Protect Atlanta legacy of opportunity against Trump attacks, former mayors say
Atlanta has always stood at the forefront of the struggle for justice, opportunity and fairness.
From the pioneering work of W.E.B. Du Bois, whose scholarship inspired the founding of the NAACP in 1909, to A.T. Walden and John Wesley Dobbs organizing the Atlanta Negro Voters League in 1949 to register Black voters, to Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, our city has shaped the conscience of America.
Later, Mayor Maynard Holbrook Jackson took that moral vision and turned it into policy — establishing Atlanta’s Minority and Female Business Enterprise program 50 years ago. It was a revolutionary idea: that local government could be a lever for fairness, opening doors for those long excluded from the economic mainstream.
Leaders must protect city’s successful diversity program
Today, that vision is under attack. The city’s MFBE program —one of Atlanta’s proudest legacies — is being challenged by the Trump administration and other far-right extremists who claim that equity itself is a form of discrimination.
We, as former mayors of this great city, cannot remain silent while the foundation of Atlanta’s success is being eroded.
What is Atlanta if we are not a beacon of hope and possibility for all?
What is Atlanta if we are not the conscience of this nation — the cradle of civil rights and the soul of the New South?
Because of decades of operating, expanding and defending the city’s equal opportunity programs, we believe as former mayors that we are best positioned to understand the unfinished business of past discrimination, how our programs have been fairly and narrowly tailored to provide a just remedy, and when justice has been achieved and our programs can sunset.
Now is not the time.
Atlanta’s brand is rooted in civil and human rights
The numbers tell the story: In 2022, the median wealth of a white family in America was $285,000; for a Black family, it was $44,900, according to the Federal Reserve. That gap is not accidental — it is the product of centuries of exclusion.
In Atlanta, we can say without contradiction that our 13,766 Black-owned businesses exist in part because of the city’s MFBE program and similar local initiatives that helped nurture and sustain them.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber reported that Black-owned firms contribute nearly $7 billion in revenue and support tens of thousands of jobs in the metro area. For the third year in a row, LendingTree named Atlanta as the nation’s leading metro for Black-owned businesses.
Fairness, equity and justice are good for our city’s businesses and our esprit de corps as Atlantans. No one knows this better than the city’s largest firms that invest significant dollars in marketing and promotions.
Atlanta’s brand — our global identity — is rooted in civil and human rights. That legacy is worth billions in goodwill and economic growth.
When we won the Olympics, hosted Super Bowls and welcomed conventions from across the world, it was because Atlanta represented something larger than itself: a city that values human dignity and fairness.
The Carter Center Inc., the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Breman Museum and Cultural Center, the Atlanta University Center — all of these institutions stand as living testaments to a city that dared to make justice its business model.
The world is looking for Atlanta’s moral leadership
That is why we gathered as former mayors with community leaders on Thursday in a unity rally to support Mayor Andre Dickens and his efforts to defend Atlanta’s MFBE program. Preserving Atlanta’s legacy of justice and democracy will require all of us — business leaders, educators, faith communities, students and nonprofit organizations — to work together.
We need our best legal minds and policy experts to help our city stand firm against the regressive forces coming from Washington and beyond. This is a fight for the soul of our city.
That is why we must rally around efforts to defend Atlanta’s MFBE program. We will continue to raise our voices, stand united and provide an opportunity for our community to resist tyranny coming from those who don’t share our values or understand the Atlanta way.
For 50 years, our MFBE program has embodied Atlanta’s core belief: that prosperity must be shared to be sustainable. As former mayors, we know what is at stake.
Atlanta has never been a city that shrinks from its values. Once again, the world is watching — and we must show what moral leadership looks like.
Bill Campbell, Shirley Franklin, Kasim Reed, Andrew Young and Keisha Lance Bottoms are former mayors of Atlanta and co-conveners of the Soul of Atlanta Rally.
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