I was recently reading through the March issue of the Sandy Springs Reporter, when I came across this spotlight: “Veteran journalist has seen the changes in Georgia politics up close.”
As a native of Sandy Springs (now in Cartersville), I was shocked to see the following paragraph concerning the “majority-minority” status of our state in the coming years, particularly from a well-seasoned writer:
“‘I don’t know if it will happen this cycle [or the cycle after that], but Georgia is changing demographically, and by 2030 we’ll be a majority-minority state. White voters will be outnumbered by everybody else. The question is how are we going to react to that? The arc has been coming to grips with the progression of the US into a multiracial democracy.'”
I had to read this paragraph three to four times to understand the intent and had to convince myself that it had, in fact, been published in a widely distributed newspaper in 2021.
My questions for you are: 1) Who is this article for? 2) Who does this paragraph benefit? and 3) Which population of our state does it dismiss as a nonreader of the Reporter Newspapers?
Words create our reality, as I know you are aware. And these words, as I read them, further the cause of white power, white influence, and white self-segregation. I urge you to do better as you publish newspapers representative of the metro Atlanta area neighborhoods. People (specifically white people in our state) look to you for education and guidance and I hope you would act accordingly, especially considering the times we are currently in.
Devon Phillips
Cartersville
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