With a flourish, Jasper Watkins removed his blue Rotary mask and replaced it with a white one bearing the Gwinnett County logo.
“I had to switch my mask,” Watkins said Wednesday, after being sworn in as a Gwinnett County commissioner. “I’m a politician now, or something.”
The crowd at Gwinnett’s Justice and Administration Center was spaced out, there were elbow bumps instead of handshakes or hugs and of course, there were the masks.
But even without the changes brought by a pandemic, Watkins’ swearing in — along with Kirkland Carden’s, which was Monday, and Nicole Love Hendrickson’s, scheduled for next week — would represent a departure from his predecessors.
When those three take office in January, they will join Ben Ku and Marlene Fosque to make up the first all-Democratic board in the county in more than 30 years. The new District Attorney, sheriff, tax commissioner and clerk of court will also be Democrats, a profound shift in leadership in the county of nearly 1 million people.
And for the first time, no members of the board will be white. All of the newly elected leaders are Black.
The new officials have respect for what has come to be known as the Gwinnett Standard: Officially, an expectation of excellence in service, stewardship, and integrity in everything government does. But they also want to expand who gets access to what the county can offer.
“Some neighbors don’t enjoy the same quality of life,” Carden said at his swearing in. “I promise to be a force of positive change.”
Hendrickson said she plans to be methodical in her role as chairwoman of the county commission, and is considering a spending audit to determine where money can be saved and reallocated. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, she said, the county will have needs that are unique to the coming year.
She plans to evaluate systemic inequality in the county and look at ways to bring residents together in a divisive political climate. Working toward racial reconciliation in Gwinnett, Hendrickson said, will help all people in the community thrive.
And she’s interested in expanding the county’s focus on sustainability, improving workforce opportunities for residents and improving access to affordable housing. The best way to expand transit will also be discussed.
“There are so many different opportunities,” Hendrickson said. “There’s a diverse group of people with a diverse group of needs.”
Carden said he looks forward to more people feeling like their voices have been heard. Regardless of race or politics, he said, he wants to govern with residents’ best interests in mind. That includes increasing access to the ballot and helping people feel like they they are represented.
“I personally know how it feels to be marginalized and ignored,” Carden said at his swearing in.
In an earlier interview, he said, “Groups have to feel their voices are heard, that they have a say-so.”
Some of that happens just by the presence of the new elected officials. At Watkins’ ceremony, as with that of District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson, the festivities included performances of Lift Every Voice and Sing, known colloquially as the Black national anthem. Other acknowledgements of the historic nature of the moment was peppered among different ceremonies.
At her ceremony, new Clerk of Courts Tiana Garner said she was proud to be elected as the first African-American and first woman in the job, saying she was glad to live in the most diverse county in the Southeast.
At Austin-Gatson’s, Rep. Donna McLeod, D-Lawrenceville, called the new DA a “history maker.” Austin-Gatson said she had already met with Muslim, Hispanic and Asian constituents and wanted to “remove the vestiges of racism” from the county.
“We have the opportunity to show the rest of the country how a diverse community does it right,” she said. “We can be a united community.”
They have support.
Jace Brooks, an outgoing Republican county commissioner, said a prayer at Carden’s swearing in. But before he asked for discernment, courage and peace for the man who would replace him, Brooks said he had “immensely high hopes” for the work the board would do.
“I think that they are the right ones for this time,” he said.
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