By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 22, 2020 | Diversity, what is thy name?
Around here, you can spell it G-W-I-N-N-E-T-T.
You need to look no farther than the Gwinnett County primary ballot to see a wide range of people from all over the world living in Gwinnett who are running for election.
They come from many countries, lots of communities throughout our nation, and not so much from around here. Only eight of the candidates we’ve talked to were born in Atlanta, and another five list their birthplaces as Gwinnett.
Compared to just a few years back, that is a major change. Fifty years ago, if you were not local, from a good family, and a Democrat, forget it if you were interested in politics.
And today: look at the candidates: From Bangladesh to Boston, Brooklyn and Beijing. From Cambodia to Nigeria, Jamaica and Manila, from San Francisco to Miami and Phoenix, from Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron…….here come Gwinnett candidates.
The old crowd must be twirling in their graves.
How did this happen?
It happened overnight, while no one was looking. When I moved here in 1974, Gwinnett was 95 percent white, and five percent black. By 1988, it was 98 percent white, with minorities seldom considering living in the county.
(The year 1984 was a pivotal year, as no one recognized that a majority of the people moving into the county in prior years were Republicans. So, in 1984, everyone, GOP and Democrats alike, were surprised when the Republicans won every contested election. (17 of17). And Gwinnett has been listed in the Republican column ever since.)
What happened after 1988? People different from Gwinnett natives began arriving, many of them coming here for good schools, and affordable housing, plus good jobs. Many Hispanics were employed in the booming housing market. Finally, closer to the year 2000, the Asian community began to arrive, primarily Korean and later Vietnamese. And so the 2020 census will probably tell us that about 30 percent of Gwinnett is now considered white, about 30 percent black, another 25 percent Hispanic 10-12 percent Asian and the balance “other.”
Yep, big changes.
The 2020 primary ballot gives us another look at how Gwinnett is diverse: where the candidates went to college. Their colleges run the gamut: Harvard, Morehouse, Arkansas and Duke. And also Fort Lauderdale City College, Truman State, Barnard, Goshen, Syracuse, Georgia Southern Kennesaw, George Washington, American Intercontinental.
The different names of colleges of the candidates continue: Cooper Union, King, Abilene Christian, Russell Sage, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Penn State, Sweetbriar, Rutgers, CUNY, Morris Brown and Gwinnett Tech.
It was also surprising at how few candidates got their first degree at the University of Georgia (only 11 did). Georgia State had the next highest number of grads, 10. At one time, UGA was a routine choice for many, many Gwinnett candidates.
The youngest in the primaries is a 22 year old; the oldest is 84. Many are young professionals in their late 30s, or early 40s. And their backgrounds will knock your socks off.
Yet still: there are some sorry candidates, who through having a “D” behind their name, could win office. That happened for some with an “R” in 1984, getting a few sorry officeholders. One guy in Peachtree Corners went to prison a few years later. Others should have.
Hopefully, we will eliminate the really bad candidates in the 2020 primary. All in all, it looks like 2020 will eventually send some pretty good people to office.
Now, go out and back the candidates you like. You have many diverse choices.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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