THE SOUL OF ATLANTA: A CALL TO ACTION ATLANTA — The time to act is now.
Our city—the cradle of civil rights, justice, and progress—is under attack. A radical right-wing movement has seized control of major institutions and is working to erase decades of progress. If we remain silent, we risk losing everything that has made Atlanta the moral compass of the South and a beacon for freedom-loving people everywhere. The Problem : African Americans and other minorities are facing an existential threat. MFBEs—born from policies rooted in fairness and opportunity since the days of Mayor Maynard Jackson—now contribute over $18 billion to our state’s GDP and employ more than 54,000 Georgians (Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council, 2022). Still, Donald Trump, without as much of a whimper, has decertified every minority and female business effective October 3. Our successes are being threatened by an unhinged, extreme right-wing while billionaire oligarchs exploit our pain, scapegoating diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are turning the very values that built this city into political targets. We cannot and will not go back. Beyond our pocketbooks, our civil liberties including our free speech are being ripped from us. American history is being rewritten to glorify slavery and erase the terror of Jim Crow and institutional racism. Books that need to be read are being burned or banned. Diseases that kill us will remain around in the foreseeable future because funding for promising research to find cures has been eliminated. Women have been stripped of autonomy over their own bodies returning many of them to dark dangerous alleys. On a de facto a basis, racism has been legalized and legitimized. White Supremacy is out in the open and has been embraced as the official ideology of conservatives. Immigrants who helped build this nation are being hunted, profiled, and demonized. We must stand up, speak out, and organize—before it’s too late. Call to Action: 1. The Soul of Atlanta Movement wants the community to come together and form a united front, using all means required, to push back at attacks on our freedoms and well-being. 2. We demand that all businesses we patronize announce publicly their commitment for diversity, fairness and equal opportunity. 3. We demand that major businesses contribute to a legal defense fund to help the city defend its MBE program . 4. We need you to be willing to stand beside and in front of the mayors and local government officials so they are not alone. 5. We need to have the courage to raise our voices and declare what is going down in the U.S. is morally wrong.
6. We need you to part of a diverse group of stakeholders unafraid to be a strong visible opposition to the rightwing movement toward authoritarianism that has taken over our Democratic institutions. If you are among the thousands who have lost a job, a contract, a voice, a vote, or control over your own choices—this movement is for you. If you believe in democracy, fairness, and truth— this movement needs you. The time for hesitation is over. The forces of regression are already at work in our schools, our city halls, and our statehouse. Every day we delay, more ground is lost Let your voice become part of the echo of power that will rise from Atlanta’s neighborhoods, thunder through the State Capitol, and reach all the way to the White House and the halls of Congress. The Soul of Atlanta must rise—now. Join us. Speak up. Stand firm.
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