ATL’s New Theme Song
Brand Atlanta and Dallas Austin unveiled Atlanta’s new theme song last night during the Falcon’s half time show.
So come on… what did you think?
(Listen to a clip here)
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Nothing makes me think of Atlanta more than quavering voices and “get ‘em up, get ‘em up, get ‘em up, LET’S GO!”
So I guess it was a success.
Still think JD and Ludacris had our anthem nailed back in 2001.
Sounds like a poorly performed piece from American Idol. This is seriously one bad vocal performance. The song sucks as well, but I find it hard to get past the bad singing.
A is for AWFUL
T is for TERRIBLE
L is for LOUSY
here is what I just read
“The final version, which will feature more yet-to-be-named performers, won’t be ready until Nov. 10. For now, the song can be heard only in a 30-second ringtone that’s available to Cingular customers for $2.49.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh, that’s rich! Thanks Brand Atlanta, I really needed a good laugh this morning.
My 3-yr old daughter thinks it’s beautiful. So if they want to get more 3yr olds to move here it’s gr8! But some 50 year old white business men from Iowa may think twice.
Might have been good for my college party days… But honestly, I think we need something that reflects more of the diversity of our city. We have so many different nationalities, ages and stages… I think the song should reflect it.
The song is blatently racist. Apparantly there is a line in the final version of the song that goes like this “come down to the ATL, and smoke some trees, step out of line, and we’ll bust a cap in yo knees”
If they are going to make a true anthem, they need to cater it to the average citizen of the metro atlanta area. That person would probably be more receiving of a song by elton john or harry connick jr. This song is vile and basically just sucks.
btw
What was Brand Atlanta doing hiring a guy whose name is comprised of the names of two cities in Texas to write a song about Atlanta?
sounds like something mc hammer would write…15 years ago…as a b-side and no one bought. really disappointed in dallas austin…of all people i expected a lot better from him. it isn’t the fact that Atlanta’s anthem is a rap song…it’s that it’s not inclusive in anyway. why not a tune that is either more classic sounding or combines elements of hip hop with rock with country with r&b…more of a medley that reflects the diversity of this city.
That song rocks. I got the ringtone and have listened to it at least 10 times now.
i guess i dont get down on my knees as often as midtown residents, so i feel nothing but spite for this wack ass song
The song was exactly what I expected. Something indicative of the southern urban/hip hop culture that would exclude most of the population. The town is too diverse to have one genre represent the entire city.
BTW, Atlanta doesn’t need a song. We have “Georgia On My Mind” and Ray Charles got it right the first time.
it’s typical coca cola cheesy urban branding…the whole thing
the brand of all brands has lost it over the last decade or so…
… and they paid how much for this all inclusive sound??
This is soooooo interesting. The comments prove that Atlanta isn’t quite as open and optimistic as one might hope, eh?
It’s just music…just a song. Cracks me up how y’all keep throwing out the “d” word. I challenge any of you to spend a night out on the town in the most popular clubs in the ATL - I guarantee your diverse population will be shakin’ their asses to music that sounds eerily like our new “anthem”. Like it or not (I don’t) … we are living in a new day and age folks. “Urban” is the new “pop”.
And to Casey Weavers … the average citizen of Atlanta? The CITY of Atlanta is still around 60% African American. So, I guess the song actually does reflect the average citizen - for now.
Anyone else see the irony in the using the word diverse to “include” the racial majority? Too funny.
Kendall, I was thinking the same thing.. I honestly can’t imagine hearing “it should be more diverse” if it were some down home country anthem even..or some stereotypical 96rock jingle.. and “exlcuding most of the population” sounds like wishful thinking to whitewash ATL. Corporate branding and its mighty evils aside, the criticism is interesting..
The 50 year old white business man from Iowa wouldn’t be moving to Atlanta - he’ll be moving to Alpharetta, or Sandy Springs (a town that wanted to separate itself from Atlanta). Face it, the song is representative of the Atlanta population - those that put Mayor Franklin in office.
I heard the song yesterday at the game - couldn’t hear the words because of my seat location. But I like the hook.
Oh and I live within the Atlanta city limits, I pay property taxes to the City of Atlanta.
forgot to add - and the song is fine with me.
Actually I dislike the logo more than I disike the song. At least the song contains things that identify Atlanta, whereas the logo is simply plain vanilla.
Btw- I also admit that I don’t identify with the musical tastes of the “average Atlantan.” At the game last night during the music video selection portion my fellow Atlantans knew who this Ciara (sp) girl was, knew the song to which her video was set, and some even could emulate some of her dancing sequences. As for me, I was completely clueless and would rather listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
oh that’s just bad.
it’d be one thing if just the singing was bad. andrew nailed it: sounds like one of the early losers on “american idol.”
it’d be another thing if just the lyrics were bad: “atlanta, where the music makes you drop to your knees / there is no place i’d rather be”? UGH!
but both? file this one under “oh hell naw.” dallas needs to try again. it reminds me of those folks who think white zinfandel is good wine and smooth jazz is good music. *UGH.*
Okay, y’all don’t hit me now - I’m sensitive, okay?
It’s not that the new song isn’t good, it’s just that the new song IS good. Good don’t sell a city. Gut-busting, total energy, iPod-ad-ish, pumping energy sells a city. Exciting, beyond the future, logos sell a city. I thought the font they used in the new logo was retired about 20 years ago.
What if a Hip-Hop artist got together with the Atlanta Symphony to create something really cool? I mean VERY CUTTING EDGE cool? Something that speaks to, say, people completely outside the South too. That would be a cool new sound for a cool new city. Because Atlanta (so they say) wants to be a cool new town. Hip, fresh, inviting, cutting edge.
It’s not the HipHop-Urban sound that’s the problem at all. I don’t really think that’s the true basis for the above comments, mine included. It’s just it’s nothing new. Nothing exciting enough to make anyone want to come to Atlanta. This campaign is not for people who are here now, it’s to attract people to come here. You’ll have people from Iceland wanting to visit Atlanta.
This city needs some FIRE, baby! I’ve read enough posts on this blog and many others talking about how sleepy this city has become. Big corporate coffee houses, decreasing identity, “Wal-Mart Nation”. You can’t deny it, I’ve read it, it’s still on the server somewhere.
They should have taken the Atlanta Phoenix symbol - ON FIRE - and said something like, “YEAH…IT’S EVEN HOTTER NOW!”. Then paired some great hip-hop, soul, or urban singer together with the symphony and turned out something John Williams would have cried over. We can’t afford him but, hell, call Elton!
Do this experiment: If you were to switch out city names in Elton’s “Philadelphia Freedom” and replace it with “Atlanta, Georgia Freedom” (I don’t want to actually do that) and sing it, - go ahead try it - that’s the sound, baby! Kick ass, rock’n. Something along those lines with a new, high energy, urban feel to it - you got a magnetic song.
The whole reason I get so bitchy at things like this is because I really love Atlanta and I want it to be the best city in the country and image helps. It really can help. When I travel around the country, people ask me about Atlanta as if they’ve never heard of it. They know the Braves, they know the Dukes of Hazzard but, that’s about it. I get so pissed at these people. I say, “it’s gosh-darn Atlanta, people, we’re on fire down there!” Then they snicker and say something about Sherman.
I love y’all….. yes, I DO!
yeh urban’s pop, pop’s urban. nothing new there. atlanta, the city, is primarily african american. that’s true. is this all just about the city proper. yes, pretty much. does the song actually reflect the “60% African American” population of atlanta proper, as kendall says? i hope not. pretty narrowminded there to think a cheesy, bad r&b rap song in the vein of mc hammer actually reflects all of Atlanta’s african american population. some of us have better taste. should atlanta’s song be just about whats in clubs or on the radio now? nope. this is a city with musicians as diverse as outkast, elton, black crowes, folk, indie rock, blues, jazz…and i just don’t see the “openness” in this song at all…seems very narrow to me. very “now” but nothing more. plus, i’d be totally cool with it being r&b, soul rap or whatever (and thankfully it isnt a country tune) if it was more like a de la soul or tribe called quest or outkast or even kanye or crap…usher and lil john…but instead its a crappy coca cola jingle only worthy of plays in some arena during a falcons game. not in commercials or spins outside atlanta…the music of this city, especially the music that “reflects the 60% african americans in this city,” deserves way better than the get em up and down on your knees jingle.
but yes, it is just a song and really who cares. it will be here and be gone before you know it.
I agree with Steve and Jehad. I think this song is not something that will last and is very narrow in its audience. If openness is part of the new theme of atlanta, the song should reflect that. I think Steve’s idea of a hip hop/Atlanta Symphony collaboration would be an awesome way to get people excited.
But that’s just my opinion. There’s truly no way to satisfy everyone, but I think we can do better than this.
MONICA IS IN IT!!! WOOOOHoooo, got some of the best vocalist around. Atl is a hip young city full of black college kids, and this reflects that side of it, do u actually think that they could get all groups wiht one song? hell no. Middle age white people arent moving to Atlanta,most people who move to atlanta are spanish, or young black people point blank
Pathetic song. Msuically speaking, it is boring. The chorus is in a minor key (usually associated with mourning or things leaning to the negative, or at best is used for things that are “laid back”). That takes away from it being upbeat to begin with. It has enough cliche crap in the words that the artist should be either crying with embarrassment, or laughing at what he has pulled off as art. If your going to do rap, get a rap artist. I wouldn’t care, but the Atlanta tax payers paid over $200,000.00 for this pathetic tidbit.
With the opening of Atlantic Station and all the high $$$$$ condos being built downtown….I forsee the whites taking over!
Urban yodeling paired with retarded lyrics. This song is perfect for Atlanta. There should have been a reference to the crime rate, high taxes and crumbling infrastructure though. Because when people start moving here in droves after hearing this masterpiece theyíre going to be pissed when the truth be known.
Is everyone paying attention to the press on this song? They’ve been telling us from the beginning that there will be more artists introduced before it is fully complete…and for those of you who can’t read between the lines, that means they’re going to make it a little more diverse. Personally, I thought the song was “ok” though I did think the version they played at the Falcons game was directed towards one demographic. At least it was somewhat catchy and I saw some people getting into it.
Oh, and the taxpayers paid over $200,000 for that song? That’s about the most ignorant statement I’ve seen on this post. I love it when people read one article at one snapshot in time and then use that to vent their frustrations. How about doing a little more research before you begin attacking something. I may not be in love with everything they’ve done so far, but at least I’m not making ignorant statements about it just so that I have another avenue to rant.
This song is just BAD. Not only does it reflect JUST the african american community but if it was a country or rock song sung by a white person it would be deemed racist. Yea ok, the 60% statistic but other statistics say that white people make more money so shouldn’t we have a song trying to attract them?
The whole budget was way over limit as well…. 4.5 mil? PLEASE! We could have paid less for better.
the whole black/white discussion of atlanta’s demo and this song’s demo really is taking the focus off of the fact that this is a poor song, period. anyone who says it’s a pop song and thats what it is about doesnt understand that as a pop song theres no pop here…it wont be picked up by radio stations as they envision, regardless of who sings on the final track. does it really matter? no, its just a song…not a city. would i have rather had a better song,….one that visiting musicians regardless of genre would break into the song when pandering to audiences here at a concert …sure…might be cool to have a song like that. could visiting musicians do that with the get em up tune. neh. not at all.
I had to put my .02 in this conversation. I loved the song, and will purchase it when it is released. Atlanta is an African American city it has the highest percentage of affluent and progressive african american citizens outside of DC. I currently I reside in Los angeles, but I am origionally from Atlanta, and I always uplift my city. I am happy about my culture, I am proud of the diversity of the city. Being away from home and have traveled to many other states I can relate to the song. There is no other place I would rather be. I love the urbaness of the city, and I think that others should embrace it as well.
Atlanta is the new aquarium, the Braves, Stone Mountain, World of Coca-Cola, Centenniel Park, the Falcons, Thrashers, Hawks, Piedmont Park, ALTA (the biggest tennis league in the nation), Atlanta Motor Speedway, and a lot of other things that are not hip-hop related. Once we attract new people with our hip-hop image, how will we quench their thirst? It’s not like Nashville… they’re known for Country Music and they back it up with the Grand Ole Opry, live country music any night of the week, and Country Music museums, and many young country musicians move there to get their start.
I like hip-hop music, but I don’t want it to represent our city. And, I’m sure I’ll get attacked on this one, but rap/hip-hop is full of lyrics promoting violence, and a lot of it demeans women. Crime often comes hand-in-hand with rap/hip-hop. I think that would keep many good people FROM moving here.
I love this city, but not the direction this image campaign is going.
That song has no hook. Sweet Home Alabama has a hook. Philadelphia freedom has a hook. I’m The Real Shady has a hook. The basic rule of songwriting states that the listener should be able to sing the chorus back to you in only one to two listens. Beat It could do that, as could Taxman by the beatles and Jamie’s Crying by Van Halen. Listen to it once or twice and you’re hooked. That’s why they call the chorus the hook.
This song has no hook. More like a cattle prod. It hurts.
This song is garbage! Atlanta is not an African American city u morons LOL, it is a city. Without whites( as well as others) it would be a shithole like Detroit. Anyway, back to the point, I love all kinds of music and this song is horrible. Welcome to Alanta is our theme song and u newbies to da A can eat a dick!!!
First of all, you people are some haters. Why can’t you just give people their props. You each obviously have no REAL life of your own other than sitting on the internet talking about people.
The artists on this song are going to get paid reguardless. But anyway, personally, I like the song. Atlanta may not be all about hip hop and R&B, but the point is that that is what people who don’t live their see. No one else reps AT ALL except for the hip hop/R&B artist. So I give ya’ll your props for taking the time to do that much. And to the people with so much to say, but no studio skills, have fun hating from the sideline! Buh bye for now!!!!
“The final version, which will feature more yet-to-be-named performers, won’t be ready until Nov. 10. For now, the song can be heard only in a 30-second ringtone that’s available to Cingular customers for $2.49.”
Didn’t our taxes pay for this song already?
I like where some of the people who have bad taste, i mean like the song, are going … like La Juana…
“Atlanta - an African American City”
About sums it up and damn that’s catchy. Toss that openness theme aside. Although there needs to be a disclaimer that says the hip hop the city produces is infinitely better than our theme song.
I haven’t heard the song but this is just a bad idea. You can not sit down and write an anthem for a city to be used as corporate style branding and have it be good. You just can’t. There are plenty of songs that later become that sort of thing later but they were orignally written to be good songs.
This whole thing is embarrassing.
I think Shirley Franklin was smart to pass the Beltline before the election and even smarter to hold full release of this song until after.
Its ok, I think when mixed with video when Atlanta is selling certain things it will be fine.
The only thing about this song that makes me drop to my knees is the frantic search to pull the plug on the radio!! And the only thing in Atlanta that makes me drop to my knees are the gun toting thugs. you cant spell crap without rap.
Bottom line is this song makes me want to throw up everytime I hear it. Sounds like a bunch of moaning idiots. Wesa got us a goot sawng na. What about latino, or God forbit other cultures other than you know who. I’m sure this crap will everywhere in ATL. now.
this song blows… its like listening to a pornstar rape a cat. i enjoyed this song as much as the dump i took this morning.
PS: who the hell is dallas austin?
haha. thats funny ^… but yes, the song sucks. get one of those homeless dudes at 5 points to crank out something bettter with his 5 gallon bucket drum.
What bothers me is that it seems that this marketing/branding scheme is aimed at Afro Ams. The song has no appeal to me as a middle aged whitey. Now, I will accept the claim that ATL is 60% Afro Am but the U.S is only 12.2% Afro Am (this info is from the U.S. Census). It needs to have a broader appeal. This type of civic huckstering is embarassing. I am very thankful that the NFL had the good sense to say no when asked if the ditty could be played during halftime of the MNF game.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Well I really enjoyed this song. As for it not showing how “diverse” Atlanta is, I believe that no matter what someone would have to complain. I think the reason that most of you don’t like it is becasue it ws not written for you. It is obvious that this song ws made for the younger crowd. If you don’t like it don’t listen and if some of y’all havent realized this yet but sooner then later this city will be mostly black because for some strange reason all the whites are moving out of the city.
I am from Los Angeles. I didn’t move to Atlanta by choice. When I told my friends I was moving here 3 years ago they thought I was crazy. The rest of the world thinks Atlanta is in the past - dirt roads and stuff. I’m not kidding. I was surprised at the city when I got here. The first thing I noticed was the racial line.
In my opinion, the people in this city are racially territorial. I have never had so much “African American” thrown in my face and I have never heard non-black people say racist things openly, but that’s how it is here. All races stick to their own in this city for the most part.
I hear black people call Atlanta the “Black Mecca.” That’s what it is. That’s why we have a black mayor who is promoting the African-American culture.
I hate it here and I can’t wait to leave. I’m glad that it’s a cheap place to live (compared to where I’m from) and I can live like a king. But I will move in a heartbeat when my career takes me away.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of great stuff in this city. I have fun here. I have great friends. But this city could easily have a race and class war. The whole Katrina thing and reaction to it by the African-American community scares me… and I have only felt this way about the African-American community since I moved here.
Why am I saying all of this? Because I see this Atlanta song just as you all do - it caters to the African American community and the idea of the “Black Mecca”… and I think it totally goes in line with what I think about Atlanta - the people here are preoccupied with race! There are lines drawn in the sand and it’s scary.
…and the song would be better to highlight the CITY, not the people. I had no idea how great this city was before I got here. People need to know!
Wow. I am underwhelmed. Be sure to wait and see when “Da Ay Tee El” replaces “New York, New York” and “I left My Heart in San Francisco” on the charts LOL
All kidding aside, it will be interesting to see just how many street people and crack whores are attracted to relocate to The ATL after hearing this song.
And maybe even attract a lot of newbies from SFO and Key West when they see the flaming sphincter logo.
The song is just as tasteless as those that “sing” it.
Just glad to be a ‘former’ Atlantan…
There are a 2 million things I could say here. And each would represent where a dollar would have been better spent in Atlanta. The infrastructure is failing, the metro area is nearing perpetual gridlock, litter is everywhere and tax dollars are poorly spent. The song is as vacuous as the place I’m embarrassed to call my hometown. Thus I suppose the song fits.
NPR did a story on the song a few days ago. So now the entire nation knows. *sigh*
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5012383
I never thought “Georgia on my mind” needed to be changed. When I hear that song I get goose bumps and it helps me remember why I love living in Georgia. BUT WHEN I HEARD THIS PIECE OF SHIT SONG, IT SERIOUSLY MADE ME ASHAMED TO BE APART OF A CITY THAT WOULD WASTE TAX PAYERS’ MONEY. INSTEAD OF REPAIRING THE ROADS OR CLEANING UP THE STREETS THEY PAY SOME UNTALENTED PEOPLE TO SCREAM SOME ATL SHIT INTO A MIC. THIS SONG SOUNDS LIKE A LAME THEME SONG FOR SOME AWFUL 90′S SHOWS ON DAY TIME T.V.
i was unable to have sex for 5 days after hearing this song… its like the opposite of viagra..
Well, the song is bad … I can definitely see the city making better use of the funds than being spent on this marketing ploy. I think a refund should be in order. But, it would be nice for the ATL to have a theme-song or catchy phrase like other metro areas in the country. Ray Charles’ song is about the state not the city, and unquestionably a great song. I can’t say that I agree with letting this song be the anthem for the city, but a better production from the likes of Dallas or however is needed!!
To comment on the person from L.A., I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with the “Black Mecca” label for the ATL within the African-American community. The fact that people in other parts of the country choose to be so ignorant of the South in general (let alone Atlanta) is more distrubing than what the black community feels or expresses post-Katrina. The city may “see only race” but everywhere in this country is like that … even NYC and other place. Whether or not one chooses to see or acknowledge the racial issues/tensions is another discussion. I lived in the NYC for 3 years, and have observed a lot. Just because people don’t openly say racist things in NYC or LA doesn’t mean that they are discrimination-free. Gentrification is a serious issue in NYC. Columbia University is located in Harlem, but a lot has been done to curtail the message that it exists in some location called Morningside Heights. And for those that don’t know, it’s still Harlem, for Harlem runs form 110th to about 150-155th (to be true, Harlem has always been from 95th but the powers that be don’t like to make that fact known).
I don’t see how the black community in California allowed ‘Prop 209′ to pass, but that’s another issue entirely. But everywhere has both its pluses and minuses. I only bring it up because, like the discussions of “diversity” so many people believe we live in an open society. The easiest ways to deal with a problem is to downplay it, ignore it, say that it’s no long an issue, or simply hope that it goes away.
The Tuskgee Experiment ran for 40 years, from 1932-1972. The backers of this vile program were the US Surgeon General, the CDC, and the US Public Health Service to name a few gov’t agencies. Around 400 black men were deprived of treatment, 130 died with 40 wives and 19 children born would experience the same fate. I bring up all this to say that the outrage about Katrina and whether our gov’t has the capacity to deny action to Katrina based on race is nothing more than a reflection of the reality in America. The gov’t has acted openly in the very recent past to discriminate in such a way that ‘Black Rage’ has a very plausible base in which to express itself publicly. Katrina only lifted the facade of the very real race and class issues that exist in this country. Just like the events in Paris, the rest of Europe is poised for a similar fate. So to does America if it wishes to continue in a fairy-tale existence.
I think all of you are morons. To the person above me who wrote about the Paris incidents…..don’t you know it started because two teenagers (arab and african descent I believe) were running from police (WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO THAT???) and hid in some warehouse (can’t remember where) and accidentely got electrocuted on their own behalf? Sure, it started long before that but this incident sparked the riots so they were only looking for something to light the fire. Please do your research before speaking. Let’s talk about Atlanta how it really is. We are a transit city. Most of the people in Atlanta are RACIST. Not just whites, but blacks are racist as well as everyone else. The reason a lot of people have a problem with the song is because it was written by blacks, for blacks and to attract blacks. Plain and simple. If it were the other way around there would be the same outcry from the other side. Why does DIVERSE mean “less whites.” I would rather have a bunch of purple colored educated freaks running around than a bunch of ignorant whites, blacks, you name an ethnicity, running around my streets spreading their ignorance. Diverse means you are WELL-ROUNDED and by the looks of it, Atlanta needs to implement the buddy system with someone NOT LIKE YOU. You want more blacks here? Fine, but don’t package it as a theme song for EVERYONE and act surprised when someone calls your bluff. It reminds me of what Sandy Springs did a few months ago about making their own “city legislature” and it was just a curtain over the real issue that they didn’t want lower income families moving in left and right. I know, because I lived there. This shouldn’t even be a racial issue at all. And to all you blacks out there believing that we whites are SOooo RACIST, look at yourselves and see if maybe the problem here is that you can’t let go either. I am not attacking one side, I could honestly care less about the song, I think it sucks on every level. I am just pointing out how everytime someone criticizes what another ethinicity group does no one hears what they are saying and AUTOMATICALLY assumes it is some racial attack. This is where you guys are MORONS. Education can help you guys with that but since Georgia doesn’t really believe in higher education I guess we’ll just have to rely on our “Urban Music” to inform us about world events and the english language. In case you don’t understand, I am referencing all you out there that vote against using lottery money to put your children in school and use it elsewhere. Because what we really need to focus on is our childrens street smarts to get him that HIGH PAYING JOB all these loser kids have these days. But “omellete” you slide this time. So quit complaining and using the victim routine, all of you, if we quit using this race card everywhere maybe we wouldn’t be so scared of eachother. So please put down your pitchforks and crosses, lower your knives and guns, and do what NORMAL PEOPLE do when they don’t like something, SUE ME.
I think the new anthem is very hot.forget all of yall haterz, all yall is just mad because yall didnt think of it yall selves. and thats whatz hot in the streetz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ATL 4 LIFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!404 404 404
To the person with the name “MORON”, I have done my homework. Sure the incident concerning the two youth provided the light to the powder keg. BUT THE CORE ISSUES STILL REMAIN …
If you’ve ever been to Europe, you will have witnessed all kinds of discrimination, especially race, similar to the U.S. Many African-Americans that move there are blinded by the incidents that go on around them. The same goes for those that are visitors. As a black AMERICAN, that blue passport gives you untold power and influence. People do not treat you the same as Africans or other African-descedant groups. In fact, ANY AMERICAN is treated better and on par with native, indigenous European groups, which is far better than what other racial/ethnic group receive in Europe. Spain has its issues with North Africans and Arabs. What has occurred in Paris is indicative of things to come in Europe if they don’t deal with their issues of integration, racial/ethnic disrimination, class, fair play, nationalism, and acceptance. So, please do YOUR homework or at least be more observant in your travels.
To the person from LA-
I am origionally from Atlanta and currently live in LA. I hate it here and can’t wait to get beck home in two months. I must disagree with you, because LA is the most racially segregated place I have ever been, and I have traveled to many places. It is also a very dirty city unless you are in the expensive white areas. I was born and raised in Atlanta(actually in Fayetteville) and I came 3000 miles to be called the N-word by a white old man. I was in complete shock.
I am sorry the only thing that LA can offer African Americans in the sandy beaches, and they are pouluted. You are correct with your theory that the african americans in Atlanta refer to it as the Black Mecca. It is one of the few cities in which the Aferican Americans have arrived. It took me to leave Atlanta to appreciate where I came come and to really embrace my herritage. I was outrages as to how many people didn’t know who Hosea Williams was out here. During Black history month every child is doing book reports on Martin Luther King, Malclm X or Rosa Parks. They don’t know about the others who fought for our rights like Abernathy, Andrew young, ect. Here they have not been taught about that. Everyone here is a transplant from the south and they come here and want to forget.
Maybe that is what you like/miss about LA. I have found that people here just sweep the issues that affect the african american community under the rug. For example affermitive action, I couldn’t believe that the African Americans didn’t go out and vote for this issue.
Yea….. I like the song as I stated above, becasue it represents me and my feeling about Atlanta and I love it.
In response to “The South’s OK” mention of Katrina. The South’s OK wrote:
“I bring up all this to say that the outrage about Katrina and whether our gov’t has the capacity to deny action to Katrina based on race is nothing more than a reflection of the reality in America. The gov’t has acted openly in the very recent past to discriminate in such a way that ‘Black Rage’ has a very plausible base in which to express itself publicly. Katrina only lifted the facade of the very real race and class issues that exist in this country.”
I would have to disagree with that statement. I am here. I have educated myself to the reality, and would like to open your eyes to it. Know why you saw mostly African American’s at the Super Dome suffering? Because according to the 2000 Census, there are 66.6% of the population of Orleans Parish which is African American. 26% is Caucasian. The other 7.4% are Asian, Hispanic, and “other”.
You want to know the truth as to why so few left and were stranded? “poverty” and “race” had nothing to do with it. So many stayed behind, because every year, we evacuate, over and over and over, only to have to spend money on a motel or hotel, food, and gas– just for near misses of hurricanes. So after many years of that, everyone, of all races, decided they would ride it out, since it will probably jump at the last minute, at least far enough away from us to give us bad winds but not much else. We had become complacent. False alarm after false alarm made many, many, MANY stay. I evacuated, only hours before it hit, and only because someone lent me a little bit of money for gas for my car. I planned on staying due to financial problems (I am a poor university student, who lives more than 4000 dollars a year below the poverty level).
Further, you have extreme ammounts of housing in and around the downtown New Orleans area and surrounding areas– You have tens of thousands who live close enough to the big areas to not need a vehicle (and why pay insurance and gas costs when you do not need a car, because your work, your shopping, your everything is within walking distance?)
As for a 60 Minute report that was shown on national TV explaining how Gretna police would not let people into Gretna who were crossing the Crescent City Connection bridge– A few tourists, and African American’s were on the 60 Minutes program saying it was because they were black. That is not true, and 60 Minutes knew that before they aired their show. They are using the race issue to get ratings.
The REAL story is this:
The Parish in which Gretna is located (Parish is the equivalent to county in other states but down here we call them Parishes) was under Marshal Law with STRICT DECLARATION that NOBODY IN AND NOBODY OUT! Race had NOTHING to do with it, but 60 Minutes is working hard to turn it into a racial issue so they can fuel hatred and biggotry in this country.
For those who do not know, Martial Law is:
“the system of rules that takes effect (usually after a formal declaration) when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice (and usually of the whole state).
Martial law is instituted most often when it becomes necessary to favour the activity of military authorities and organizations, usually for urgent unforeseen needs, and when the normal institutions of justice either cannot function or could be deemed too slow or too weak for the new situation, i.e., due to war or civil disorder, in occupied territory, or after a coup d’Ètat. The need to preserve the public order during an emergency is the essential goal of martial law. However, declaration of martial law is also sometimes used by dictatorships, especially military dictatorships, to enforce their rule.
Usually martial law reduces some of the personal rights ordinarily granted to the citizen, limits the length of the trial processes, and prescribes more severe penalties than ordinary law. In many countries martial law prescribes the death penalty for certain crimes, even if ordinary law doesn’t contain that crime or punishment in its system.
In many countries martial law imposes particular rules, one of which is curfew.”
(ref: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Martial_law)
Now, the reason Martial Law was enacted, and enforced with a “Nobody in and nobody out” policy, is because Gretna, along with a small unincorporated area that I live in, is in Jefferson Parish- right literally outside of downtown New Orleans.
Our Parish President enacted Marshal Law, because like Orleans Parish (where New Orleans is located), our parish suffered great flooding, and alot of wind damage due to Hurricane Katrina. In MANY parts of our parish it was not equipted to handle thousands of people fleeing New Orleans. Now, I live right off of the I-10 and within a five minute walk from my townhouse they had a staging area for buses to evacuate New Orleans evacuees, who made it into our Parish. We had entire neighborhoods looted (including our neighborhood- two buildings down from ours, looters broke through windows and doors to loot) but due to all emergency personel working in our area to get people to safety, they did not have the manpower to host tens of thousands who wanted to cross that bridge.
So NOBODY IN and NOBODY OUT became the rule. The color of skin had NOTHING to do with it. Nothing at all to do with it.
I am sick and tired of the media making this into a race issue. The Lower 9th ward (which was worst hit with flooding and right where the levees broke) were predominantly poverty strickened areas. In Orleans Parish, according to the census in the year 2000, 66.6% of Orleans Parish residents who did the census were African American and 26.6% are Caucasian. That does not include the Asians, Hispanics, and other races. (ref: http://www.gnocdc.org/) And many lived close enough to the city that they had no vehicles (who needs it when you live within walking distance of one of the largest cities in the country??). Due to the fact that 66.6% of the population were African American, of course there were going to be more African American’s on the bridge wanting to cross. Their skin color was not why they were turned away though. It was because the orders were given, under Marshal Law, to not let ANYONE in or ANYONE out of Jefferson Parish, which is where that bridge led.
My point in posting is this:
Does racism exist? Sure it does. But what is being done about it? How often after a person is discriminated against do they do something to stop it? Sue a person? Contact authorities? Contact a boss or supervisor of the person who discriminated? Rarely.
If a person is tired of being “held down” do something about it- get a good education and make changes- it worked for Martin Luther King Jr. He didnt just say “our people are being held down, lets stand around and complain about it to each other and not do anything about it”. Rather he said “You don’t like how our race is being treated? EDUCATE yourselves, and show them why their perceptions are wrong!! Educate yourself and get the good jobs which will help you make change for your people!!”
If people followed the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. then there would be no racism, because remember- He had a dream. And he told us his dream so we could know what needs to be done. He didn’t just tell us for us to say “oh he had a dream”. He gave the African American race a blue print of what needed to be done to live in a color blind society. How many people have followed in his footsteps? Not many. Unfortunate.
Anyway back to the point:
Katrina.
Katrina hit a predominantly African American city. Of course there are going to be many more African Americans suffering because of it.
I lost my entire downstairs and everything in it. I am not qualified for FEMA assistance (long story but FEMA screwed me over by getting my application wrong). I still, almost 4 months later, STILL have no downstairs due to my landlord not having insurance and not being able to afford to get things done. I have no kitchen. I have no kitchen sink. I have no livingroom. Everything in my downstairs destroyed. Gone..
IT IS MY OWN FAULT!! I could not afford renters insurance. The failure to evacuate people LIES SOLY ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE INDIVIDUALS THEMSELVES who did not feel they should evacuate. The superdome turned into a mess. Every hurricane they end up opening up the superdome as a “shelter of last resorts”. The people knew that- so why leave when they knew they had a place to go, that would not cost them any money? BEFORE the storm, Mayor Nagin took numerous city buses around to the projects and other neighborhoods and asked if anyone wanted to leave to hop on the bus. NOBODY LEFT. SO it is their own faults for being stuck there!
Everyone knew the levees were designed many years ago for only a category 3 hurricane. Katrina was a category 5 right before it hit. But “it will never happen to us” was OUR mentality. I know I live here! Right before Katrina hit, stores were still open, people still out running around, trying to go watch a movie (the theaters had closed) because it is how things go down here. A category 1 hurricane is like a thunderstorm to people down here. A category two is like a severe thunderstorm, so people stay in and have “hurricane parties” a Cat. 3 people take notice but stick around.
Had it not been for someone giving me money to pay for gas, I would have stayed.
Race had nothing to do with the response. Until the Levees broke, noone batted an eye. Suddenly the levees broke and everyone was left going “you do it, no you do it, no you do it!!!” As soon as the levees broke, all branches of the govt. from local to state to federal levels, nobody wanted to be stuck holding the blame. So while people suffered, they were trying to figure out how to avoid being stuck holding the hot potato.
Race had nothing to do with it.. The govts covering their own butts is what had to do with it.
The New Orleans Mayor is African American, as is most of the counsel, as is most of the school board, etc. Do you REALLY think that they would do this to their own people???
Get real– take the race out of it and look at the facts, the timelines, etc. and you will see it was a matter of the govt wanting to protect themselves from taking blame, so while they bantered the “hot potato” around, people suffered and lost lives.
Now, I write this, as I prepare another microwavable meal (I have no kitchen to cook in) and get ready to wash my luch dishes in my bathroom sink upstairs. Remember- I lost absolutely everything downstairs. But I am blessed- I still have a bed and a bedroom (that is all that is left- two bedrooms and a bathroom).
It is the post Katrina world.
To the Katrina Survivor you make some very valid and poignant points. I definitely cannot refute what you say, nor your own personal experience. I have expressed to others many of your points- especially the tempting of fate with not evacuting each and every time a warning is made. Like you say, racism does exist. How we deal with it is another issue entirely.
I only ask that you do not totally dismiss the notion that racism or class played no possible role in the reactive measures and the on-going process to rebuild the city. Statements made by federal officials at FEMA et al in stating that the gov’t was ill-prepared or had no action plan was blatantly false. They had a 200 page documentation plan of action for such a catastrophy. Several Naval vessels could have been made available both near the Port of New Orleans and in the Houston Ship Channel much sooner. Some of these issues were lightly touched in the media, but the media does have its own agenda. It can both use the “race issue” as well as downplay it whenever it wants to. So it comes down to the individual to decipher what is plausible and what’s not.
I don’t believe that the gov’t necessarily said, “let’s not help this black majority city” but its action post-hurricane speaks otherwise in different ways. The example of the Tuskegee Experiment was just to highlight the fact that how vile our very own gov’t has acted in the recent past. So, I think it is plausible nonetheless that race and class does play an important (not sole) role in the recovery of the city.
Accountability and responsibility, there is plenty of blame to go around. From the individual all the way up to the federal level. That cannot be refuted. A fundamental change in how FEMA responds to crisis is big, as I was worked for FEMA for my then employer in NYC just after 9/11. But to just say that racism has no involvement is a little naive in my opinion. Work that is going to contractors (the Bechtels of the world), who and how payment is being made to cleanup crews speaks volumes of race and class. Not in every single instance, but more than enough to show that the good ole’ boy network is still in play. People in power never give up power easily.
Do remember as I did not mention earlier that well-educated blacks were willing participants in this disservice to their people in the Tuskegee Experiment. That is why this so-called scientific research is called Tuskegee because it was executed on the grounds of the Tuskegee Institute (HBCU). The blacks who were doctors and nurses were looking for a name, fame, wealth, or prestige at the expense of other blacks.
My whole point in bringing up the situation with Katrina is that it plays upon the issues of race and class that are problematic in this country. Also my broader discussion hightlighted the fact that, globally these are very real concerns. Globalization has not produced its promised return to the masses in most countries that have opened up their home markets.
Beyond New Orleans is the world of poor white trash as some white colleagues would say. In LA, AL, and MS a lot of working-class whites live there. Their pay like everyone else in the region is generally lowest in the country. I know from the union workers over the years in shipping, construction, welding, ironwork that the Gulf Coast made the least (the NE, the West Coast, the SE, and the Gulf coast — from best to worst). The financial aide package that Bush has put together is heavily incentivized for businesses to come to the region. But the educational base is not where it needs to be for this to have an immedimate impact over the next 3-8 years. There is little help to people and businesses (small) in the region already that do not have capital or the ability to access large amounts of capital.
In living and creating the dream of Dr. King, most people fail greatly as you say. His meeting with sanitation workers was to bring the plight of working-class whites into our struggle as this would be our own once real acceptance was achieved. For me, the Civil Rights movement was able to give a death-blow to overt forms of racism and discrimination. However, clandestic or covert racism as it has been interwoven into typical American society over 400 years has not been defeated. It does not come in the forms of easy to recognize forms such as Jim Crow or “Whites only” signage. And that’s the much harder fight.
To Lajuana and The South’s OK:
Perhaps the racist people in LA and NYC were turned that way by living in the South for a few years? I know it’s worn on me!
La Juana:
LA can be dirty… just like any major city. But if you go to the nice places (I guess the ones you say are for rich white people) it’s really nice. If nice people and things make you uncomfortable then feel free to stay in the dirty parts. (By the way there are a lot of rich other-than-white-people in LA too. I guess you were stereotyping there?) LaJuana, there are too many places in LA County for you to make comments like this. You need to be more specific. Compton versus Beverly Hills? Bel Aire versus Hollywood? Where are you going with this? If you grew up in Fayetteville, then I think you would be more comfortable in Pasadena…
About Prop 209… It seems like Atlanta is right behind California on this one. Just ask residents about all of the Mexicans on Roswell Rd and at the local Home Depot. (By the way, I AM Mexican.)
**Sigh** Overall, a bad song. A bad representation of the city. A racial representation of the city. That’s too bad!!!
So… what corporation owns Atlanta? Coke? Phillips? This song basically screams CORPORATE TAKE-OVER to me. If they wanted a “song” about the city, they only need look at the incredible multitude of artists that have risen from its red clay - R.E.M. to Outkast to Little Richard to Collective Soul - why didn’t they pull from ANY of those resources? Instead, what did we get in return? God, it sounds worse than most of the American Idol crap that gets poured onto the airwaves. Besides, a song and “branding” campaign don’t sell a city - it’s heart and soul do and I definitely don’t hear either of those two things in this piece of crap.
OK FIRST AND FOREMOST BLACK AND WHITE MOST OF YOU ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD SOUND VERY RACIST. PERSONALLY I DONT THINK THE SONG IS THAT BAD BECAUSE I LIKE R&B BUT ITS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT OTHER PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT MUSICAL TASTE RATHER YOU ARE BLACK OR WHITE WOULD WANT TO BE REPRESENTED IN A SONG THAT IS SUPPOSE TO REPRESENT THE WHOLE CITY. ALSO FOR ALOT OF YOU PEOPLE WHO KEEP SAYING RAP THIS IS NOT A RAP SONG… LUDACRIS RAPS, OUTKAST RAPS, JAYZ RAPS, THIS IS R&B ALL SINGING NO RAPPING… ALSO TO THE COMMENT ABOUT RAP REFLECTING VIOLENCE OR ETC MAYBE IT DOES AND NOT SAYING ITS RIGHT BUT ALOT OTHER GENRES OF MUSIC DO ALSO LIKE COUNTRY, AND DEF ROCK WHERE THERE IS EVEN SUCH THINGS AS DEVIL WORSHIP. BUT ONCE AGAIN THIS IS NOT A RAP SONG ANYWAY. ALSO IF SOME OF YOU WOULD HAVE DID YOUR RESEARCH YOU WOULD KNOW IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE MORE DIVERSE BUT ALOT OF ARTIST COULDNT BE REACHED AND DALLAS USED HIS FRIENDS, WHICH BEING A BLACK PERSON AND MOSTLY WORKING WITH R&B ARTIST, THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AVAILABLE… BEING A BLACK PERSON MYSELF I DO THINK THE COMMENT THAT ATLANTA IS A BLACK CITY OR ETC WERE SOMEWHAT RACIST ALSO IT WORKS BOTH WAYS…ALTHOUGH ATL IS MAJORITY BLACK WHICH ALOT OF OTHER PEOPLE FAIL TO REALIZE ITS STILL WRONG TO CLAIM A CITY AS BLACK OR WHITE…BUT TO ALOT OF YOU THAT DONT LIKE THE SONG RATHER YOU AGREE OR NOT ATL HAVE GAINED GREAT POP MUSICLY SINCE ALOT OF R&B AND RAP ARTIST HAVE BEING REPPING THE CITY YOU DONT SEE MANY OTHER GENRES DOING THAT ATLEAST NOT AT FIRST SO MAYBE THATS ANOTHER REASON IT WENT IN THIS DIRECTION…BUT I KNOW THERE ARE OTHER GREAT ARTIST FROM OTHER GENRES FROM ATL WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED
Who cares what genre of music the song is. The point is not that the song is rock, r&b, rap or whatever. The point is what the song represents; specifically what the mayor has decided what should represent our city.
This is a great city. The Fox, Atlanta Symphony, the High and the Arts Center, Major and minor league sports teams, a budding rap scene, a new aquarium, a storied history, great parks, georgia tech, georgia state, emory, morehouse, and other schools, great research hospitals, (the olympics were here!), and the list goes on and on
The song the mayor chose to portray our city represents none of these things. The way I see it the mayor is chosing to portray Atlanta a city that has nothing more to offer than a young hip hop culture. “There’s no place I’d rather be” the song says. Well shouldn’t you tell them why Sherly?
-Jon, a student at Georgia Tech