Then her uncle, Rayshard Brooks, was shot in the back by a white Atlanta police officer after fighting a drunken driving arrest and trying to run away.
Brooks’ killing so soon after the fiery demonstrations and Floyd’s death under the knee of a white Minneapolis officer have cast a harsh spotlight on the cracks in Atlanta’s reputation for racial harmony and Black prosperity.
Touting itself for decades as “the city too busy to hate,” Atlanta has had an unbroken succession of Black mayors since 1973.
After hiring its first Black officers in 1948, the Atlanta Police Department is now 60% Black, higher even than the city’s Black population of 52%.
Five years later, Maynard Jackson was elected Atlanta’s first Black mayor and was credited with affirmative action policies that gave Black-owned companies a greater share of city contracts.
