Did tea partiers really call John Lewis the n-word?
John Lewis being arrested during the 1960s. Now a congressmen, Lewis was known for putting himself in the line of fire as a practitioner of non-violent civil disobedience.
I tweeted yesterday about the epithets spewed upon Democratic congressmen, including Atlanta’s John Lewis, by tea party protesters on Capitol Hill yesterday.
Two of my conservative Facebook friends raised the valid question of sourcing: Who actually saw the verbal attacks and attempted intimidation of members of Congress?
Fair enough. Here are some of the claims and some of the evidence behind them:
• Rep. Andre Carson and Rep. John Lewis both said yesterday that while they walked from the Capitol, they heard members of the mob yell the n-word at them — as in “kill the bill, [n-word]!” According to McClatchy, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was behind them says, said he heard that as well. So do staffers. The folks who put the following video up claim you can hear the n-word. I couldn’t say for sure, but something close to that word can be heard a couple of times around 11 or 12 seconds in — right after, ahem, the camera passes over the guy with the Confederate bandanna. Read more
Let’s walk over to the Plaza and catch a flick
Photo credit: Karla Jean Davis via Flickr
I recently interviewed Jonathan Rej, the co-owner of the Plaza Theater, for the AJC and our conversation touched on so many different topics.
My main interest for the AJC piece was finding out about the theater’s transition last year from a for-profit enterprise to a nonprofit (the story was originally meant to run in the business section).
You can see his compelling answers in the Q&A that the AJC ran yesterday here. Unfortunately, much of the Q&A focuses on the challenges Rej and his wife face as they try to keep the historic 1939 art deco theater afloat.
But not all of the cool stuff we talked about could make it into the Q&A.
And me being me, I couldn’t help but bring the conversation around to walkable neighborhoods.
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Fur trappers: The real pro-animal activists
'Fur is Green' model, brought to you by the Fur Council of Canada.
You gotta love the moxie of the Fur Council of Canada’s “Fur is Green” campaign:
This Atlanta book could become the decade’s manifesto
![Kevin and Hannah Salwen outside their old house. [Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Salwen.]](http://atlantaunsheltered.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/KH-outdoor-pockets-300x200.jpg "Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen")
Kevin and Hannah Salwen outside their old house. [Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Salwen.
Kevin and Hannah Salwen are the authors of The Power of Half — a book that’s generating national buzz for its appeal simply to cut something in your life in half and to use the savings to help others.
A couple of weeks ago, Parade ran an excerpt. Then, it was the subject of New York Times column by Nicholas Kristrof. The Selwans also have been featured on NBC’s Today show, in the LA Times and on Belief.net.
I happened to see Kevin and Hannah speak last week at TEDxAtlanta (organized by the Atlanta communications firm Unboundary) where the theme was “re:purpose.”
Read the rest of this article at MyGreenATL.com.
Bonner names her Atlanta desire
I often think I’m quite witty, even if evidence to support the claim is lacking.
To wit, the headline of the post is meant to spoof this headline from the Denver Post’s online edition:
“Romer Names his Colfax Desire: Streetcars”
You can read the whole story here, though I will warn you, if you live in Atlanta, the story may seem as depressing as “The Departed” and “Million Dollar Baby.”
I suppose that’s why I wanted to parody the headline.
The quick summary is that Colorado State Sen. Chris Romer is going to introduce a bill that “would take a portion of higher vehicle registration fees and flow the money to a special district that would coordinate financing, construction and operation of a streetcar line on Colfax Avenue in Denver and Aurora,” according to the newspaper.
‘”It’s been a dream of mine to restore streetcars to Colfax; they change the way people live,” said the 50-year-old Romer, D-Denver, who grew up not far from the area’s longest street.’
(The story also includes this key detail: “The state began collecting higher registration fees after last year’s legislature passed the FASTER transportation measure to pay for highway, bridge and transit improvements.”)
In the past week, I’ve written about Charlotte’s intention to apply for federal funds to build a streetcar system, and its existing lightrail network.
Now this.
I’m still learning the lay of the political land here in Georgia, but I look forward one day to reading a headline like this:
Reed (or insert another Atlanta/Georgia politician’s name) Names his Atlanta Wish: Streetcars
Now this is smart growth
I love to walk up to the Sweet Auburn area near downtown Atlanta and today I had the perfect excuse: the dedication of a new mural about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., at the King Historic site.
What can I possibly say about Dr. King that could do justice to his legacy? He touched everyone, including me, a white Long Islander who stood, rapt, listening to the loudspeaker in my Junior High homeroom when my social studies teacher played Dr. King’s last speech each year on the King holiday (which was not then a holiday, at least not in New York state).
An excerpt from that speech, given April 3, 1968, has pride of place in the mural, as you can see in the photo below.
If you don’t get the chills when he says “I may not get there with you,” well, that’s as good an indication as any that you’re not alive!
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I’ve had my hands full
OK. Given the choice to spend time with this …
or this …
What would you do? I rest my case.
Scaffolding down at Ponce and P’tree — finally
An old beauty has finally been allowed to show her face, and what a face it is.
This building at the corner of Ponce and Peachtree in Midtown has had scaffolding in front of it for, shoot, I don’t know — a year? Two years? And now finally the scaffolding is down and we can see just how gorgeous is it.
I’m sure you know this building because its iconic curved facade was the reason one of Atlanta’s old trolley lines cut an arc when it turned onto Ponce from Peachtree Street (you can see the arc in this small photo).
I think I’ve mentioned before that this little historical marker across from the Fox Theater just makes me sad because it says, “Look at your past progress, Atlanta. Now all you have is a plaque to mark the spot where you used to have something productive.”
Anyway, let’s not get away from the main purpose here, which is to admire one of Midtown’s best buildings. In fact, I’m going to take a page from Architectural Tourist’s book and note some of the great features of this building.
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Festive Chamaszaa
We have fattened up our baby for the Christmas feast. We have dressed the dog in reindeer horns. And we plan to dump the whole lot of them on the two grandmas so that we can go see Avatar on this, the eve before the day that all the coffee shops are closed.
But no holiday would be complete without going through the motions of wishing everyone a happy one, as I do so now, to you:
Have a blessed holiday. Keep the Christ in Christmas, keep the Chan in Chanukah, and spell the word Kwanzaa correctly.
May the wrath of Vishnu spare you, and the Soup Nazi give you a second bowl. May your days off be paid time, and receipts be enclosed in all the gifts that you wish to return.
Most of all, may the holiday spare you from any grevious car accidents or terrorizing domestic disputes.
Posts are likely to be intermittent through the holidays; you are still required to comment, however.
And with that I bid you good cheer!
Live! Fire at Emory Village!
… but not a very bad one apparently.
Still: So exciting! The trucks screaming down North Decatur Raod. Then stopping, of all places, next to us (as another guy at Octane said later, “I always think they’re going somewhere else”).
Firefighters tumbling out in rumpled beige suits, with those impressive helmets and oxygen tanks on their backs. Then, more firetrucks. Then, another … with more firefighters. The cars backed up for a million miles.
Apparently, it’s in the Supercuts across an alley from the coffee shop. The woman who was opening up the store said she saw smoke so she called the fire department. A not-too-overwhelming acrid smell was in the air.
You could tell by the way the guys (and one gal) were working that it wasn’t a full-fledged conflagration. They used an extension ladder to get up on the roof. A couple of them scrambled up. Most were standing around. Then, one guy called down for a Phillips head screw driver. “Backdraft” this wasn’t.
It was the “furnace motor,” one of the firefighters told the woman. Now the last truck is packing up. I ordered another coffee inside.
“Really? There’s a fire?” asked Dale, the barrista. Uhmm, Dale, I can see the ladder in the alley through the window behind your shoulder. “Should I evacuate everyone?”
Apologies to Doug Richards for the headline on this post.
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