Yesterday I criticized the editors and reporters with the state’s largest newspaper— the Atlanta Journal-Constitution— for appearing to be in a state of perpetual denial when it comes to the state’s criminal gang crisis. Today’s piece continues and expands on that theme.
The Georgia Gang Investigators Association estimated in a 2018 study that criminal gangs are estimated to number a whopping 70,000 members statewide. That’s probably still the case. Yet last year during the General Assembly session, pro-gang Democrats and some Republicans carved-up Gov. Brian Kemp’s forward-looking anti-gang initiative. Kemp proved to be prescient, as just the sharp rise in Atlanta’s shootings and murders sans Kemp’s plan tragically confirms.
The AJC ought to confront legislators about their 2020 recalcitrance and inquire whether they have 2021 proposals to protect against the raging violence their perniciousness helped foment.
New Democrat DAs & Gangs
Distinguishing themselves, newly-elected Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis and Sheriff Pat Labat have announced forceful intentions and are crafting policies that will help curb rising gang crime. This is welcomed since the city of Atlanta is under their jurisdiction and especially since permissive Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her interim police chief have been losing the war against gangs (and crime in general) within the city limits. The evolving policies of these new Democratic DAs remind me of the former Democrat Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming of DeKalb County. She was rightly heralded just over a dozen years ago for her pioneering anti-gang unit and highly effective anti-gang leadership.
The Atlanta newspaper and Georgia media should ask the establishment Republicans in the General Assembly that undermined the Kemp legislation why these new Democrats district attorneys are more dedicated to public safety than most of them will ever be. (It should also be noted, however, that a few Democrat DAs were elected last November who appear to be acting more like social workers than prosecutors when it comes to tackling gangs and violent crime in general. Georgians should be watching new Democrat DAs in the Augusta circuit, Savannah and Cobb County in particular. And DeKalb Countians should miss former DA Keyes; DA Sherry Boston is especially weak on gang prosecutions.
Soft-On-Gang Bias at Public Safety’s Expense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s refusal to tell the complete story on the growth of gangs and their continued and alarming recruitment efforts is nothing new. Just-retired columnist/reporter Jim Galloway was often associated with the deficits. And it appears the ghost of gang crime denial still haunts the AJC. Some have even speculated that if this persists, the publication’s initials could soon be taken for, “All Journalists Conniving”— in favor of gangs.
Being so seemingly against Governor Kemp that they are for gangs might play well in the newsroom or with their political Left allies, but the dislocation endangers the public.
Media obfuscation regarding gangs by the Atlanta paper and other Georgia media outlets provides cover for politicians who could not care less about victims. Unless political and citizen pressure is applied, gang-related carnage will continue to escalate with impunity. Innocent deaths will increase. And more young people will especially be carted off to morgues.
Phil Kent is the publisher of InsiderAdvantage Georgia
