Category: Atlanta, Georgia Local News

Judge Scott McAfee will hear closing arguments today in the possible disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Defense attorneys for Donald Trump and his co-defendants claim that Willis benefitted financially from her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. 

But while the hearing that focuses on Willis and Wade’s relationship has provided political entertainment, it has taken away the attention from Trump and his co-defendant’s alleged crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 election. 

The RICO case centers around the 2020 election probe when Trump asked former Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a phone call to help him secure over 11,000 votes, the amount in which he trailed Joe Biden in Georgia.

During a recorded call that took place on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump told Raffensperger, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

But the details of alleged crimes have been put to the back-burner to delve into the romantic life of Willis and Wade. 

Willis and Wade’s relationship came to light after Wade’s divorce proceedings caught the attention of the attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official. Roman asked that his charges be dismissed because Willis’ alleged personal relationship with Wade should disqualify her from continuing to prosecute the case. There was also claims that Willis signed off to pay Wade $654,000 since 2022 to serve as a special prosecutor. 

During her fiery testimony, Willis provided details of the relationship and when it started. This came after a former acquaintance, Robin Yeartie, claimed through testimony that she was Willis and Wade kissing in 2019. 

However, Willis and Wade both shared that their relationship began in 2022 and ended during the summer of 2023, before RICO indictments were announced against Donald Trump and others. 

Willis’ father John Floyd III also provided intriguing testimony. During testimony, Floyd said, “maybe—and excuse me your honor, I’m not trying to be racist—but it’s a Black thing.” Floyd told the court a story of how he faced discrimination while doing a fellowship at Harvard when Willis was a child. While with Willis and her mother, Floyd attempted to pay for a meal and coffee with a credit card and traveler’s check. However, Floyd was told by the establishment that only cash was accepted. With only $10 of cash in his pocket, Floyd paid for the meal which came to $9.95. I was trained, and most Black folks, they hide cash or they keep cash, and I was trained you always keep some cash,” he added. “I gave my daughter her first cash box and told her, ‘Always keep some cash.’”

Terrence Bradley was marked as the star witness for defense attorneys, but he testified that he did not have information of when Willis and Wade’s relationship began. 

But while an alleged affair between Willis and Wade has created poor optics, there’s no basis under Georgia Law to disqualify Willis or Wade from continuing to prosecute the Trump RICO case. 

Under Georgia Law, a prosecutor is disqualified from a case due to a “conflict of interest” when the prosecutor’s conflicting loyalties could prejudice the defendant leading to an improper conviction. Georgia law states, “[t]here are two generally recognized grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney. The first such ground is based on a conflict of interest, and the second ground has been described as ‘forensic misconduct.’” 

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With Black history books being systematically removed from library shelves, limiting access to crucial resources that elucidate the multifaceted experiences and contributions of Black Americans, it’s more important than ever to discuss and share Black History. The ongoing erasure of Black History in America has been exacerbated by politicians attempting to rewrite history to downplay the significance of Black stories. With the goal of amplifying, celebrating, and preserving the voices and experiences that shape Black history, BIN presents “Black History You Weren’t Taught In School.”

1. Henrietta Lacks’ Contributions To The World Of Science

Henrietta Lacks, a mother from Baltimore, deserves recognition in every U.S. biology class for her significant impact on science and medicine. In 1951, while undergoing tumor treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, cells from her biopsy were taken without her consent and became pivotal in ongoing medical research. Her cells were the first known human immortal cells used in medical research. Now referred to as the HeLa cell line, these cells have been used in AIDS, cancer, gene mapping, and other scientific work. Her contributions led to the creation of the first cell line capable of perpetual reproduction. Despite this being one of the era’s most significant medical advancements, the primary contributor, Lacks, passed away just two months after the initial biopsy, and her family remained unaware of the breakthrough for decades.

2. Tulsa Was Once Home To A Thriving “Black Wall Street”

Following the Emancipation Proclamation in the 1890s, freed slaves flocked to Oklahoma as a haven for a fresh start. Black residents started businesses and eventually built a thriving community in Tulsa’s Greenwood District that became known as “Negro Wall Street.” The term was coined by Booker T. Washington. Black Wall Street was a place where Black residents could get loans, and business owners could pool their resources. This led to the flourishing of a variety of businesses in the area, including doctors’ offices, grocery stores, schools, movie theaters, churches, restaurants, hair salons, and more. However, In 1921, the thriving Greenwood District was destroyed by a white mob during a massacre that left an estimated 300 Black people dead and businesses and homes burned to the ground. Black people were forced to leave behind their homes and a lifetime of opportunities.

3. Josephine Baker’s Dazzling Performances Of The 1920’s

An icon of the “Roaring Twenties” is American-born French dancer, singer, and actress Josephine Baker, whose artistic contributions shaped the Jazz Age and Roaring Twenties. Baker, a St. Louis native who went from street performer to one of the most famed dancers in American history, was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics. Baker was in several Broadway productions in New York before she moved to France and performed at the iconic Danse Sauvage. Famously, Bake refused to perform in segregated venues and became an important figure in the civil rights movement.

4. Shirley Chisholm’s Historic Political Run

New York native Shirley Chisholm may get left out of some textbooks but that doesn’t take away her historic political run. Chisholm was the first Black candidate to run for a major party nomination and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Chisholm also made history as the first Black woman elected to Congress when she served as representative for New York’s 12 district.

“I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people, and my presence before you symbolizes a new era in American political history,” Chisholm is famously quoted saying.

5. Katherine Johnson’s Contributions To Landing Man On The Moon

Katherine Johnson, a skilled mathematician, played a pivotal role in sending astronauts into orbit and landing a man on the moon. After the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik in 1957, Johnson joined the Space Task Force, laying out equations needed for orbital space flight. Johnson is credited for conducting one of the final tests to send John Glenn into space. Her orbital calculations were later used to send a man to the moon, a historic achievement for U.S. space flight. Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2015. Her work with the space agency was also featured in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures.

6. Dr. Gladys West: The Hidden Figure Behind The GPS

Dr. Gladys West is another skilled mathematician who gets overlooked in most history lessons. West’s calculations were crucial in developing GPS technology. West collected and processed data from satellites and used the information to create precise models of the Earth’s shape while working at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia. She later became a manager for the first satellite project that was able to remotely sense oceans. West was finally recognized for her work in 2018 and inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame.

7. Claudette Colvin: The 15-Year-Old Girl Who Refused To Give Up Her Bus Seat Before Rosa Parks

Nine months before Rosa Parks‘s defining moment in history, a 15-year-old girl named Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Colvin was escorted off the bus by two police officers and arrested for not giving up her seat. The pivotal moment occurred on the same Montgomery, Alabama, bus system that Parks later infamously refused to give up her seat.

Colvin was later involved in the Browder v. Gayle court case, which overturned bus segregation laws in Alabama. She is one of several women who went unwritten in most textbooks for standing up against bus segregation.

8. James McCune Smith Paved The Way In The Medical Field

America continues to see Black firsts in the medical field, and one ambitious Black doctor paved the way over two centuries ago. James McCune Smith was not only the first Black physician in the country, but he was the first Black American to earn a medical degree – especially at a time when no college would enroll him as a student, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Earning his medical degree from the University of Glasgow in the 1830s, the acclaimed doctor was recognized as one of the school’s best students at the time. As the first Black American to publish peer-reviewed articles in medical journals, he wrote essays and delivered speeches debunking pseudoscience asserting Black inferiority as a fact. The physician would become a leading abolitionist, as well, earning the praise of the renowned Frederick Douglass in 1859.

9. Mary Richards Bowser Helped Take Down Confederate Powerhouses During The Civil War

Because Black women couldn’t officially serve as troops in the Civil War, they opted to become nurses, scouts, and even spies. Mary Richards Bowser was one of those spies, a former enslaved maid under Elizabeth Van Lew’s household. Van Lew orchestrated one of the most infamous spy rings during the war and recruited Bowser into the fold. According to History.com, Bowser posed as Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ maid to feed intelligence back to Van Lew. The cunning spy used her photographic memory and superb acting skills to fool Confederate leaders and leak critical information to the Union.

10. The Biloxi Wade-Ins Put The Civil Rights Spotlight On Segregated Beaches

As many know, Civil rights demonstrators often fought against segregated public facilities and institutions, including schools, buses, and even water fountains. However, a years-long demonstration that often gets left out of textbooks occurred on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Black residents of Biloxi, Mississippi, spent years protesting segregation of public beaches, with physician Gilbert R. Mason Sr. leading the charge. Starting in May 1959, thousands of Black men, women, and children “waded in” the waters to stand against discrimination. The protests were marked by contentious meetings with city leaders, violent clashes with counter-protestors and police, and even a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice. It took the 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 to legally desegregate Biloxi beaches, but the city didn’t open them to all races until 1968.

11. William Reynolds Challenged Segregated Schools In Court Before Brown v. Board of Education

Before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated schools in the U.S., a Black father fighting for his child’s education took the issue to the Kansas state Supreme Court. William Reynolds, a Black tailor living in Topeka, sued the city’s School Board in May 1902 for forcing his eight-year-old son, Raoul, to attend a racially-segregated school. Raoul was a student at another school that had integrated classrooms, but it burned to the ground weeks before the start of the school year, forcing over 200 students, including 35 Black pupils, to attend segregated schools. Reynolds deemed the Black-only school was deemed unsanitary and inconvenient for his son, so the father filed a lawsuit against the School Board. Reynolds’ lawsuit reached the state supreme court, but a judge dismissed it based on the “separate but equal” doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson. Topeka, Kansas would also be where the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education would take shape before reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

12. South Carolina’s Friendship Nine Inspired New Civil Rights Tactics

A sit-in in a small South Carolina town would catch the attention of the nation during the civil rights era. On January 31, 1961, nine Black students attending Friendship College and the then-secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality sat at a lunch counter in Rock Hill to rebel against segregation. All ten of the men were immediately arrested, but nine of them declined to pay the $100 bail. As a result, they were jailed for thirty days and dubbed the “Friendship 9.” This act was the first instance of the “Jail, No Bail” tactic, and civil rights activists across the Southeast picked up the trick. The Freedom Riders would also deploy this strategy as they rode across the South to protest the lack of enforcement on desegregating buses.

13. The Arrest Of Six Black Teenagers Put The Spotlight On The “School-To-Prison Pipeline”

A 2006 incident at a Louisiana high school would shed light on the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a set of longstanding practices that shuttled at-risk Black youth into the criminal justice system. This started when six Black students beat up a white peer at Jena High School, sending the boy to the emergency room. All six defendants, whose ages ranged from 14 to 18, were arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder, sparking protests in the small town. Activists claimed the charges were too harsh for a school fight, leading to most of the teens, dubbed the Jena Six, to get “no contest” pleas to lesser charges. One of the defendants, Mychal Bell, was already convicted but it was overturned on the grounds he should’ve been tried in juvenile court. He then pleaded guilty to simple battery, like the rest of the teenagers. The case drew national media attention and highlighted racial injustice when it came to school discipline.

14. Mathematician Benjamin Banneker Helped Survey Washington D.C. Despite Racial Struggles

In the early years of the United States, a Black tobacco farmer debunked early American leaders’ notions of Black inferiority. Enter Benjamin Banneker, an astronomer and mathematician who helped survey the land that would become the nation’s capital: Washington D.C. President George Washington appointed three commissioners to oversee the “Federal City’s” construction, including his cousin Andrew Ellicott. Ellicott brought on Banneker as an assistant surveyor to help map out the land. Banneker’s peers and employers would also shift attention back to his race despite his immaculate skills and intelligence – something the scientist would later criticize in his writings.  

15. Security Guard Frank Wills Discovered A Piece Of Tape, Opening The Floodgates Of Watergate

One of the biggest political scandals in American history started with an eagle-eyed Black security guard. On June 17, 1972, Frank Wills spotted a piece of duct tape covering the lock of the back parking door leading to the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. He documented his findings in a security log and alerted the police about the tape, leading to the arrest of five key figures linked to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. The controversy revealed a cavalcade of conspiracy, wiretapping, surveillance, and other insidious acts that culminated in Nixon’s historic resignation. According to the National Archives, Wills said he was denied a promotion and barely made money doing press interviews despite his role in uncovering the Watergate break-in.

16. Black Cowboys Played A Crucial Role In Expanding The American West

Popular depictions of cowboys in the American West are usually reserved for white men. Following the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, Black cowboys served an invaluable role in working on ranches across the West, especially freedmen who gained experience under slave masters. They were scouts, cattle herders, cooks, and workers in various roles except that of the trail boss, who led the “trail drive.” They also had to brave dangerous conditions on the frontier, from stampedes and intense weather to disputes with rogue ruffians. Out of the estimated 35,000 cowboys of the era, historians believe 6,000 to 9,000 of them were Black, according to the Library of Congress. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop Black Americans from having their own rodeos and cowboy communities, which continue today.

17. Garrett Morgan’s Invention Forever Changed The Flow Of American Traffic

A Black man is responsible for one of the most important inventions in American traffic and transportation. Garrett Morgan crafted many creations over his career, but one of his most notable inventions was a version of the three-light traffic signal. Inspired by a gruesome car crash he witnessed in 1923, the inventor added a yellow light to signal oncoming drivers to slow down ahead of the red stop light. The businessman was granted his patent in 1924, fundamentally changing how motorists conduct themselves on the roads. His invention is now a permanent fixture on most American roads.

18. Lucia Harris Is The Only Woman Ever To Be Drafted By NBA

Lusia Harris, widely revered as the “Queen of Basketball,” was a pioneer in the sport. While attending Delta State University, Harris was selected to be on the first Olympic women’s basketball team in 1976. The following year, Harris made history as the first and only woman to ever be officially drafted by an NBA Team. The Utah Jazz selected her in the seventh round of the 1977 draft, but because Harris felt the move was a publicity stunt, she turned down the offer. Harris went on to play for the Women’s Professional Basketball League’s Houston Angels. She died in January 2022.

19. Lucy Stanton Was The First Black American Woman To Earn 4-Year College Degree

Lucy Stanton paved the way for Black women in education. Stanton is believed to be the first Black American woman to graduate from college with a four-year degree. In 1850, Stanton completed a Ladies Literary Course at Oberlin College, one of the first colleges in the U.S. to admit Black people. Stanton was elected as president of the school’s Ladies Literary Society. She also famously delivered a commencement speech called “A Plea for the Oppressed.” Staton went on to be an educator and active abolitionist.

20. Black History Month Started As “Negro History Week”

A Black historian is the reason why we celebrate Black History Month in February. Carter G. Woodson diligently worked to establish an event to provide education on the struggles and achievements of Black Americans in U.S. History. The annual celebration we know today started in 1926 as a seven-day commemoration called “Negro History Week.” Despite Woodson’s work, Black History Month didn’t become nationally recognized until the 1970s. President Gerald Ford was the first to recognize the celebration officially, and Black educators and students at Kent State paved the way for it to be commemorated in educational institutions.

21. Rosetta Tharpe Is Known As The Godmother Of Rock ‘N Roll

What’s not taught in many music classes is that a Black woman is considered the Godmother of Rock ‘N Roll. Born in 1915, Rosetta Tharpe was a trailblazer in the genre. With her distinctive voice and guitar skills, Tharpe combined secular and spiritual music to create a unique brand of rock. The likes of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash have credited Tharpe for influencing their music.

22. The “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” Boycotts

The “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” boycotts, born out of necessity during the Great Depression, catalyzed a pivotal movement for Black employment rights.

Credited with creating tens of thousands of jobs for Black workers amid the country’s severe global economic downturn from 1929-1939, the movement became a crucial tactic used by Black Americans to combat discriminatory hiring practices.

Through organized boycotts and consumer activism, Black Americans refused to support businesses that upheld discriminatory policies, which compelled many employers to reconsider their practices and opened doors to employment opportunities for Black workers. These boycotts not only contributed to the economic empowerment of Black communities but also served as a catalyst for broader social change, highlighting the intertwined nature of economic justice and civil rights.

23. Jane Bolin Shattered Glass Ceilings That Paved The Way For Women On The Bench

Jane Bolin is the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School. She graduated from the prestigious university in 1931, and eight years later, she broke yet another barrier when she became the first Black female judge in the United States. She served on the bench of New York City’s Domestic Relations Court for over 40 years. Bolin’s tenure as a judge was marked by her dedication to justice and advocacy for women, children, and families, particularly those from marginalized communities. Bolin’s groundbreaking achievements shattered barriers and paved the way for future generations of women of color in the legal profession.

24. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Is A Trailblazer In The Fields Of Law, Academia, And Civil Rights Activism

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander is known for her groundbreaking contributions as an economist, educator, and civil rights advocate. 

In 1921, Alexander became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. The achievement also marked the second time a Black American woman received a PH.D. As noted by the American Economic Association, “because of her race and gender, [Alexander] was denied a regular academic position after graduating. 

Despite facing racial barriers, she went on to become the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the first Black woman to practice law in the state.

Throughout her illustrious career, Alexander made significant contributions to both academia and public service, advocating for racial and gender equality. She also played a key role in advancing civil rights through her work with the National Urban League and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Alexander is additionally known for writing speeches and articles about the economic condition of Black Americans.

She believed that the neglect of Black Americans’ contributions to the economic development of the United States, combined with “barriers to Black education and wealth accumulation, contributed to the false belief—held, unfortunately, by some prominent economists of the time, among many others—that Blacks were genetically inferior.”

25. The Negro Motorist Green Book Was “The Bible Of Black Travel During Jim Crow”

Published in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green (a Black American New York City postal worker), the Negro Motorist Green Book was an essential guidebook for Black American travelers during the Jim Crow era in the United States. The Green Book provided information on safe accommodations, restaurants, and businesses that welcomed Black patrons during a time marked by racial discrimination and violence against Black Americans. The guidebook was, in many ways, a lifeline for Black travelers navigating the Jim Crow South and other segregated areas across North America. The book was instrumental not only in facilitating safer travel for Black Americans but also in fostering a sense of community and solidarity within the Black community. 

26. William Tucker Is The First Known Person Of African Ancestry To Be Born In The 13 Colonies Of British North America

Born in 1624 near Jamestown, Virginia (he appears on the first comprehensive census made in North America), William Tucker was the son of “Antoney and Isabell” — two of the first documented Africans to arrive in the British Colony of Virginia at Point Comfort (present-day Fort Monroe). Tucker was named after Captain William Tucker, whom his parents were servants of on the Tucker plantation, which was located in present-day Hampton.

While historians don’t know much about William Tucker’s life, what is known is that Tucker was the first African child baptized in English North America. Additionally, around 1635, when Tucker was 10 or 11, his parents were freed, and they established a farm in Kent County, Virginia. Descendants of William Tucker continue to reside in the Hampton Roads area.

27. Seneca Village Was A Thriving, Predominantly Black American Community That Existed In What Is Now Central Park.

In 1825, two years before slavery was abolished in New York, Andrew Williams bought land in the middle of Manhattan. The 25-year-old Black American shoe shiner, along with hundreds of free Black Americans, built what became home to the largest number of Black American property owners in New York before the Civil War. Despite facing racial discrimination and social marginalization, Seneca Village thrived as a close-knit community. However, in the 1850s, the city forcibly evicted the residents and demolished the village to make way for the construction of Central Park.

28. John Rock Was The First African American Supreme Court Lawyer.

Born in Salem, New Jersey, in 1825, John Rock is considered one of the most brilliant and influential Black figures in American history. Despite racial discrimination, Rock opened his own dental practice in Philadelphia in 1849. He then pursued his lifelong dream of becoming a physician, making him one of the first Black American men to earn a medical degree.

Rock’s commitment to equality and liberation went beyond his work in dentistry and medicine; he was also recognized as a prominent educator, abolitionist, and speaker. One of his notable speeches introduced the concept of “Black pride,” a phrase that later became integral to the Black Power movement. Additionally, he popularized the term “Black is beautiful.”

Despite encountering health challenges that led him to relinquish his medical practice in 1859, Rock persevered and transitioned into a career in law. By 1861, he had become one of the earliest Black Americans to be admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, and he was subsequently appointed as Justice of the Peace for Suffolk County. Then, on February 1, 1865, Dr. Rock reached another significant milestone, as he became the first African American admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, a feat achieved just one day after the House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment.

29. Betty Boop Was Based On A Black Woman

The iconic cartoon character was originally inspired by Esther Jones, a Black woman and entertainer known by her stage name “Baby Esther.” Baby Esther gained popularity in the 1920s for her unique vocal style, characterized by “boop-oop-a-doop” scat singing. It is believed that cartoonist Max Fleischer, the creator of Betty Boop, drew inspiration from Baby Esther’s performances when developing the character’s distinctive voice and persona. 

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Three historically Black colleges and universities in Mississippi could permanently close if a proposed Republican-sponsored bill is passed by state lawmakers.

Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, and Mississippi Valley State University would be on the chopping block under Mississippi Senate Bill 2726, which aims to shut down three of the state’s eight public colleges and universities by June 30, 2028, according to WJTV.

Republican State Senator John Polk, who represents Mississippi’s 44th District, wrote the seven-page proposal but the decision to close the universities would fall on the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Education (IHL). Officials would have to decide on which universities to close by June 2025 based on several criteria, including enrollment, federal aid, tuition rates, degree programs, and local economic impact.

Polk, who serves on the Senate’s University and Colleges Committee, claims the state legislature is spending too much money to keep public universities afloat, per The Associated Press. Several higher education experts publicly discussed public U.S. colleges and universities struggling amid declining enrollment and higher operating costs.

Jennifer Riley Collins, a HUD Regional Administrator at Alcorn State, said this bill could jeopardize HBCUs in the state if passed.

“The criteria stated within the bill places Alcorn and other HBCUs at high risk if the bill becomes law. This bill does not need to make it out of the current house,” Collins wrote in a Linkedin post. She stressed that she was speaking on her behalf, not the university’s, and urged alumni to voice their concerns to state legislators.

Some lawmakers signaled they won’t support the bill, while others said they need time to review the bill before considering a vote, AP reports.

Polk didn’t respond to several media outlets’ requests for comment.

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William Cooper calls Atlanta home, a city located a two-hour flight away from Kansas City, where he contracts as a heart surgeon.

Cooper, a proud Kansas City Chiefs fan, displayed the team’s logo on his jacket during our Zoom interview, just a week after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win.

Super Bowl Sunday, a day filled with excitement, included an unexpected visit to the emergency room for Cooper after he experienced chest pain.

Photograph by Audra Melton

The sun breaks on a chilly October morning over Dunkin’ Donuts and MARTA’s headquarters, slowly illuminating from gray to cloud-dotted blue the glass ceiling of a vast office tower atrium at the Lindbergh mixed-use district—or what developers have rechristened “Uptown Atlanta.” It’s the annual State of the BeltLine address, and it smells like cappuccino. Seated in the atrium are about 250 city bureaucrats, nattily dressed real estate executives, architects, engineers, state reps, business industry bigwigs, and media. Plus at least a couple people who think building anything resembling a train on the Atlanta BeltLine is pretty much the dumbest idea of all time.

That latter category does not include Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. Or the executive who’s guiding the BeltLine through a period of unprecedented growth, as MARTA formulates plans to start building an extension of the controversial Atlanta Streetcar, called Streetcar East, along the BeltLine’s most popular section next year. This much is made very clear to the audience.

“[The BeltLine is] connecting us to each other, to nature, and hopefully to job opportunities that may one day reduce our city’s income gap,” says Dickens, clad in a dapper gray suit. “The promise of transit will serve to integrate with and not discard what Atlantans have already fallen in love with on the BeltLine.” A little while later, Clyde Higgs, the BeltLine’s CEO and president of five years, calls transit “the DNA of the Atlanta BeltLine” and a partial solution to the city’s Achilles’-heel car traffic. Then Higgs urges the room to think macro, long-term. “We’re going to add another almost 2 million people [to the metro] in the next 25 years,” says Higgs, citing Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) projections. “What are we going to do? We have to give people options for getting around the city. This [BeltLine transit proposal] isn’t necessarily for you . . . it’s really for our grandkids, our great-grandkids.”

The tone shifts, however, when another powerful, suited man has his turn with the mic. He isn’t thinking about hypothetical Atlanta progeny.

Ambrish Baisiwala is the well-traveled CEO and chairman of Portman Holdings, a multinational developer that has shaped much of downtown Atlanta’s skyline and, in recent years, has been acquiring BeltLine-adjacent parcels like Pac-Man does power pellets. Over the past six decades, Baisiwala says, his company has completed 23 buildings that incorporate transit or stand within whistling distance of stations. They know transit, and they know thriving cities need it, he says. Then comes a laundry list of reasons why, per Baisiwala, light-rail vehicles on the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail aren’t the best use of resources: Just a fraction of metro Atlanta’s office space is located on the BeltLine today; transit ridership is stagnant or “falling off a cliff” in American cities; and the BeltLine’s trail-meets-trains vision, famously cooked up by Georgia Tech grad student Ryan Gravel, came in 1999, or “eight years before the iPhone was invented,” Baisiwala says, hinting at a dated technology.

“We need a transit solution for all of Atlanta,” says Baisiwala in a follow-up interview. “The extension of the [downtown] streetcar on the BeltLine does not address the transit issues, will be very challenging to complete, and will take decades—all of this assuming the funding could be procured.”

Dickens, Higgs, and Baisiwala are three key voices in what’s become a cacophonous debate pitting sign-waving grassroots activists against heads of multibillion-dollar development firms. Neighbor against neighbor. Professor against hipster. Expert lobbyists against seasoned city planners. And, as of last fall, the small organization founded by Gravel and former Atlanta City Council president Cathy Woolard in 2018, BeltLine Rail Now, against a recently formed opposition group, Better Atlanta Transit, with other well-known names attached.

As nobody knows exactly what the first section of BeltLine light rail might entail, it’s as if both factions are inhabiting alternate realities of the same hypothetical city, each perceiving the other’s vision as ridiculous, if not dangerous. In interviews, supporters from each side have accused the other of outright lying or dirty, bullying politics. Some call a train-like vehicle whirring (or clanging, depending on which reality you inhabit) down the BeltLine a cause for leaving Atlanta entirely; others, the only way they’ll be able to stay in the city as the realities of aging set in.

Amidst a whirlwind of contradicting statements, there could be just three points on which both parties tend to agree: 1. In general, more transit in the city is good. 2. The BeltLine is such a success that it’s already one of the most consequential projects ever built in Atlanta—if not any modern American city—like a permanent Centennial Olympic Games. 3. Adding this first section of transit, which MARTA estimates will cost at least $230 million, will be expensive as hell.

Regular attendees of the annual BeltLine breakfast say transit was barely mentioned in years past, but it was the 2023 meeting’s central theme, which speaks to the topic’s timeliness and weight. Both sides expect the great rail debate to intensify as specific proposals finally arrive this year, proving that Atlanta might still be too busy to hate, but it has plenty of time to argue, loudly.

• • •

Gravel, the BeltLine visionary and Chamblee native, is tired of answering the same questions over the past 20 years about the transit greenway idea outlined in his master’s thesis that, to date, has helped birth $9 billion in private investment, per Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.’s estimates. But on an autumn afternoon, Gravel finds himself recampaigning for the prospects of transit that his now-folkloric 1999 dissertation extolled as a key ingredient of the BeltLine’s eventual success. During a college year studying abroad in Paris, as the tale goes, Gravel was inspired by the city’s robust public transit system. That influenced his vision for transforming a circle of abandoned rail lines around his hometown. Today, he points to unexpected places he feels are way ahead of Atlanta in adopting alternative transportation. “These transit greenways are built all over the world—there’s one in Charlotte,” Gravel laughs. “It’s not even fancy. This is not rocket science.”

These days, metro Atlanta is perennially ranked among America’s fastest-growing regions. It packed in another 65,000 people across 11 counties in 2022, and between 2015 and 2050, it’s expected to see a boost equivalent to the population of metro Denver, according to ARC estimates. Given that influx, Gravel sounds incredulous in noting that no “significant” investment in transit has been made since MARTA’s North Springs and Sandy Springs stations opened in 2000. His assessment seems like a deliberate diss, as it fails to acknowledge the streetcar’s downtown loop, which debuted woefully behind schedule, with a price tag of $98 million (ballooned from a predicted $69 million) in 2014. These days, the underpatronized streetcar is the favorite bogeyman of BeltLine rail’s opposition. It’s proof, they posit, that a light-rail transit system on the Eastside Trail will inevitably devolve into a boondoggle.

“The streetcar is inefficient, it’s ugly, it’s just extremely clunky,” says Jennifer Bentson Hubert, a BeltLine rail opponent who works in Georgia Tech administration and lives in Old Fourth Ward, a half mile from the current 2.7-mile streetcar loop but directly on the proposed new route.

Rail supporters often point to the fact that, in 2016, 71 percent of Atlanta voters supported More MARTA, a 40-year program to fund new rail, stations, streetcar extensions, and bus routes with a half-penny sales tax increase. But in early 2023, faced with rising costs and inflation, MARTA slashed the original list of projects to be built with an anticipated $2.7 billion in tax revenue down to seven, including the planned Eastside Trail rail extension. That’s not, rail opponents say, what taxpayers voted for.

MARTA took over streetcar operations from the city in 2018, after state regulators threatened to shut the system down in light of problems with accident investigations, inadequate staffing, and other issues. According to MARTA ridership data, the downtown streetcar in 2022 saw an average of about 426 trips taken per day (at $1 apiece, or $3 for a day pass). That’s roughly half the number of daily riders tallied in prepandemic 2019. With no dedicated right-of-way, the streetcar is frequently stuck in traffic or rendered immobile by cars illegally parked in its lanes. Gravel calls the streetcar’s current stations “pitiful” and notes that transit on the Eastside Trail would be a different form of light rail that doesn’t share lanes with cars. “In any conversation I’ve ever been part of, over the past 20 years, [the Atlanta streetcar] is not what people want or expect on the BeltLine,” says Gravel. “They expect a much higher grade and quality.”

Early renderings released by MARTA show a replica version of the streetcar rolling up and down the Eastside Trail, powered by overhead wires. But, like virtually all aspects of the project, that’s subject to change. MARTA and the City of Atlanta hope extending the current streetcar loop by two miles to a jobs hub and bona fide tourist attraction like Ponce City Market, with five new stations in between, will greatly boost ridership; detractors argue that there’s no data to back up that theory. And whether Ponce City Market’s ownership actually wants trains arriving at its doorstep is a different story, as we’ll see shortly.

When Gravel worked as an architect for BeltLine designers Perkins & Will, more than a decade ago, the firm came up with a rail vision he calls a “really rich, integrated approach,” with stations, stairs, walls, and guideways (or the paths and rails on which trains travel) seamlessly woven next to the paved BeltLine. That’s a stark contrast with renderings recently distributed by Better Atlanta Transit, the opposition alliance, depicting the rail corridor as a concrete-encased “heat island” with walls jammed between BeltLine patrons and trains.

Rail opponents question why the first BeltLine rail section couldn’t be built somewhere else, where public transit is more needed and housing less dense, avoiding an association with the current streetcar and its bad reputation. “I’ve watched the BeltLine grow, mature, and really knit together a lot of things,” says retired engineer Guy Griswold, HOA president for the BeltLine-adjacent Highland Park Townhome Association in Old Fourth Ward. Griswold, who owns a four-story townhome with a wraparound deck overlooking the trail, asks, “Why would you want to marry arguably the most successful thing in Atlanta, the BeltLine, with the biggest failure, the streetcar?”

Shaun Green, the BeltLine’s principal engineer, says the logic boils down to avoiding “orphaned segments” of light rail. “There’s going to have to be expansion from something that already exists,” says Green. “So us putting in a segment of rail on the southwest quadrant of the BeltLine that doesn’t have a connection to the rest of the streetcar system—that’s just not something we’re going to get federal funds for. And it just doesn’t make sense from a transit planning perspective.”

But can trains coexist with a multipurpose path that attracts 2 million visitors per year and spills over with patrons on sunny weekends? And if so, what might that look like?

• • •

Five years after its founding, the driving grassroots force behind the prorail movement is BeltLine Rail Now, or BRN. The nonprofit has a four-person board, about 2,700 newsletter subscribers, a devout millennial following, and, as of last fall, a campaign selling $8 yard signs to help raise funding. The most visible, audible BRN leader is cochair Matthew Rao. He’s a studious-looking Georgia Tech alum who runs an interior design architecture firm when he’s not, say, leading BRN marches in neighborhood parades or politely offloading stacks of BRN brochures into the hands of Atlanta City Council members and Collie Greenwood, MARTA CEO and general manager, as Rao was doing after the BeltLine breakfast summit.

Despite assertions from rail opponents that BRN could be secretly funded by companies in the light-rail industry, such as Siemens, Rao insists his organization has taken no money from corporations and hasn’t tallied more than $525 from a single private donation. Asked why he’s so committed to the cause, Rao says, with impassioned eyes, that the BeltLine is “the most transformational urban design project in the United States,” and that advocacy and public education are crucial parts of seeing the “entire vision” come to fruition.

“Have you ever been on the architectural boat tour in Chicago? We don’t have the natural geography to do that here,” says Rao. “But we can do the Atlanta BeltLine, and we can bring what’s on the Eastside Trail in unique ways all around the rest of the 22 miles if we provide the access.”

Believers like Rao contend that accessible, relatively cheap connectivity would bring office, residential, and commercial development to other parts of the city, creating opportunities for underserved neighborhoods on par with the Eastside Trail, which opened 11 years ago and has transformed formerly barren sections of Old Fourth Ward.

Photograph by Audra Melton

On its face, MARTA ridership data doesn’t look too encouraging from a transit demand standpoint. Combined rail and streetcar rides in 2019 accounted for nearly 62 million trips on MARTA. While ridership is trending up, the tally of trips in 2022—about 28.4 million—didn’t reach half the number of three years before. Public transit use has dipped virtually everywhere since the pandemic, but the New York Times reported in November 2023 that only four American cities have seen steeper drops in daily transit commutes than Atlanta’s 82 percent decrease between the autumns of 2019 and 2022.

Still, it’s tough to overstate how anomalous and magnetic the Eastside Trail can be, in every respect. New City Properties president Jim Irwin helped lead the development of Ponce City Market and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building five new BeltLine-linked towers nearby, with much more in the pipeline. Irwin has leased 300,000 square feet of one new office tower to digital-marketing behemoth Mailchimp, and he says a third of that company’s employees plan to commute to work on the BeltLine. Shuttles running between Ponce City Market and the North Avenue MARTA station have consistently been packed, indicating strong rail use, Irwin says. But another prominent developer, Matt Bronfman, CEO of Ponce City Market owner Jamestown, coauthored an AJC editorial arguing against BeltLine transit, calling it an “expensive and risky venture” that would consume resources needed elsewhere.

Irwin supports transit—so long as the quality is excellent—and he designed the wide-open, welcoming plazas at Mailchimp’s future headquarters with train arrivals in mind. “[The BeltLine] is not just fun, not just a weekend activity . . . we are at the point in our city where people are actually using this five, six, seven days a week,” Irwin said at the BeltLine meeting. “The excitement and energy around transit is palpable.”

But rail opponents wonder if those trips couldn’t be made in more innovative, current, and flexible ways. Namely, by using driverless (autonomous) vehicles and/or what’s collectively referred to as “micromobility,” including bicycles, scooters, skateboards, in-line skates, and even futuristic-looking electric unicycles. Chris Dyrda, a retired engineer who’s worked professionally with mass transit programs, says autonomous bus technology has advanced to the point of making the vehicles feasible on the BeltLine for Atlantans who are unable to pedal for miles or to afford a $300 scooter. “Autonomous buses are cheaper, scalable, efficient, and less disruptive to businesses, the environment, and residences,” says Dyrda, who lives in Old Fourth Ward. “[They’re] coming to Truist Park and the airport. Why not the BeltLine?” (The Truist Park shuttle, known as the Cumberland Hopper, is an eight-month pilot program currently testing autonomous, eight-seat buses along pedestrian trails around Cobb Galleria and the Battery Atlanta.)

Photograph by Audra Melton

Griswold, the HOA president, says autonomous vehicles would provide transit planners with an off-ramp. He decries the idea of Eastside Trail transit, but adds: “If you’re going to do it, let’s put another 14- or 16-foot-wide ribbon of asphalt or concrete out there, and then run these autonomous vehicles that are proven technology. If ridership never materializes, what are you left with? You’re left with a parallel path that you can separate wheeled vehicles from walkers and runners and keep the nature of what’s already out there.”

Rao believes paving today’s green section of the BeltLine for a parallel path would wreck its bucolic character and create “our own 22-mile Interstate 285.”

BeltLine leader Higgs, himself an e-scooter rider, says micromobility strategies are part of the solution, but hardly a panacea. “If we’re growing like we think we’re growing, we’re going to have to have high-capacity vehicles,” says Higgs. “The math is really that simple.”

Inman Park resident Matt Cherry, a principal with the Lord Aeck Sargent architecture and design firm, which worked with the BeltLine on early feasibility studies, says no U.S. city relies on micromobility in lieu of public transit, and the chances of securing necessary federal funding to build out such a system are nil. Cherry lives about two blocks from the BeltLine, and his 11-year-old son uses the trail to commute by bike to Howard Middle School each day. Cherry has no qualms with his boy sharing the corridor with light-rail vehicles, discounting opponents’ concerns that safety would become an issue along a joint pathway, especially at crossings.

For his part, MARTA leader Greenwood, who helped grow streetcar transit in North America’s third largest system, in Toronto, insists rail safety on the Eastside Trail would be “nonnegotiable.”

Photograph courtesy of the Atlanta BeltLine

Another huge sticking point involves aesthetics. As of this writing, MARTA was completing its contract with global engineering firm HDR for finalizing plans. The design documents are considered 30 percent complete, meaning little is set in stone. Rao and company are lobbying for Eastside Trail transit to run on “grass tracks,” or essentially what looks like a front yard, helping control water runoff and, as Gravel points out, making light-rail transit quieter by absorbing sound. BeltLine chief Higgs concurs, noting in an interview, “I want, personally, something that’s very verdant and green. You don’t need a concrete monstrosity.”

Naysayers take issue with the overhead aspects of the transit proposal—particularly with potential loss of tree canopy and the eyesores that are catenary wires used to power trains. “Trees Atlanta has done a great job of turning this into a linear arboretum, and all those trees go away with [rail]—none of which is ever shown with the renderings,” says Griswold. “We’re starting to use the term ‘visual lie,’ because everything MARTA and [BRN] and others put out, it never shows what it would actually look like.” Opponents say a substantial and likely unsightly barrier would be required by federal law to stand between the Eastside Trail and rail, but MARTA officials say that’s not the case, citing Federal Transit Administration documentation. As anecdotal proof, MARTA spokesperson Stephany Fisher points out that the current streetcar system already runs close by Woodruff Park.

Gravel notes that BeltLine light-rail stops would be close enough together that overhead wires might not be necessary, in that electric vehicles could quickly charge at each station before heading to the next. “Those systems [likely] cost more,” Gravel says, “but we can certainly do that.” And Cherry, the BeltLine consultant, echoes other supporters in saying complaints about aesthetics could help mask the fact that detractors just don’t want more people traipsing through their BeltLine backyards.

That notion, says Griswold, is hogwash. “[Rail supporters] paint us as NIMBYs [an acronym alluding to “not in my backyard”] and rich folks that just don’t want this because of whatever reasons, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he says. “But we do want something that makes fiscal sense.”

• • •

With a press release issued October 18 urging Atlantans to “preserve the BeltLine with 21st century transit options,” the formal opposition to Eastside Trail rail expansion—the Lakers to BRN’s Celtics—was born.

Better Atlanta Transit’s 18-member founding advisory board includes former Atlanta Housing president Renee Glover, writer and former Creative Loafing editor Ken Edelstein, former DeKalb County commissioner Jeff Rader, and development attorney Sharon Gay, a candidate in Atlanta’s last mayoral election who opined in BAT’s official announcement, “No studies show that this huge financial investment will enhance public transit ridership.” Another board member, Hans Klein, an associate professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, caused a stir with a January 2023 Saporta Report editorial calling BeltLine rail “a dinosaur technology” that would ineffectively loop around the urban core instead of connecting into it.

BAT spokesperson Billy Linville, a public relations whiz who directed campaign communications for Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, describes the public reaction to BAT’s formation as “incredible” in terms of feedback and attention. “I think having any real public discourse about this is healthy,” Linville says, “whether you agree with putting rail on the BeltLine or don’t.” Just as BRN isn’t bankrolled by the likes of Siemens, Linville says BAT has received no contributions from autonomous-vehicle companies or others that provide alternatives to rail.

In November, BAT board member Walter Brown staged an exhibition at Ponce City Market called Once upon a Time on the Eastside Trail, with photography “presenting life on the BeltLine today in all its lovely greenery and human pageantry” alongside harsh renderings showing the reality of “BeltLine-destroying light-rail plans,” says Brown.

Courtesy of BAT

Rao did not attend the exhibit in person. From photos that he saw, Rao believes the images were not official and found them misleading.

Meanwhile, rail opponents point to Gravel’s social media post heard ’round the ATL urbanist world—“There’s something MAGA about this new transit hate group,” Gravel wrote in October, a sneering reference to “Make Atlanta Gentrified Again”—as brewing outright hostility. Gravel counters that several BAT leaders have been working behind the scenes to undermine BeltLine transit for years. In his estimation, they see the window closing to use leverage from so many new and moneyed intown residents, smear BeltLine rail with its association to the problematic streetcar, and “finally get their way and kill it.”

The rail debate has also become a war of numbers. In November, BAT released findings from a Global Strategy Group poll of 600 Atlanta registered voters suggesting that, among other findings, 53 percent of respondents would prefer that MARTA upgrade its current services rather than build BeltLine rail. On the flip side, BRN says that 12 out of 16 Neighborhood Planning Units the organization polled in 2022 are in favor of BeltLine rail, representing north of 250,000 residents.

So what comes next? According to MARTA, public engagement in the near future will focus on evaluating improvements to the agency’s current streetcar service. MARTA and its streetcar extension design team are planning to attend BeltLine meetings and quarterly briefings, along with regular neighborhood meetings, to provide updates as well. Also in the works for early this year, according to MARTA, are open houses and public forums where more updates will be relayed and “specific impacts” considered, in hopes of bringing designs for the rail extension to 60 percent completion soon.

As of now, MARTA’s outlook calls for breaking ground on the project in 2025 and beginning revenue service sometime in 2028. Meanwhile, says Higgs, by the end of this year, 85 percent of the BeltLine multiuse trail loop is scheduled to be either finished or under construction.

Though the reality of rail passengers on the BeltLine may still be half a decade away, the prospect is already impacting people’s lives near the Eastside Trail, on both sides of the issue. Fred Duncan, an early leader of grassroots rail opposition, decided to sell his Old Fourth Ward home and uproot to St. Simons Island last year, in part because he didn’t want to deal with rail construction and increased crowds. City taxes ballooning by 38 percent, Duncan says, also influenced his decision.

Conversely, there’s Inman Park resident Janice Darling, who joined the Streetcar Design Community Advisory Group early on in hopes of making BeltLine rail beautiful. She feels her ability to age in place with her husband, who is 15 years older than her, staying in the home where they’ve raised two teenagers, hinges on having rail options a short walk away. “I’m picturing 10 years out, and my husband’s not going to be walking or biking on the BeltLine. He won’t be able to walk to Piedmont Park or Trader Joe’s or Kroger,” says Darling. “We want transportation. So when we heard the rail was coming, it was exciting—expensive, but exciting.”

This article appears in our February 2024 issue.

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Photo by Mithru Kumar

Brian Kim’s family has been in the restaurant business for 35 years. His father and uncles own and operate seven locations of hibachi and sushi restaurant Mikata in Georgia and Alabama. Now, Kim is looking to modernize the Japanese restaurant, starting with a new Dunwoody location in the State Farm building.

“The hibachi experience is outdated,” Kim says. “We want to emphasize the Japanese flavors and bring a different way of dining.”

Soft-open now with a grand opening planned for March 8, Mikata Dunwoody offers sushi and hibachi fare, but instead of being cooked in front of the guests at teppanyaki tables, it’s prepared behind the scenes. The menu has also been enhanced with new options like deep-fried mushroom chips, Kobe beef, and Wagyu flown in from Japan. All sauces are made in house.

Photo by Mithru Kumar

Photo by Mithru Kumar

Another way Mikata aims to stand out is its beverage selection. It features 11 rare aged Japanese whiskeys, plus eight diverse sakes, with more to come. Expect exclusive cognacs with a single drink costing up to $800. Six Japanese-inspired cocktails are available on a more approachable budget, made with Japanese vodka, whiskey, gin, sake, and yuzu.

Mikata has two floors of dining space, in addition to a patio. Lunch specials and a happy hour menu are in the works. Reservations are recommended.

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Da’Vinchi understands the complexity of portraying one of the most notorious figures of this generation. Tasked with the role of Terry “Southwest T” Flenory in the Starz hit series “BMF,” Da’Vinchi brings depth to the drama which sheds light on the real-life story of the Black Mafia Family. 

During a recent visit to Atlanta, Da’Vinchi sat down with ADW/Real Times Media at iHeart Studios to discuss the new season of the series and how the role has impacted his life. 

In season 3, the show expands from the Flenory brother’s home base of Detroit as Big Meech, portrayed by Lil Meech,  takes a journey down south to Atlanta. 

“This season is definitely more about expansion,” Da’Vinchi said. “Meech starts living in Atlanta and starts building a crew out there. Terry stays back to hold the fort in Detroit. So Terry kind of finally gets what he’s been yearning for, that  independence and that leadership role. He’s a top dog there in Detroit. Meech has to start all over from scratch in Atlanta because he’s the new guy in a new town and he’s trying to crawl his way up. They have a lot of adversities to overcome and Terry’s on edge in the beginning of the season because he wants to make sure that people don’t look at him like he can’t fill the shoes. So it’s tough.”

Atlanta’s culture and history is highlighted in season 3 of the series. From Techwood Homes to the Olympics, Atlanta’s past plays a major role. Da’Vinchi spoke about experiencing both Atlanta and Detroit culture while filming on location. 

“Atlanta is dope because it’s like the one place that you just see so many successful Black people outside of entertainment,” Da’Vinchi said. “I love seeing this vibe outside of entertainment. Because with entertainment, it’s often viewed as the only thing that we can do to be successful. And when I was filming in Detroit, that was interesting too. It was a place with race cars, casinos. It was great to be able to shoot there. But I felt like I wasn’t able to really grasp the culture as well because it was just straight work. But in Atlanta, I was able to grasp that culture a little more than Detroit.”

Da’Vinchi also gets an opportunity to work with one of his rap idols in 50 Cent. He shares what he’s learned from the hip-hop and TV mogul. 

“50 is amazing man, God bless his soul,” he said. “That’s an amazing person who’s giving so many people opportunities. It’s just so crazy. And he’s so humble. He’s really a comedian in real life. I remember one of my first conversations with 50. I was like, ‘Man, I’m a huge fan and I it’s just so crazy to be working with you.’ And he was like, ‘isn’t it crazy though, that you’re helping me pursue my career and my dreams?’ The humility that it takes to say that to a new artist. 50 is a juggernaut, man. He’s made a lot of people millionaires.”

With the filming of “BMF,” there are moments of violence and tragedy. Da’Vinchi, who was born in Brooklyn and spent time in Florida as a youth, makes it a point to decompress for his mental health. 

“It definitely takes me back to that place like the paranoia that comes with this,” Da’Vinchi said. “I made sure to just let it go and I meditate. I just pray it out, all the way. But sometimes I don’t like the stuff that it triggers for sure. It triggers certain things. But, you know, I feel good about this project in comparison to a whole bunch of other projects. Only because other  it’s a true story. I’m okay with playing this character because this is something that really happened in real time in a real person’s life. And I feel like I’m doing their story justice, and you can finally see it in a different perspective.”

Overall, Da’Vinchi wants the “BMF” series to resonate beyond the criminal aspects that’s tied to the Flenory brothers. He hopes the human aspect shifts to the forefront as the series unfolds.

“I just hope when people watch it, they put themselves in these two brothers shoes,” Da’Vinchi said. “And with all the information that’s being thrown at them,  instead of judging them just think about what would I have done if I was in this situation? I just think it’s one of those projects that you should just put yourself in their shoes. If I was dealt these cards, how would I play this out? I think it’s just fascinating. It’s fascinating to watch and just observe from the outside looking in.”

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WAOK’s “Too Much Truth with Derek Boazman” radio program celebrated Atlanta’s Black-owned businesses on Wednesday inside Mr. Everything Cafe on M.L.K.

Nestled in the upstairs bar of the family-owned and operated business that marked a milestone of 30 years in December, business owners gathered to mingle, network and highlight their businesses. 

Many of the businesses in attendance were small businesses that ranged from salon and natural skin care products to libraries and at-risk youth support organizations. Joyce Littel, WAOK’s brand manager, recognized that it could be hard for those businesses to afford regular advertising. The event, which started as a way to help local entrepreneurs, allows these owners to use the reach of the radio station to market themselves. 

Photograph by Marc Mauldin

“Low seating feels more relaxed than traditional seating,” says Palmer Schallon, who built the furniture in this dining room. He and his wife, Melissa—both set decorators in the film industry—recently moved to this West End home from Los Angeles.

Window DIY
Showing off his artisan skills, Schallon also created the bamboo-like oak accents on the windows, framed by woven shades.

Natural elements
To reflect the home’s Craftsman bungalow architecture, the couple painted the dining room walls “Calke Green” by Farrow & Ball, with an off-white trim. The accent wallpaper—which creates a “storybook-like environment,” explains Schallon—is from a company called Mind the Gap.

Table trends
The low-rise table was scaled to fit the room, says Schallon, who chose a walnut frame with a cork base. For the tabletop, he cut different shades of cork into diamond shapes to give it a pattern, with a custom wood-and-cork lazy Susan on top.

Getting the lowdown
“I built the chairs with an extrawide seat to allow for sitting cross-legged or with your legs curled up beneath you,” says the homeowner and woodworker.

Design Tip: Custom is often the way to go, says Schallon, who is starting an interior design business with Melissa. He consulted Etsy to find fellow artisans for the rug and light fixtures.

This article appears in our February 2023 issue.

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Attorneys for the family of Devonte Dawayne Brown, the 28-year-old Black man gunned down by Cobb County Police officer Ian McConnell in August 2021, were joined by the Chair of the Georgia State NAACP Gerald Griggs and the family of another Black teenager killed Cobb County Police to call for justice and accountability as they announced a federal lawsuit against McConnell today.

Brown’s family is represented by  Bernarda Villalona of Villalona Law, PLLC  and Chantel Cherry-Lassiter and Crystal Carey with The Law Offices of Harry M. Daniels.

Brown’s killing sparked outrage last year when body camera video released by the attorneys showed Brown been boxed in by police with McConnell shouting to “Get your f***ing hands up!” Though Brown was trapped in the vehicle with the airbags clearly deployed, McConnell, who was in no immediate threat, fired twelve rounds into the car, striking and killing Brown. McConnell can be heard on the video after the shooting, admitting that Brown was trapped inside the car when he requested Fire and Rescue to extricate his body from the vehicle. 

“The Cobb County Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office have made it very clear that they aren’t interested in seeking justice for Devonte Brown or his family,” said Villalona. “They want us to just go away. They want this family and this community to just sit down and shut up. But we’re not going away. We’re not going to let them sweep this under the rug. This family deserves justice and if the DA’s office won’t fight for it, we will.”

“Let’s be clear. It’s not just that Devonte Brown wasn’t a threat. He couldn’t have been,” said Cherry-Lassiter. “He was trapped in a car with the airbags deployed. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t see. He was defenseless. That’s why the other officers on the scene didn’t fire. But Ian McConnell did. He killed a helpless man for no reason and he shouldn’t get away with it.”

“According to the Cobb County Police, whether you’re a father trapped in a car or a 17-year-old running for your life, do what we say when we say it or we’ll kill you,” said Carey. “This has to stop. Someone needs to remind them that wearing a badge does not give you a license to kill.”

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Microsoft is acquiring more land for its data center campus in Palmetto.

The tech giant paid $6 million for about 20 additional acres next to its existing data center campus, according to Fulton County property deeds.

The seller was the business entity, Hwy 81/20 LLC, according to the deeds. Databank, which records commercial real estate property transactions across Atlanta, showed Microsoft paying about $288,268 per acre. “That’s a high price, but considering it’s Microsoft it’s also within the norm,” said Databank founder Alan Wexler.

Microsoft purchased the land to support its ongoing data center construction, a spokesperson said in an email to Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The $420 million Palmetto data center project was approved in 2020. Microsoft plans to finish the project by 2028 when it could span up to 116 acres, according to previous filings with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

This data center is part of Microsoft’s East US 3 data region announced in 2021. It will serve Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, among other functions. The region also includes Microsoft data center projects in East Point and Douglas County.

Microsoft is investing in properties for multiple data centers across the world, following a trend as AI and digital products expand. However, data centers have recently experienced backlash because they require large amounts land and electricity and provide limited jobs.

While Microsoft continues to invest in data centers, the company is still evaluating its global real estate footprint. Planning remains paused for its Westside Atlanta campus in Grove Park.

One of the nation’s most distinguished leaders in the world of finance, Raymond J. McGuire recently took the stage at Bank of America Auditorium at the Shirley Massey Executive Conference Center at Morehouse College to share insights with students and guests in an open forum during the revered institution’s Founders week from Monday, Feb. 12 to Sunday, Feb. 18.

McGuire, a 2024 recipient of Morehouse’s Candle in the Dark award, is the president of Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, with operations in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Prior to joining Lazard, McGuire enjoyed an impressive 13-year tenure – the longest in the history of Wall Street – as Citigroup’s Global Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, where he oversaw a global business with over $20 billion in annual revenue and he advised on transactions valued at $750 billion, including major deals like Time Warner/AT&T, Time Warner’s takeover defense and Wyeth’s sale to Pfizer. McGuire rose to become vice chairman of the company before departing in 2020 to pursue his public service interests and run for Mayor of New York City. 

McGuire explained to aspiring Morehouse students that the four tenets he built his career on, continue to be mandates he lives by. “Four things got me to where I am, prayer, preparation, performance and paranoia,” he said to light laughter. 

Raised by a single mother, he and his two brothers lived with their grandparent in Dayton, Ohio, where McGuire said his early years were fraught with the difficulties that come with life in urban areas of the rust belt. “I come from a town called Dayton, Ohio in the Midwest and lived deep in the neighborhood, right next to a paper factory. Sometimes that paper factory would emit fumes that were so topic that in order to breathe we had to open the refrigerator door.”  

The successful business leader openly shared that leaving his hometown after an 11th grade teacher challenged the 4.0 student athlete to elevate his thinking and goals and test his talents against “the big boys and girls in the east,” where he would ultimately attend and graduate from Harvard College. 

“I was able to get a scholarship to Dijon, France, the mustard capital of the world. But I wrote to the fellowship and said that after having conferred with all of my professors they think a year in Neice, [France] would be better for me. … and I eventually crossed over into Athens where I couldn’t get a hotel room because I was Black,” he recalled. After meeting and American in Athens who housed the adventurous traveler for a few days, McGuire went on to Cairo Egypt. 

“When I got to Cairo I told them I was kin to Muhammad Ali, and as long as I didn’t say anything they didn’t know that I wasn’t Egyptian, so I got a warm welcome,” McGuire quipped.

After ending his travel in Jerusalem, McGuire returned to the states to earn an MBA and a JD from Harvard Business School and Law School, respectively, as well as an A.B. cum laude from Harvard College.

The budding financier explained that he got his foothold in the world of investment banking after attending a cocktail party at the Ritz Carlton and convincing a business titan to take him on as an intern. “I told him that in the heat of the battle it’s better to have me on your side than against you because somehow I’ll find a way to win. That started my career on Wall Street,” McGuire explained.

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