Newspaper Page Text
OPINION
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 15 -21, 2024 • PAGE 5
Atlanta was the real winner of Super Bowl LVIII
Super Bowl LVIII, held Feb. 11,
didn't disappoint when it came
to drama and flair; the first two
quarters saw the San Francisco
49ers score as the Kansas City Chiefs
fumbled, but in the second half, the
Chiefs came back to pull out a 22-
25 win when the game went into
overtime, a rare feat at the Super
Bowl.
While the game was an exciting
spectacle, Atlanta-based performer
Usher was the MVP of the night,
delivering a halftime show that
celebrated all things A-Town.
Highlighting much of
his impressive catalogue of
hits throughout his halftime
performance, Usher brought Atlanta
to Las Vegas with everything from
dancing the A-Town Stomp with Lil
Jon to bringing out local legends
Jeremaine Dupri and Ludacris as
special guests, and even strapping
on a pair of roller skates and
busting a move in a giant roller rink
(because, of course, the man can
sing, dance, has six-pack abs, and
can do it all while rolling on eight
wheels).
With his high-energy, fast-paced
halftime show, Usher reminded the
world - or at least everyone tuning
into the Super Bowl - that Atlanta is
where some of the greatest talent,
especially in hip hop, is born and
bred.
Those wanting to see more
of Usher's talents on display may
already have tickets to one of his
three upcoming Past, Present,
Future Tour shows coming up in
Atlanta in October. But for those
of us who won't be lucky enough
to see him when he rolls through,
Coming Home, the artist's first solo
record in more than seven years,
was released Feb. 9.
Celebrating Georgia Day!
On Feb. 12, the 13th of the
original colonies, our blessed home
state of Georgia, turns 291. The
peach and peanut state is a place
of greatness and wonders, but also
some notable contradictions.
The state of Georgia was
founded by Gen. James Edward
Oglethorpe along the Georgia
coastline and in the modest colony
of Savannah on Feb. 12,1733, with
114 settlers, primarily composed
of debtors, former indentured
servants, and a handful of British
Redcoats. The journey crossing
the Atlantic had taken nearly two
months, and the colonists followed
Oglethorpe climbing a 40-foot bluff
above the Savannah River to plant
a flag and declare the colony's
founding.
Oglethorpe was a loyalist to
the crown, and the colony was
named in honor of King George II
and was managed by Oglethorpe
as a military governor with a board
of trustees. The colony was given
a three-pronged initial mission of
economic growth, philanthropy
(allowing economic opportunity
for former debtors and indentured
servants) and providing military
protection for South Carolina to the
north. Along with Georgia's second
city in Darien, to the south of
Savannah, the fledging colony would
only succeed initially with its third
mission, acting as a buffer between
Spanish Florida and the English
colonies to the north.
For fewer than 20 years,
the trustees prohibited slavery
(Oglethorpe was also a prominent
abolitionist) as well as large
landholdings. Georgians would
initially work only for themselves,
tending small farms. Capitalism,
greed, and relocation from other
colonies would bring plantations and
slavery to the young colony in later
decades. The Louisiana Purchase,
under Pres. Thomas Jefferson in
1803 from France, would for a time
give Georgia a western border that
reached the Pacific Ocean. If we had
been able to hang on to all that real
estate, I dare say that Los Angeles,
San Diego, and a good chunk of the
"Left Coast" might well be more
than a bit different today.
The forced relocation of the
Cherokee Nation between 1830-
1850, initiated by Pres. Andrew
Jackson from the foothills of the
Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest
Georgia, would create the horrific
Trail of Tears and result in the
deaths of more than 15,000 Native
Americans, primarily women and
children, making the trek on foot.
The Georgia coast is also where
the last slave ship in the United
States made berth with its by-then
illegal cargo (on Jekyll Island and
The Wanderer on Nov. 10,1858).
In north Georgia, the Ku Klux
Klan was reborn in 1915 atop Stone
Mountain, also where the Civil
Rights Movement saw the birth of
its best-known spiritual leader, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. The Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) was formed on Jan. 10, 1957,
at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in
Atlanta.
Though Georgia was among
the original seven states of the
Confederacy and contributed nearly
100,000 troops to the conflict, most
in service to the armies of Virginia,
fighting would primarily be waged
within 100 miles of Richmond, and
would not make its way into Georgia
until Sherman's attack and burning
of Atlanta in 1864. The burning
of Atlanta was followed by his
destruction of thousands of acres of
farmland and smaller towns during
his months-long march to the sea,
which broke the southern spirit and
is universally considered the pivotal
turning point of that war.
Georgia has only one native-
born president of the United States
in Jimmy Carter - also the nation's
longest-living former president.
Pres. Woodrow Wilson spent his
childhood and formative years in
Augusta, and later practiced law in
Atlanta. President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, our longest-serving
president, made Warm Springs,
Georgia, and his Little White Flouse
there, almost his second home
from his first visit to the hot springs
on Oct. 3,1924, which gave him
at times relief from the pain of
crippling polio to his passing there
on April 12,1945.
As Georgia approaches 300, in
a nation approaching 250 (in 2026),
there is much to ponder, much to
regret, and much to celebrate. The
Georgia of today is still in the South,
but most of its residents live in a
region that no longer necessarily
feels "of the South," in metro
Atlanta.
Southern hospitality, unlimited
iced tea and coffee refills, and a bit
more deference to civility and being
good neighbors still matter here,
and I would hate to still live in a
Georgia that ever loses that.
Bill Crane is political analyst and
commentator in metro Atlanta, as well
as a columnist for The Champion, DeKalb
Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane is
a DeKalb native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can contact him or
comment on a column at biH.csicrane@
VISIT US ONLINE
THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM
