Project Logic Ga

To move forward as a community, we need to be concerned with more than who wins elections.  Politicians can’t save you from you. The most successful communities have strategic plans based on reality and achievement.  Because this blog post will ruffle some feathers, an italicized disclaimer should come first.  “In a free society like America, you can’t tell people what to do. People have a right to free association and free thought.”

Of course, there are consequences and results from free actions and that is where governmental involvement gets complicated.  You can be unemployed and have six babies but other citizens become involved if you need their tax dollars to feed these innocent kids.  You can have a faith belief that is against a woman’s right to choose but are you going to feed the resulting children for the next 18 years.

I wrote a blog post about P.E.C.S. recently: Politically, Economically, Culturally and Socially.  The idea is that politics is just one part of the overall wellness plan for a community.  We need to be careful about our economic actions, cultural choices and general societal mindset.  Basically, my community is a mess that is getting messier while other communities are moving forward.  Slavery and Jim Crow makes our situation unique but still, we must do better.

https://projectlogicga.com/2018/07/23/southern-black-muscle-p-e-c-s/

Are we actually moving backwards from the pre-integration Black communities?  While those communities were oppressed, most Blacks of those days were fully-focused on achievement and eager to capitalize on every rare opportunity.  The Black home isn’t as solid as it once was and our children are growing up with a range of influences.  Often, the hip hop culture has replaced the church as a major influencer.  Calm down, we all love the art medium of music and rap lyricists are poets.  But, for children without deep roots, the glamorization of street life from music could become a rough way of life. Are these kids preparing for S.T.E.M. careers or jobs in the trades?  Will they be ready to earn a living in the rapidly changing global economy or will they self-medicate and become adult wards of the state?

On the other side of town or in the rural areas, some in the majority community in the South are expressing radical bitterness.  Dr. Condoleezza Rice says that slavery is America’s birth defect.  Conversations about fairness and righting past wrongs have led to a siege mentality for some folks.  Remember, everyone has a right to his or her thoughts.  However, when your thoughts result in discrimination, problems can be legal and financial.

Economic development officials are discovering that local bitter views can stop national companies from bringing new jobs to some areas. Ouch.  Supposedly, B.M.W.’s decision to locate a plant in South Carolina over the Savannah, Georgia, area included drama over the Confederate flag.  Corporations and companies feel out areas and avoid places with simmering troubles.  They don’t want to live in such places and don’t want employee conflicts on the worksite.  We will live together as brothers or perish as fools.

I wrote a blog post about elected officials using technology-generated maps to analyze where voters live.  Governmental projects and services could reflect voting actions; the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  My palm hits my forehead when I think about the neediest areas being the areas with the lowest number of voters.  So, the government helped your family during struggles but you can’t find ten minutes to vote.

https://projectlogicga.com/2018/06/26/political-money-maps-vs-kids/

I don’t want to say “hate” groups but “bitter” groups and individuals from the Far Left and Far Right are being mapped by watch organizations.  Similar to elected officials giving better service to “voting” areas, extremist’s views could cost someone a paycheck or a community jobs.  Increasingly, the first question after an ugly incident is “where does he work?”  Social media can immediately target a company or business if they employee a vile person who offends a segment of the community that is a source of revenue or business.

We can reverse engineer bitter situations.  In the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, Atlanta’s business community earned the reputation as the city too busy to hate.  Of course, activists are often upset about valid issues but the ends don’t justify the means.  Hero to some is terrorist to others.  A community with a generally positive vibe attracts positive people and positive companies.  The lack of ugliness is a nice reflection on a community.  If your community keeps fighting the Civil War, you shouldn’t be surprised if a corporation views that as intolerant and takes their deep pockets elsewhere.

I also consider it “deep pockets” when a community has pockets of deep or woke people.  For example, Thomasville, Georgia, has a reputation of having intelligent Blacks or a cultured atmosphere in general.  It doesn’t hurt that Tallahassee is just across the state line.  Thomas County has a bitter past like any Georgia area but they have moved forward faster than most.  I won’t mention other area communities with as much wealthy as Thomasville but with a huge divide between the haves and the have-nots.

Our bitter roots are the root of continued problems because the plantation economy ended recently and without a fair reconciliation. You can call it inherited wealth while others view it as ill-gotten gains.  Much of the new hate/bitter speech we are experiencing is simply rooted in the majority fighting changing demographics.

But, we shouldn’t get it twisted.  Population statistics mean nothing if we can’t convert numbers into voters and voters into economic deep pockets.