Opinion

Voices Spotlight: Revisiting the ‘Atlanta burned to the ground’ narrative

Insights, debates and conversations as Election Day nears.

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Welcome back to the third edition of the AJC Voices Spotlight, featuring compelling opinion columns through the Nov. 3 election. I’m David Plazas, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion editor. On the first day of early voting, Oct. 13, I cast my ballot at the Joan P. Garner Fulton County Library branch on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta. The poll workers were exceptional in their knowledge, professionalism and kindness. Please thank them whether you are voting early or on Election Day. They deserve our gratitude for being bastions of our democratic republic.

DEBATE OF THE WEEK

Did Atlanta burn under Bottoms’ watch?

Among the most bitter criticism faced by Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, is that she let Atlanta “burn to the ground” — or some variation thereof — during her tenure as mayor between 2018 and 2022. I’ve seen this accusation on social media posts, in submitted guest opinion columns and in political ads.

The question I wanted to pose in my most recent column was, did that actually happen? Did the city burn down? I didn’t live in Atlanta at the time — a fact some readers reminded me of — but I think it’s important to separate fact from fiction.

My verdict following my research on the question: No, the city didn’t burn down.

However, citizens have a right to hold Bottoms to account for her actions as mayor, particularly during that tough time in 2020 when homicides rose by 55%, COVID ravaged cities across the nation, demonstrations broke out following the murder of George Floyd and 8-year-old Secoriea Turner was murdered in gang violence following the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks. Readers told me they felt scared and the memories linger.

Keep the comments coming in my email inbox and on social media posts. (Read my full column)

Related read: Former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Barr wrote a guest opinion column calling on Bottoms to release her business’ secret client list. (Read his full column)

What do you think? Share your letters of 250 words or fewer to letters@ajc.com. Include your name and town or city.

Views on Rick Jackson’s success

In the first edition of this newsletter, the main debate focused on whether a financially successfully person such as Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson is truly “self-made.” Two new guest opinion columns take up different aspects of this conversation.

Kennesaw native and metro Atlanta freelance writer Zaid Jilani argues that Jackson’s multimillion-dollar campaign spending sends the wrong message about the American Dream. (Read his full column)
Meanwhile, Atlanta-based CliffCo founder Cliff Oxford says Jackson, a billionaire, is as successful as he is precisely because he knows what it’s like to endure hardship and to be “without.” (Read his full column)

Mike Collins in the spotlight

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (left) debates incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff during the Loudermilk-Young Senate Debate Series at the Georgia Public Broadcasting studio in Atlanta last week. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, participated in two fiercely combative U.S. Senate debates recently, delivering harsh personal barbs at times. Two recent guest opinion columns take a look at Collins.

Conservative talk show host and AJC contributor Erick Erickson argues that Collins doesn’t seem to notice or to care about the company he keeps when it comes to former staffers and his son-in-law who espouse white nationalist views. (Read his full column)
Meanwhile, former Veterans of Foreign Wars leader Al Lipphardt, who was once Ossoff’s guest at the State of the Union, said he’s voting for Collins because he thinks the congressman is keeping his promises to veterans whereas he takes issue with the incumbent’s voting record. (Read his full column)

What readers are saying

Some excerpts from letters to the editor, a segment the AJC calls “Readers Write.” (Read an assortment letters)

“Make a plan, vote early if you can, vote down-ballot, and encourage family and friends to vote. Voting is your power — use it!” - Valerie Wolny, Atlanta
“Our nation needs a fresh start — a reorganization to at least rid some of the country’s interest expense.” — Allen Buckley, Smyrna

Quotables

It seems that we confused accomplishment with character. They aren't the same thing.

Tom Greene, Atlanta writer

🔍 Read Tom Greene’s full guest opinion about lessons from the Cornell University rape case investigation.

Best of Mike Luckovich

Check out more cartoons from the AJC’s Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Mike Luckovich

Final thought

On my flight from Atlanta to Portland, Oregon, for a wedding Thursday, I watched director Steven Spielberg’s film “Disclosure Day,” a mind-blowing and entertaining movie about the fight to reveal the presence of extraterrestrial life on Earth. As I picked up my luggage from the baggage claim, I walked by the airport glass and metal sculpture “Celestial Ancestors” by Lillian Pitt and I replayed the movie all over in my head.

Thanks for reading to the very bottom. Questions, comments, ideas, want to submit a letter or guest opinion essay? Contact me at david.plazas@ajc.com.

Until next time.