We need to start a conversation about Atlanta

People don’t care, well not enough

Atlanta, GA, a city that has me torn between love and hate. A convoluted past and present, of racism and freedom, white and black, southern pride and of course, the sweet taste of a Georgia peach.

Growing up wealthy in the north of the city, I was afforded an easy life. Private school, fresh-cut green grass and the comfort of knowing that you will always have a meal on the table and bed to sleep in. When homesickness overtakes me, I think of the taste of overly sweet barbecue sandwiches and the crunching of peanuts at Turner Field. I think of walking with my friends through Little 5 Points at night, the bohemian iconoclast center of Atlanta. The bright neon signs in the windows fill the street with light as the pungent aroma of urine and weed smoke overtakes the smell of garlic and tomato sauce permeating out of the superhero themed pizza shop, Savage Pizza.

But then the smokescreen fades from the vision of an affluent white kid and reality sets in. While the top one percent enjoy greener pastures, the poor live in squalor in a juxtaposed city of the extreme rich and the extreme poor.

The paradox of Atlanta is only evident if you take a drive from West Paces Ferry Road in the north part of the city to just past Turner Field in the south part of the city. West Paces Ferry is truly absurd, the extravagance, the endless drive ways, green lawns, and excessively large houses compact into one neighborhood with West Paces Ferry being the vein of one the richest neighborhoods in the south.

 

These are a few of the houses that line this street. When you’re on Instagram and you see “house goals”, these houses are the pictures. This concentration of wealth is something Atlantans are truly proud of indicating the prosperity of our great city. When I drive down West Paces, I find it almost impossible to keep my eyes on the road as I try to get a good look at the houses I hope I will own when I get older.

Now say you drive five miles down the highway south. You would see the glistening sky scrapers and the cloudless Atlanta sky. You would drive by Turner Field, a huge stadium where the Braves play. You might even see the golden tipped capital building. Then you get off at any exit after the stadium.

Yes, I know there is poverty in every city. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles – they all have extreme poverty. People don’t even think about Atlanta when the think about poverty in the United States. However, Atlanta’s poverty problem is one of the worst. Not only in sheer poverty numbers, but in the income inequality numbers. According to the American Community Survey, Atlanta is number one in income inequality in the United States. I’ll let that sit for a minute.

I know what you’re thinking “Wow! That’s so surprising! Why haven’t I heard that before!” Well, there is a reason for this silence. People don’t care, well not enough. They care in the way you care when you see a homeless man on the street and you think “damn that’s so sad.” I can admit that I didn’t even know or care about this issue until I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline and saw an article that said “Atlanta Tops US in Income Inequality”  or something of that nature. It bothered me as I take pride in my hometown city. I thought “how the fuck can Atlanta be first.”

What’s the solution? I often ask myself that too. In a country founded on “rugged individualism” and “capitalism,” is it even possible to not have this problem of wealth disparity? And if this goal of equality is achieved is it through the infamous system in America, Communism? I know I know that word stings in your American ears, but I’m not advocating that. I don’t have the solution either.

It’s simply a conversation that starts a change. In a city where 25.2 percent are below the poverty line, which is over 10 percent above the national average, the wealthy’s income continues to grow. The success of the wealthy is not the problem. It’s the sheer fact that the poor continue to get poorer.

There is no definite solution. I understand this fact even submersed in my young blind optimism. Yet this optimism does lead me somewhere. We can change as a city. Poverty and income equality should not be accepted as a normalcy but rather a part time issue. It starts with a conversation. Tell your friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers even tell your dog if it gets you talking about income inequality in Atlanta. This conversation will maybe spark a change in the relevancy of this issue which can lead to Atlantans giving back a little more and helping out a little extra. This is an issue that can improve. We all want that for our beautiful city. We don’t want our fellow Atlantans struggling to survive in a city with so many opportunities.

I love Atlanta, GA,  and it can be great not only for you and I, but for everyone. Let’s start a conversation.

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