DEL.ICIO.USRockdale aims to keep harmony amid transition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Last week, Richard Oden became the first African- American to lead Rockdale County’s government and, along with two other black candidates, the first to win office countywide.
Oden’s narrow victory in November as County Commission chairman reflects a demographic change that has occurred in Rockdale over the past decade. But the election was relatively quiet and devoid of much of the rancor that has accompanied racial change elsewhere. That, residents say, is a tribute to the county and the two men who battled for the top job.
ELISSA EUBANKS / eeubanks@ajc.com
Richard Oden takes the oath as County Commission chairman, joined by (from left) daughter Kai Oden; wife Josett; mother Shirley Oden; son Willie Johnson; and grandson Cameron Johnson. He is one of three African-Americans who won countywide office.
The election kicked off with Oden and then-Chairman Roy Middlebrooks meeting with each other and agreeing to wage clean campaigns. The election ended with them meeting on a stage before a community gathering, where the two embraced.
Rockdale’s experience was a far cry from the changeover in 2004 in Clayton County symbolized by the newly elected African-American sheriff firing a large group of deputies, mostly white, and marching them off with snipers on the roof.
“No one’s going to lose their job,” Oden said in an interview last week. “Some folks didn’t vote for me. That’s behind us. This administration must reflect a reach-across-the-aisle attitude.”
This weekend, a unity march is scheduled in Conyers. The swearing-in ceremony featured a rendition of “The Unity Song.” It’s almost as if the community is going out of its way to be civil.
Oden, a 58-year-old former marketing executive and inspirational speaker who still carries the build of the running back he was at Kent State University, does not disagree.
“It’s a celebration of unity and harmony to bring the community together,” he said.
Reaching out to Rockdale as a whole, both white and black, may help salve any bruised feelings from the election and may even limit white flight, several residents and leaders said.
“Some folks may be divided by the recent election,” Oden said. “We want to get the word out that we would prefer everyone who lives here stays here. We cannot control people from moving out. But we’re in this boat together.”
Rockdale resident Jeff Beech, who helped organize Saturday’s march and last month’s unity gathering, said there has been an ongoing effort among many residents to meet each other.
“It seemed natural after an exceptionally close election to face this head-on; we did not want to sweep this under the rug,” said Beech, a white man who has lived in Rockdale since 1991 and runs a nonprofit foundation that sets up clinics and orphanages in Africa.”
Rockdale’s growth overall has been steady in the past decade, with most of that new growth being African- American residents being drawn to quality schools and new subdivisions.
The county’s population grew 16 percent to 82,000 residents between 2000 and 2007, according to census estimates. The black population grew from nearly 13,000 residents to 31,000 while the white population dropped from 51,000 residents to 40,000.
But the change is not as simple as black and white, said Dean Alford, a former state representative from Conyers and longtime civic booster who calls the picturesque downtown “a slice of Americana.”
“Today [Rockdale] is a more multicultural society,” said Alford. He sees an indication of that change each week at the First Baptist Church of Conyers, where he teaches a Sunday school class with eight different nationalities, including Nigerian, Jamaican, Brazilian and Chinese. “And this is a conservative, fundamental church,” he said with a chuckle.
Alford is a white Republican who supported Middlebrooks in the recent election. But, he said, “it’s in everyone’s best interest for [Oden] to succeed … I think people will give him a chance.”
Tolbert Morris, who was the only black school board member when elected in 2004, said: “There’s always white flight when there’s demographic change. But those who remain are loyal to the community.”
Morris moved in 1996 from DeKalb County when his son became school age. At first, he said he found many residents standoffish. “If you weren’t born in Rockdale County, you were isolated in the community. But it wasn’t just [(because of] color.”
But while there have been big changes in the county, his subdivision, which was new when he moved in, has not seen wholesale change. He was the second black resident in a subdivision with 16 homes. He said there are four now. “It has worked out well,” he said.
John Mitchell, a retired mortgage broker who moved to Conyers 10 years ago from DeKalb County, was looking at a menu at a restaurant in Olde Town Conyers last week as the newly elected leaders were celebrating their swearing-in ceremony a few blocks away.
“It’s a very historic occasion,” said Mitchell, who is African-American and volunteered with the campaign of Oz Nesbitt, a black candidate who won a County Commission seat. Ruth Wilson, the new superior court clerk, was the third black candidate who won countywide office.
Mitchell said the election means county government will be more inclusive to newer residents. He said the change in Rockdale may be smoother than elsewhere because a larger percentage of the African-American population is middle class.
Around the corner from Mitchell, Linda and William Kitchens, who are in their 60s, reminisced with a reporter about a different Rockdale — a rural area, not a growing suburb. She grew up in a mill village. His family were sharecroppers.
Linda Kitchens remarked that the recent local election seemed almost uneventful. “There was not a lot of fussing and fighting. It went down real quiet,” she said, when turning to her husband. “Why was that?”
He shrugged.
She continued, saying four of their grandchildren have attended or are attending Rockdale schools. One is in college.
Some of their friends and neighbors have left the county, “but not a majority,” she said. “We’ve been satisfied.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Population
• 1990 – 54,091
White – 48,915
Black – 4,355
Hispanic – 594
• 2000 – 70,567
White – 51,379
Black – 12,864
Hispanic – 4,238
• 2007 – 82,052
White – 40,241
Black – 31,189
Hispanic – 7,785
Demographic estimates from the 2007 American Community Survey
Median household income: $53,455 (U.S average $50,007)
Residence owner occupied: 72.4 percent (U.S. 67.3)
Bachelor’s degree: 21.7 percent (U.S. 27)
Source: U.S Census Bureau
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