A predominantly white part of Atlanta wants to become an independent municipality with its own police force. But these separation fantasies do not seem well thought out.
Atlanta – There are independence movements all over the world, mostly in parts of the country. But in the metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia, a wealthy part of the city is trying to break away from the rest of the city. In the Buckhead district, not only is the average income higher, it is also mostly inhabited by white people. A Georgia Senate commission voted to secede from Buckhead. But that doesn’t mean the matter is settled.
According to local journalists, the push will probably not passed in the Senate, because he probably doesn’t have the necessary votes there. But the symbolic effect of the Commission’s vote is significant. For supporters of Buckhead’s independence, their plan means their own police force, their own administration, more say in the city’s development and more influence overall. For opponents, secession efforts mean renewed segregation (“racial segregation”) in Atlanta, a city whose residents are 51 percent black.
Only 11 percent of the population in Buckhead is black, and most of the people there are white. The median household income is $140,500, more than double the Atlanta average of $60,000 per year. In addition to crime in Atlanta, development plans are cited as the reason for the spin-off, according to which more affordable housing is to be created in the wealthy district. This reduces the property value.
Marjorie Taylor Greene intervenes
“A vote against Buckhead City is a vote FOR crime,” far-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted. Her Georgia constituency includes a largely rural district and a small portion of the Atlanta suburbs. “A vote for Buckhead City is a vote FOR liberty” wrote Greene. Supporters of Buckhead’s independence are bothered that their taxes benefit the rest of the city.
But that may be short-sighted, because an independent Buckhead community would need to quickly build, equip, and fund its own police and fire departments at a time when Atlanta is growing and attracting more businesses. Water and sewerage rates in an independent Buckhead community could rise by as much as 20 percent from current levels, according to estimates by the anti-separation United Atlanta Committee. That would make the location unattractive for companies.
A poll of opponents of secession in the summer of 2022 found that more than 60 percent of Buckhead voters at the time did not want the borough to secede from Atlanta. The independence movement seems to be coming from a group of hardliners in particular. (Johanna Soll)