At last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, City Manager Peggy Merriss detailed action items that are part of a response to the Decatur Community Coalition’s stated concerns of racial profiling in Decatur. Former Decatur Board of Education member Don Denard started the conversation with the City Commission back in January after providing a detailed account of being stopped by a Decatur Police officer.
Among the items listed by the City Manager last night —
- Sponsoring a community conversation on diversity and “how it’s a community goal”. Ms. Merriss stated that the city had met with a local facilitator who will come with a formal proposal to the September 2nd commission meeting. Christian Perry – the GSU grad student who recently presented trending of the city’s demographics a few weeks ago has been asked to continue working with the city on this project.
- Deputy Chief Keith Lee and the City Manager will speak with the Anti-Defamation League this week about coming to do training with Decatur Police once Beacon Hill is complete and DPD “has a training room again”
- At the end of July, Decatur Police started tracking demographic data of people detained by the police department — Decaturish notes that this was one of the Decatur Community Coalition’s specific requests.
The City has set aside $25,000 in its budget for the City Commission to address these issues.
I read once that the problem with this country is that “no one bowls anymore.” There was a time when doctors and plumbers, house painters and business owners were on bowling teams. Socio-economic lines were crossed and people had greater understanding and respect for fellow Americans.
This may be my favorite post ever on DM.
Going bowling certainly makes me more humble. Teams used to want me because I came with such a huge handicap but then they realized that I didn’t improve over the season.
+1
Re the post about bowling and lack of common denominators, there was an analysis of Internet search terms released today (easy to find online), and it revealed what the most popular search terms over the last ten years were for people in different parts of the country, looking for points of difference. In the “easiest places to live” (relatively well-off), the most popular terms were related to digital cameras and baby massages, among others. In the “hardest places to live” (relatively poor), the most popular terms included diabetes and the anti-christ. It may be that the divide runs deeper than a lack of time spent together bowling. On the other hand, the Super Bowl is one of the most commonly searched for topics everywhere. Maybe that’s the one event left that brings a lot of people together.
I call BS on that analysis. I think we can agree we live in an “easiest places to live” and I can promise you that no one in my household has ever googled “Baby Massages.”
I’d never heard of baby massages or “Baby Bjorns”, another popular search term on easy street.
NY Times The Upshot column http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/upshot/inequality-and-web-search-trends.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D&abt=0002&abg=1
You see, Obama was right! The internet (is there anything it can’t do?) proves that the poor are “bitter clingers” to religion and guns! Luckily, there’s a simple solution — we just tax the rich heavily and spend trillions on social welfare. No really, we’ve never tried it before!
Actually, the ability to analyze internet data has made it possible to confirm the truth of many regional stereotypes.
Darts is the new bowling! We actually do have doctors and plumbers, house painters and business owners on local teams together. Also lawyers and mechanics, insurance adjusters and cops, and all other sorts of socio-economic diversity. All we need to do is to get more people playing darts and a bunch of our problems will be solved.
“There was a time when doctors and plumbers, house painters and business owners were on bowling teams.”
Was there? I admit to not having studied this, but I’ll bet the professional class has always been largely separate, in terms of social interaction, from more blue collar occupations. It’s not as if country clubs (one example) were created from thin air in 1988 or so. Snobbery and social class are fairly ancient concepts.
The bowling hook is representative of greater civic and associational life overall. “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam is the definitive text, if you’re interested. Lengthy but worth it.
Yes and no. I can’t say I’ve studied this much either, but I do think education levels have become more of a divider. Sure, it’s probably always been uncommon for doctors and lawyers to associate with blue-collar people, but there was a time when many in the white collar world weren’t especially well educated. My uncle was an executive with Georgia Power in the 70s and had only a GED, and that wasn’t necessarily unusual. Now it would be quite unusual to find someone employed in an office setting who doesn’t have at least some college education.
In my experience, yes. My family has a long line of bowlers, and people from all walks of life were on teams together. The contacts made in varying fields/occupations were invaluable. Some could say that church is the same, but I would argue that churches have become much more segregated by socio-economic status. Plus, you have to check all rational thought at the door…
And in terms of race, it’s long been said that no place is more segregated than church on Sunday.
Ahhh….the “Take the Skinheads Bowling” song finally makes sense now
I am glad that we’re embracing a more diverse community.
I do expect this to reflect the city’s commitment to attracting more conservative voters. Based on national averages, our goal should be 35-45% conservatives in Decatur.
announcing the first annual Rush Limbaugh Oxycontin Festival, Oct. 12-13, 2014
There’s a festival for that!
Brilliant reply.
sniff, sniff… you see. It’s mean and insensitive comments like that which make us feel unwelcome. You’re never going to get to our 35% goal with that attitude.
nothin but love for ya, G. Buck. come over here and lemme give you a big ‘ol socialiss hug—Kenyan style.
Muslin!
Aw shucks….
But, being Decaturites, I suspect we have more in common than not: individual responsibility (we identify and solve our community’s problems by coming together, without need of government) support for business entrepreneurs (buy local, etc.) personal liberty (freedom from random police stops, invasive electronic snooping, etc.) and a desire to live our private lives without judgment (whether alternate lifestyles or Romney yard signs.)
Someday I’ll take that hug, minus the “Kenyan” part (since I’m not sure I know what that is, and I haven’t been as “adventurous” since I hit my 40’s)
That IS pretty snarky and offensive, Rick. Totally unlike you, too. The worst part is, there’s no need to just make stuff up for jokes like that. I have it on good authority that next year’s Decatur Book Festival will be re-branded “Decatur Shrugged: A Celebration of Ayn Rand’s 110th Birthday”, in an obvious attempt to lure more laissez-faire capitalist conservatives to our little tree-lined utopia.
flattery will get you no where with me, sir.
a coupla shots of Jäger, on the other hand, and you might become tolerable 😉
Funny, that’s just what my wife said.
The next time you get pulled over by the police for sporting a Romney sticker, take it up with the committee.
“Ms. Merriss stated that the city had met with a local facilitator who will come with a formal proposal to the September 2nd commission meeting.”
Really? We need a “facilitator” to tell us, “hey guys, talk to each other”? How much of the $25,000 will be going toward this? I really hope that we get to see how great the formal proposal is before allocating any money toward it. Consultants, ugh…
Aren’t we country of middlemen?
Next thing you know, we’ll have armies of high-paid consultants offering to “facilitate” people’s interactions with judges and prosecutors and juries. Oh, wait… 🙂
goose/gander etc.