Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed will runoff on Dec. 1
With a runoff scheduled for December 1st, the "Will race for Atlanta mayoral election come down to race?" question gains momentum in the media.
The morning after Mary Norwood received 45% of the vote and Kasim Reed received 37%, media coverage is already focusing on the racial aspects of the upcoming runoff.
As of this writing, the three most viewed stories this morning on the Atlanta Journal Constitutions's website deals with the mayoral election and race.
"Racial lines define results" is the headline for an article that leads with the following:
Mary Norwood swept predominately white precincts of the city Tuesday, and also found support in key black precincts, while former state senator Kasim Reed dominated his base in southwest Atlanta and had a strong showing in predominately black areas of northwest and west Atlanta.
"Race dominated previous runoffs for Atlanta mayor" is the headline for an article that looks at the racial factor in mayoral runoffs in Atlanta going all the way back on 1973.
For his part, Reed vowed not to let the runoff divide the city along racial lines. “It is going to be on us to avoid that mess,” said Reed.
“The responsibility for how the campaign is conducted is on the candidates.”
Even if the candidates stay true to making "race" a non issue and most Atlantans plan on focusing on the real issues and choosing the best candidate regardless of skin color, the media's constant harping on the topic in the coming weeks will make it very difficult for many voters not to let "race" creep into their brains.
Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky once asked his brother not to think about white bears. The result was his brother being unable not to think about white bears. A research study in the 80s, using Dostoyevsky's bear as inspiration, found that if you tell people not to think about something long enough, they'll eventually be unable to get that particular something out of their heads.
The media isn't telling Atlanta voters not to think about race, but it's likely to have the same effect.
Lord help us all.
For a much more optimistic take on the Atlanta mayoral election, see Michael A. Devine's excellent article at the Atlanta Law & Politics Examiner.
Comments
Great column and esp like how you document the AJC's various monochromatic takes. And Thx for the link. I am now doing the same.
It's like telling a jury to "forget" all the press coverage a spectacular criminal case has gotten.
Virtually impossible.
This is going to be interesting! Is that Al Sharpton I see coming up the walk?
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