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Legends and Legacies
By Vince
Rogers
Seldom
does a local public official rise to a level where they
are regarded as a world leader. It is also unusual that
a local politician would implement policies that are
capable of efficacy on a national and international
scale. Maynard Holbrook Jackson is that rare
local politician who can be considered an authentic
world leader and a person of national political potency.
Jackson was the primary architect of one of the only
successful “movements” to seize economic and political
control of a major geopolitical entity – the city of
Atlanta and place it under the control of a majority
Black population. Although he is not conventionally
thought of as such, in that regard he should also be
considered an authentic “Black Nationalist.” While it is
customary for macro or world events to affect local
political issues, the example of the transformation of
the power structure of the city of Atlanta is a model
that would be replicated by local and national political
entities worldwide.
The system
of Apartheid that held a grip on the Black population of
the Republic of South Africa until 1994 was essentially
undistinguishable from the “Jim Crow” laws that ruled
the lives of the southern United States’ Black citizens
until 1964.
As majority Black populations nationwide would attempt
to manifest their political power, many would also have
the burden of struggling to energize moribund economies
that were as economically and culturally behind the
times as they were politically.
On the contrary it could be
argued that although South Africa faced its own unique
challenges, after the end of Apartheid, their emerging
Black leadership had an advantage because of their
access to an
abundant supply of
resources and well-developed financial and transport
sectors. Jackson would be responsible for spearheading
Atlanta’s development of thriving home-grown industries,
a diverse financial community and a much needed ground
transportation system and International airport.
Maynard Jackson would not only prove that a Black man
could run the government of a major American city, he
would also invigorate and expand the economy, create new
business opportunities, introduce a more representative
legal system and elevate Atlanta to the status of an
“International City.”
In 1974, Jackson would take office as the first Black
mayor of a major southern city. Almost immediately,
Maynard would initiate programs to expand the Black
business sector by increasing participation in municipal
business and by encouraging entrepreneurship. Although
many people challenged such “affirmative action”
programs at the time, it has proven to be successful for
creating economic opportunity and considered far more
equitable and palatable than measures to seize and
reallocate businesses and land that have been used in
other “Post-Colonial” societies. Atlanta’s example of
awarding municipal contracts to “minority” businesses
has proven to be a successful re-allocation scheme. It
has proven to be a superior alternative to more
intrusive schemes that have been used to redistribute
economic factors. Although corruption, bribery and other
criminal activities marred some of the success stories
of this era, these are universal characteristics of
similar situations where large sums of money are
transacted. Nevertheless, it can be said that the
overall scope and activity of the city of Atlanta and
the state of Georgia’s economies have been positively
affected by the transformation that took place under the
Jackson administrations. Without the visionary efforts
of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta would not be regarded today
as a “Black Mecca” or the “Empire City of the South.”
Another similarity to post apartheid South Africa and
the emerging “New South” of the Jackson
administrations, was the opportunity to cure an
adversarial and untrusting relationship between
Atlanta’s majority Black population and the city’s law
enforcement community. While Atlanta’s segregated
neighborhoods were not exactly comparable to the
“Townships” of South Africa’s urban areas, there still
existed an adversarial relationship between the legal
system and Atlanta’s Black residents. The presence of
police officers in neighborhoods such as Vine City,
“Sweet Auburn” and Mechanicsville seldom incited
feelings of good will and warm feelings. Maynard
realized the need to assure and secure the integrity and
fidelity of the police department and the legal system.
He spearheaded the appointment of a Black police chief,
public safety commissioner and judges. He created an
environment of safe communities in which all citizens
were assured of fair and equitable treatment. Jackson
understood this was essential to creating an environment
where talented people from all walks of life would be
allowed to thrive.
After the fall of the South African system of Apartheid
in 1994, the country faced similar obstacles and
opportunities as Atlanta following the “Jim Crow” era.
The iconic South African anti-Apartheid activist
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was eventually released
from prison and ultimately became President of the
Republic of South Africa in 1994. Although the “Jim
Crow” era of the American South had ended, this parallel
system of inequity had managed to drag on for another
thirty years in South Africa. This fact alone makes it
obvious that although the situations are very similar
they are also very different. Mandela, despite his
international reputation and magnanimous renown, could
not achieve the same degree of success in transforming
South Africa and empowering the Black population as
Jackson did in Atlanta.
In the case of South Africa we have a “conquered” and
invaded population rather than an assimilated
population. American Blacks were brutally forced to come
to a new land and do the dirty work of building a
nation. Black South Africans on the other hand had their
own land stolen from them and were then forced to live
as second class citizens in their own “homelands.” While
both were similarly tragic, brutal and evil systems they
presented different obstacles and opportunities on the
road towards “freedom” and “liberation.” Although the
different degrees of adversity and brutality between
Apartheid and “Jim Crow” cannot be measured empirically,
it is intuitive that the former system was especially
complex given its longevity. The Apartheid system was a
multi-faceted leviathan of “Gordian Knot” intricacy,
filled with all of the obstacles Maynard Jackson’s
regime faced in 1970s Atlanta but quite a few more.
While the situation in the South was mainly a question
of “Black or White” Mandela had to also address the
interests of people of diverse racial, cultural and
tribal distinctions. Nevertheless President Mandela’s
key challenges were similarly that of introducing
economic equity and equal treatment under the law into a
system that was built on securing economic inequity via
legal inequality.
Because the level of inequity in South Africa was so
severe under Apartheid, the task of achieving an
equitable economic allocation has been especially
problematic. Despite various schemes to privatize
industries, redistribute lands and create a Black middle
class, South Africa continues to have one of the most
unequal income distribution patterns in the world.
Poverty continues to be defined almost exclusively on a
racial basis with a very small percentage of the
population holding the great majority of the countries
wealth and earning disproportionately higher incomes. It
appears that only recently (January 2004) South Africa
opted to institute the Broad-Based Black Empowerment Act
of 2003, which seeks to institute programs to increase
employment preparedness and business ownership. Critics
of this program argue that it seeks to elevate one group
to the detriment of another, rather than attempting to
achieve equity in a more organic way. Saddled with a
myriad other problems such as an epidemic HIV/AIDS
infection rate, an astronomically high crime rate and a
woefully high unemployment rate, South Africa’s
transformation has a ways to go before it can be
considered successful.
Nelson Mandela is a larger than life figure of almost
saintly proportion. He took a stand on principled issues
that have affected liberation struggles world wide. He
also paid the near ultimate sacrifice of spending over
two decades of his life in prison because of his
principled stances. Mr. Mandela’s place in history is
well deserved. Maynard Jackson is highly regarded
amongst native Atlantans and most Southerners are well
aware of his legacy. Nevertheless his true legacy and
contribution is not as fully understood or heralded on
an international or national level.
At that moment in history when Black people nationwide
were challenged to prove they were worthy of the rights
and freedoms they had fought for over a century to gain,
Maynard Jackson came forward and took it upon himself to
shoulder the burden of proving that a Black man had the
intellect, vision and ability to run a major U.S. city.
He stood tall and embodied the epitome of a proud
capable Black man in the face of continued bigotry and
prejudice. Had Jackson failed to capably lead this city,
the cause of “minority” empowerment and “Black Power”
would have failed miserably and suffered a blow that
would have been almost impossible to recover from.
Inasmuch as people like Frederick Douglass fought for
our emancipation, Marcus Garvey fought for our dignity
and Martin Luther King Jr. and others fought for our
right to equality under the law, Maynard Holbrook
Jackson stood tall and fought for the right to prove
that Black men and women could achieve anything that any
other race of people were capable of and could ascend
any height they would aspire to.
posted 20 August 2006
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Vince Rogers Bio was raised in Atlanta’s
Bowen Homes housing projects and went on to attend
Morehouse College as an academic scholar. He is most
proud of being Editor of his high school newspaper the
Frederick Douglass North Star.
Winner Black
Enterprise Magazine/BMW "America's Ultimate Drive"
Writing Contest / Official Inaugural Selection(s): "I've Known
Rivers" The Museum of the African Diaspora Story
Project / Presenter; Hip Hop's
Defiant Divas Conference, Vanderbilt University
Contributor: Clean Sheets Magazine; TimBookTu;
Taj Mahal Review /
http://waxvainglorious.blogspot.com /
http://vincevision.blogspot.com /
www.vincevision.com / Vince Rogers / P O Box 50602 / Atlanta, Georgia
30302-0602 /
vincevision@yahoo.com
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updated 26 April 2008 |
