I always looked forward to the weekend because I knew my dad would be going to Atlanta and I knew I would be able to tag along.
I do not enjoy Atlanta just because I enjoy cities. Like yes, it has the typical aspects of most major cities—skyscrapers, bike riders, homelessness, crime, entertainment—but the overall vibe and culture of Atlanta is what I admire about the city the most.
Atlanta is great for Black creativity.
Atlanta’s metropolitan area is HUGE, so although I lived on the outskirts of Atlanta, the unique styles and lingo created by Black Georgians were still a large part of my upbringing. There was a point in time where I almost exclusively listened to Atlanta artists. Not intentionally, though, it was just what was being played around me. The media I have consumed from Black American creatives who grew up in the same area as I did has had a large effect on me; it gives me a sense of pride. It makes me say “Yay, I’m from Atlanta!” and things like that…
I enjoyed sitting in the passenger seat of my dad’s little black car while he drove around Atlanta because I was able to see Black creativity displayed in urban environments.
I have always been interested in urban environments, so being able to see myself represented in urban environments that are less than 25 miles away from me was extremely influential. Traveling to other American cities and not seeing the same thing makes me feel grateful for where I come from. It makes me feel represented; in Atlanta I always see Black doctors, I always see Black lawyers, I always see Black mayors, I always see Black architects. The ability to say that I have been surrounded by Blackness for my entire life is a luxury that many other Black Americans do not have.
Maybe my dad just took me around the Black parts of Atlanta, but I was constantly seeing Black art in the city. I enjoy these parts of the city more than downtown or midtown.
I enjoy people watching. I enjoy watching Black musicians play music in Piedmont Park. I enjoy looking through the window of a tattoo shop and seeing Black tattoo artists tattoo Black skin. I enjoy watching students walk to class at the university that produces the most Black graduates in the country. This is not something I had to search for.
I struggle with imposter syndrome, but I have never felt like was undeserving of a space in Atlanta, and I know this would not be the case if I grew up somewhere where there was not as much representation.
Of course, Atlanta has some serious issues like every other major city. Atlanta is almost ½ Black, but the population is decreasing because of gentrification pushing people out of the city and into outskirts of the city. I have witnessed this with my own eyes! The stark difference between areas in Atlanta is absolutely insane. There will be older apartments or houses where low-income Atlanta residents live right next to some weirdly structured modern apartments or townhomes. It looks so out-of-place and awkward.
I see this so often in Atlanta. I cannot properly articulate how this makes me feel but it makes me violently uneasy.
Though this is not exclusively an Atlanta problem, it is still upsetting to see this happen here. Thankfully, an organization called Community Movement Builders have made many anti-gentrification efforts, but I am not sure how successful they would be city-wide.
Speaking of neighborhoods, I always looked forward to seeing homes in Atlanta (not homes like the pictured house of course) I enjoyed seeing different styles of apartments depending on where I was. I enjoyed seeing the ranch-styled homes. I enjoyed picking out a house on Zillow and asking my dad to drive me to it so I could look at the rest of the house in the neighborhood. I enjoyed how different the residential parts of the city were from the commercial parts. I enjoyed seeing how the commercial parts of the city adapted in order to become residential.
I enjoy Atlanta a lot.
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