With its vibrant, growing black community, metro Atlanta has become a mecca for blacks looking for opportunities.
In the last decade, more than 500,000 blacks moved to joined the region — the largest growth spurt of any black community in the nation, according to census data. Metro Atlanta is home to the nation’s highest percentage of black middle-income households and some of the nation’s wealthiest black neighborhoods.
The attraction of Atlanta to blacks is broad and deep. Like other cultures comprising Atlanta’s diverse landscape, blacks are drawn to what the area has to offer: employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, a reasonable cost of living, world-class transportation systems, chic hotels and restaurants, vast shopping, top-notch sporting events and entertainment venues. And don’t forget the good weather.
Few people can dismiss Atlanta’s added tug on the hearts and souls of blacks. There is the prominent history of the civil rights movement and the rise of black-owned business. Throw in a political power base that is receptive to blacks, the largest consortium of historically black colleges in the United States, well-known black churches, a glamorous group of high-profile black entertainers, athletes and celebrities, and black cultural events such as the National Black Arts Festival.
“It’s hard not to see black folk here,” said Ray Metoyer, executive producer for news at the Atlanta-based Black Family Channel and president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. “Everywhere you go, you see someone who looks like you from all walks of life and in a wide range of roles — from the mayor to the civil rights icon to the bus driver.
“Blacks are a very large and vital fiber of the community here. With the exception of a few cities, this is a unique lure; most blacks aren’t used to this.”
One of the primary reasons blacks move to metro Atlanta is seeing other blacks who are faring well here and believing that they have the opportunity to do likewise.
Spiritual growth
What drew BaVonne Stephens to the area was Bishop Eddie Long’s ministry in south DeKalb County. With her 5-year-old son, Izel, in tow, Stephens bought plane tickets this past June, left the rest of her family in Hollis Queens, N.Y., and headed to Atlanta.
She and Izel came solely to join New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia. Izel now attends the church’s school, Faith Academy.
“I’m grateful we moved here,” Stephens said. “We’re growing our spiritual selves. Izel is enjoying life differently, having fun outdoors playing with turtles. There are a lot of opportunities for me to use my experience in military health services.
“The pace of life here is slower compared to New York, but not lacking anything. I think this is the best place for me and Izel to be.”
Stephens has only one complaint so far.
“I don’t own a car, and you do need a car here. It’s very spread out, and I’m used to having the corner store actually on the corner,” Stephens said. “By walking, though, I’ve met a lot of people who are friendly and trusting, and willing to help you out.”
Fifteen months ago, Jerome and Alena Edmondson moved the headquarters of their entrepreneurs training business from Detroit to Atlanta help others out.
“We started entrepreneurial development training here in March of 2003,” said Jerome Edmondson, president and founder of the Christian Business Network Entrepreneurial Training Institute. “In doing so, we encountered many ambitious people wanting to own their own businesses. We find that the Atlanta market and political climate is inclined toward black entrepreneurs and good business. This is where other leaders — old guards like Herman Russell — have done it.
“Eight months after we entered the Atlanta market, we relocated our corporate operations here. Since then, we have helped birth 70 or so businesses right here in Atlanta.”
Economic clout
Such growth and change in the region’s black demographics is expanding the economic and resource base of metro Atlanta. For example, the Black Family Channel, the nation’s only black-owned and operated cable television network, recently brought to Atlanta the talent of actor, director, producer, comedian and writer Robert Townsend, who serves as the network’s president and CEO.
In many ways, metro Atlanta is the new capital of black America, Metoyer said. A lot of what affects blacks across the nation happens here first: trends in business, education, entertainment, sports and music.
While the clout of blacks in metro Atlanta has grown tremendously over the years, there is still a ways to go, Metoyer said.
“Blacks who live here must recognize their economic strength,” he said. “We’re still too dependent on developers who don’t look like us deciding what to build in our neighborhoods and communities.
“Atlanta is a major crossroad for African-Americans in many different fields. I believe we are learning how best to all work together to not just talk the talk of diversity but to accomplish collective and respective goals.”
At the same time, the gap in socio-economic classes is widening.
“Atlanta was the beneficiary of black’s reverse migration to the South,” said William Boone, professor of political science at Clark Atlanta University. “Yet, today, it has one of the highest poverty rates of metro cities. There is a growing social and economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots, particularly in the inner city.”