Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Kyle Keyser (photo by Jez de Wolff)
I’ve been having an internal debate for some time now about how to approach commenting on the Atlanta mayoral election and specifically Kyle Keyser and his unlikely candidacy for the position.
Talking about local politics on a site like this is akin to talking about religion on a first date, you just don’t do it unless your are ready to deal with the fall-out. Additionally, the vast majority of the readership of this site is outside of the state of Georgia, much less Atlanta. Would someone from New York, Los Angeles or London care about local Atlanta politics?
In most cases, the answer is a simple “no”. Likewise, I would have zero desire to write about it either. But this case is different – this is as much a human interest story as it is an editorial.
A couple of things I want to clear-up before moving on: No, I don’t know Kyle Keyser (I’m sure I’ve met him a number of over the years; but I could say that about a lot of people). I don’t live in the city of Atlanta, so I’m not voting in the election, so my interest isn’t about stomping for a candidate.
Enough about all that. On the to point of this article:
Kyle Keyser is not a politician. As a matter of fact, he might be as far from one as you could craft based on political stereotypes. He’s 36, a filmmaker, founder of Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) and gay. It is easy to classify him as an activist; but that would, at some level, discount him as a fringe candidate.
Fringe or not, Keyser does care about the city. And unlike most other candidates, who, in a recent online debate didn’t know the current fare for the city’s mass transit system MARTA, Keyser is a man of the city. As a man of the city, he’s been held-up at gun point, seen friends assaulted and experienced the frustrations that many of its residents live with on a daily basis. His Atlanta isn’t Buckhead or Real Housewives – his is just real Atlanta.
When John Henderson, a well known and well liked bartender, was killed earlier this year at The Standard, Keyser was driven to action and form ATAC. After attending a number of in-town neighborhood rallies, he felt the need to act. Which is exactly what he did.
Two days before the entrance deadline, Keyser decided to put his hat in the race, with a sprint-to-the-finish drive to to collect the money needed to officially become a candidate.
While I do not live in the city, I do work there. I work only a mile from where John Henderson was murdered. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasing frustrated and a political system that is so exclusionary one would have to be blind to not see how disconnected the people running government are from the people for whom they should support.
I’ve become disenfranchised by the greed of developers that clear-cut land only to leave it empty when the housing bubble burst. I’m frustrated at the lack of citizen outcry at the city and county governments who zoned and re-zoned the land recklessly. As the past presidential election proved – at least to me – change isn’t change at all. Talk and action lie miles apart. But like most people, I complain, but don’t act.
This all brings me back to Kyle Keyser and his bid to become the next Atlanta mayor.
Does Keyser have a realistic chance? Even the most hardened optimist would admit that it would be the long-shot of long-shots. Most debates have excluded him based on, I assume, the fact that he isn’t a “high-profile” candidate.
The most recent Atlanta mayors include: Bill Campbell, who was later convicted and jailed of tax evasion (after being acquitted on more serious charges); Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and former U.S. Ambassador; Maynard Jackson, a three-time mayor and the current mayor Shirley Franklin, the first female mayor of the city. For better or worse, all high-profile mayors. All are African-American. As recent articles in both the New York Times and Creative Loafing Atlanta have detailed, race is – and always has – played a roll in the city’s elections.
Race, gender, sexuality, creed, religion, and all those other whispered words shouldn’t play a role in any election. But anyone who discounts their impact would be only kidding themselves or shockingly naive.
Furthermore, the nasty side of politics means the real issues and real people are replaced with mud-slinging, catch phrases and photo-op poses. It makes you wonder why anyone would get involved in the process at all. Well, aside from the direct and indirect money lining the pockets of most elected officials.
But Keyser reminds me what is good about the American political system. That anyone, when moved, can not only participate but can lead. Keyser, by not being like everyone else in the mayoral race, is indeed an everyman. A candidate who wants a better place for himself, his neighbors and his city.
At the least, his candidacy should serve as an example to everyone that the burden of civic responsibility doesn’t always fall on other people’s shoulders.
Sometimes, if you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself.
ironically, the fb link is where a significant amount of dialog has occurred. that debate and dialog is exactly what i’d hoped this editorial would have generated.
Thoughtful, kindly-worded post. Unusual in the political arena. Kyle’s candidacy kinda does that to a person, eh?!