Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms began the plans for what became Cop City in 2021. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The recent midterm elections have brought more Black people to high elected office, but for 20 years, Black Agenda Report has warned about the dangers of the Black misleadership class.
“Just look at the black proponents of Cop City in Atlanta’s leadership class. Black faces in high places are not going to save us.” - Dr. Ruha Benjamin, June 2024
It is accurate to say that the results of the November 3 midterm elections in the United States were quite historic. Not only did republican states like Texas and Kansas reject their long-time affiliation with republicans and instead elect democrats, but Black people were elected to statewide offices in record numbers. Four Black governors were newly elected: Byron Donalds in Florida, David Crowley in Wisconsin, Aaron Ford in Nevada, and Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia. Juliana Stratton was elected to the Senate in Illinois, and while votes are still being counted, Scott Colom is in the lead in a Mississippi Senate race. The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives now both have Democratic Party majorities, and Donald Trump, while still in possession of significant presidential powers, is definitely on the back foot.
Yet in its 20 years of publication, Black Agenda Report has never been a proponent of reveling in the success of Black faces in high places. Doing so is a recipe for political disenfranchisement precisely because a victory in elected office usually comes at the expense of the masses of Black people. Support from the donor class and those institutions whose needs are antithetical to those of the people is a prerequisite for gaining high office.
Yet the lure and power of representation remain strong. It isn’t difficult to understand how this legacy of decades of Jim Crow segregation and anti-Black public policy makes the very presence of Black people in positions of prominence so attractive, particularly when southern states are part of this turn of political events and Keisha Lance Bottoms prepares to become governor of Georgia in the heart of Dixie, or that Congressional Black Caucus member Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Bottoms and Jeffries both offer cautionary tales about the Black face in the high places, which still electrifies so many of our people. Bottoms was part of that generation of Black mayors of Atlanta who took office after Maynard Jackson began this trajectory of white-approved leadership in the 1970s. The city that was said to be “too busy to hate” was actually one in which rich white people decided that having Black mayors front for their interests was the most expedient course of action.
In April 2021, Bottoms announced a plan for what she called a public safety training center. The euphemism Cop City was a more accurate moniker, and the announcement, which came less than one year after protests over the killing of George Floyd and of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, was not coincidental. The city of Atlanta pledged $90 million in public funds for Cop City when most residents were opposed to the project. An additional $60 million was pledged by the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), which is controlled by people like billionaire Arthur Blank. Blank is a co-founder of the Home Depot chain of houseware stores and owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team. Corporations such as Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Cox Communications are also APF funders. Blank is now a member of Bottoms’ transition team.
At the behest of Blank and his ilk, Bottoms and her predecessor, current mayor Andre Dickens, pushed through the project while keeping a referendum on Cop City off the ballot. Opposition had resulted in one protester being shot to death by police, and 60 others were charged with RICO conspiracy, so dedicated were Atlanta’s ruling class to making Cop City a reality. They succeeded in doing so. Bottoms’ gubernatorial race victory was a reward for her service.
Hakeem Jeffries will in all likelihood become Speaker of the House. Like Bottoms and other elected officials, he owes his position as Democratic Party leader to the Israel lobby, big pharma, financial services, and the military-industrial complex. The list is not surprising. Those are the interests with the most money to spend.
Jeffries, though, is less skilled than Bottoms and makes clear who is pulling his strings. Of course no one can climb the congressional ladder to a leadership position without supporting Israel. But Jeffries couldn’t make that support clear without sounding like Alabama governor George Wallace, who famously said, “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” In a 2014 speech, before he even became leader, the hapless Jeffries proclaimed, “Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever!” This columnist may sneer, but he won the audition and should soon be Speaker of the House after proving his willingness to be servile to the right people.
Lest we forget, he recently met with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for reasons which we will never know. Regardless of the details, Jeffries showed a shocking lack of shrewdness in acceding to the request of a rich donor who remained nameless. His explanation that he and Kushner talked about affordability rings quite hollow. The sorry episode shows how business is done and for whom.
For all of its 20 years of existence, Black Agenda Report contributors have spoken of the opportunistic Black misleadership class. Bottoms and Jeffries exemplify this cohort, and their elevations to positions of power give Black people nothing except misguided feelings of pride.
We are not saved by mayors, governors, senators, or Speakers of the House. They are not accountable to the people. They answer to the Arthur Blanks of the world. Atlanta’s rich white people are the political class writ large. They and their friends ensure protection for themselves by putting compliant people like Bottoms and Jeffries in office, who in turn use the sincere feelings of Black people for their own benefit. We have seen this movie many times, and we know the ending. Black faces in high places are still not going to save us.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and find it on Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.
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