A 'Covid Crime Wave' Is One Reason These Residents Want to Break Away From Atlanta — but Critics Say a Split Would Be Devastating for the City

Posted June 7, 2021

External Article: CNN

Ronald Bayor, Professor Emeritus in the School of History and Sociology, was quoted in "A 'Covid Crime Wave' Is One Reason These Residents Want To Break Away From Atlanta — but Critics Say a Split Would Be Devastating for the City," published on June 7, 2021, in CNN. 

The article details a renewed debate about Buckhead becoming its own city — a debate sparked by the highest crime rates Atlanta has seen in 30 years. Bayor spoke about the reasons why Buckhead was pulled into the city to begin with, in the 1950s, and how splitting from the city would affect the population.

Excerpt: 

"It was pulled in to enhance the White population in the city and to create a White majority once again, so race was a very big factor in Buckhead coming in," Bayor said. 

"Basically, this would be splitting along some racial lines," he said.