together. My old street is “patrolled” not by families but predators and thugs looking to take something that is not theirs. Most of the signs and gas lamps that my mom collected money to have put up have long since been vandalized or stolen. The Flint River runs slow due to dredging so it could hold more toxic waste from Atlanta’s uncontrolled dumping. The wild life is gone and the traffic is terrible. And the people are told that it, “is what it is” for if they rose up and decried the destruction and waste, the poor management and the criminal behavior they would be labeled “haters”. Kids used to walk or ride their bikes to the dairy queen, now they won’t ride them to the corner store without an escort. Maybe the folks in Clayton County should save Sunday afternoon voting day and take a day to ride around and take in some of the sights. The would find a little Elementary School in Riverdale that had oiled wood floors and sparse furnishings but a list of educated men and women who learned early that right is right and wrong is wrong and that it takes bravery to admit you are wrong and adjust your life accordingly. They could go down to Jonesboro and see where Alonzon Herndon, a former slave and future millionaire would first learn to cut hair on Main Street. And a short distance away visit the former high school one Harry Douglas of the Atlanta Falcons whose former classmates were Olympians, Athletes, Lawyers, Judges and Educators. I think in all the success stories you would find as the common denominator the courage to face truth and change. Clayton County once had that, and it can have that again if men and women of courage and conviction take the lead. I’ll see y’all on the off ramp.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:01:53 +0000
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