Racial tone clouds issue of changing airport name

Mayor Shirley Franklin's reputation as a consensus builder is being tested by the racially divisive debate over renaming Atlanta's major airport.

The issue has become more contentious as the city grapples with a campaign to take the name of a legendary white mayor, William B. Hartsfield, off the airport and replace it with the name of the city's first African-American mayor, Maynard Jackson Jr.

"This has hit a chord unlike anything I've seen in Atlanta in a long time," said William Boone, political scientist with Clark Atlanta University. "The issue is such a polarizing question. Shirley's had to walk through some minefields and tackle some tough issues, but this is unique.

"If she were asking me today what to do, I wouldn't know what to say," Boone said.

For Sam Massell, who served as mayor before Jackson was elected in 1973 and who gave Hartsfield airport its current name, observers should not be surprised at the public debate so far.

"But it is unfortunate that it borders on being a racial argument," Massell said. "Let's hope that all men of goodwill understand that this is a business decision that happens to be in a political arena. You surely can't call her [Franklin] a racist, no matter what she says or does. I am comfortable in Shirley Franklin guiding this issue."

The first public hearing on how to honor Jackson and former Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., both of whom died recently, turned into a racially charged rally in favor of renaming the airport for Jackson. Letters and e-mails, meanwhile, have overwhelmingly opposed the change.

"If you just look at the letters and the results of one public hearing, you can see it as racially divisive," Franklin said. "I don't see it as that yet. It's potentially racially divisive. We have 60 days to let the issue run its course."

A 17-member commission created by the mayor -- eight whites, eight blacks and one Asian -- will advise the City Council in September on how it should honor Jackson and Allen. The council will vote on the panel's recommendations. Jackson was credited with expanding Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport during his 12 years in office and using the airport to create business opportunity for African-Americans. He died June 23. Hartsfield, who died in 1971, served 23 years as mayor and long has been credited with presiding over the early development of the airport into a major transportation hub.

Franklin said she will rely on the commission to filter the heated debate. Despite the harsh tenor of Tuesday's hearing, the mayor said she will not intervene in the panel's deliberations.

"I have done what I am going to do -- appoint a diverse commission that reflects a broad spectrum," Franklin said. "I am now awaiting their recommendation."

Franklin also said she is not focusing on any potential political fallout from the controversy. "I don't know what impact it will have on me personally or politically," the mayor said.

Franklin must weigh the wishes of the predominantly African-American electorate that put her in office and the strong sentiment among whites whose confidence and support she has increasingly gained.

Franklin has recruited consulting firms and business leaders to become more involved with city hall issues. Like the current one, she has created diverse panels to help deal with city problems and hired more white officials at city hall.

Some of her actions, however, have been attacked by African-American leaders, such as her support of white residents around Chastain Park who sought limits on the use of the popular concert facility. Some blacks viewed the limits as a way to keep them from the park.

Franklin, a protégée and close friend of Jackson, has been getting public and private pressure to join the clamor supporting a "Maynard Jackson International Airport."

The mayor said the issue gets raised often by people she meets on the street as well as friends and political advisers. Even Jackson's widow, Valerie, has vowed to see that the airport bears her husband's name.

But the mayor has refused to express an opinion on how Jackson should be honored. Instead, she encouraged Atlanta to work through the commission.

Some African-American leaders have suggested that Franklin can solidify her support among the group by acting decisively to honor Jackson.

The Rev. Timothy McDonald, the president of Concerned Black Clergy, suggested Franklin may be worrying too much about the how the decision would be received in the white business community.

During the hearing Tuesday, speaker after speaker urged Atlanta's black elected officials to rename the airport for Jackson regardless of any offense to Hartsfield or whites.

"This really shouldn't be about what the white business establishment would allow," said state Rep. "Able" Mable Thomas, a former Atlanta City Council member. "It's really what the strength of the African-American community will allow."

The mayor, who did not attend the hearing, would not comment on Thomas' observations or those of others.

On Friday, Massell said, "Hartsfield is the identity of Atlanta aviation, and I don't think that should be diluted. There is ample opportunity to give recognition to every mayor down through the years. I do not think there should be any dilution to Hartsfield's legacy at the airport."

"I think Hartsfield is a nationally known name, and I think it was named after the gentleman rightfully so and should not just be taken away from him," said Kathy Brown of Woodstock.

"I can think of no landmark more appropriately named than Hartsfield Atlanta airport," said Harvey Brickley of Atlanta. "The honor bestowed on him in the naming of the airport should not be diminished by adding another person's name."

Ira Joe Johnson, an African-American author and government consultant, urged both sides to tone down the rhetoric, even though he wants the airport renamed for Jackson.

"The last thing Maynard wanted to do was be divisive," Johnson said. "We should be deliberative about this and listen to everybody and then rename it, and not because we can but because it's the right thing to do."

The tone of the debate also has turned off residents. James Wiley, a Decatur architect, said he is surprised and disappointed that the debate has turned into a racial issue.

"So much of everything that goes on in Atlanta has always been about race," said Wiley, who has lived in the area since 1971. "I was surprised at how blatant the racism is."

Wiley said the airport, like the flag debate before it, is another example of how a seemingly minor issue can impact a lot of people.

"So much energy is wasted that could be spent on things that can make a real difference, like education, crime and poverty," Wiley said.

The harshness of the debate has City Council members on edge as they prepare to consider get the committee's recommendation.

Council member Carla Smith said race colors much of the debate in Atlanta and this issue has forced the city confront it head on.

"There's race in everything," Smith said. "If you say it's not, you are either ignoring it or lying. We have created a process. We need to follow it and see what comes out of it."

The mayor said she believes the tension eventually will ease and a sound recommendation will emerge that can be embraced by all of Atlanta. Franklin stressed that she represents everyone and that she appointed a commission to reflect that.

"I am very confident this is going to work out for the best interests of the city and to the satisfaction of the majority of the residents," Franklin said. "This is a healthy part of the process. There probably are no right answers."

What a bunch of gibberish. The best interest of the city would be to not spend the money required for a name change.

"This is a healthy part of the process" What process? The process of ramming your agenda.

"There probably are no right answers." Meaningless political doublespeak. There is always a right answer. The right answer is to stop spending the people's money on unnecessary things like this.

They need to kindg daley the II from chicago down there, he can show them how to handle airport problems, go out in the middle of the night and dig up the active runways, and strand all plans on the ground then try to turn it into a muggers paradise.

Atlanta is a CITY for crying out loud. It's a blue area on the map. It's a parasite nest. It's Democrat. Let the people there get into all the silly mischief they want - - who cares? Anybody with any sense is already long gone from that sewer.

If you switched around the comments of the whites and the blacks in this story, would there be any question that the whites would be shouted down as racists? The blacks in this article aren't even shy about their racism. It's just blatant.

In Austin, this was solved by naming the airport after one person, the terminal after another, the baggage area after still another - almost like the corporate names on sports stadiums (hey! That's another idea. It can be "BellSouth Atlanta International Airport" or "Atlanta International Airport brought to you by Coca-Cola").

The naming bit can be carried even further. Here in Austin, I suggested that they rename the dirty magazine racks at the airport in honor of Ben Sargent, the local syndicated editorial cartoonist who was jailed for public indecency for jerking off inside a local adult bookstore.

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