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GOV_jabari-simama

Jabari Simama

Senior Contributor

Jabari Simama is an education and government consultant and a senior fellow with the Center for Digital Government. He served two terms on the Atlanta City Council, from 1987 to 1994; as deputy chief operating officer and chief of staff for DeKalb County, Ga., from 2009 to 2012; and as president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College from 2012 to 2018.

Simama received his bachelor's degree from the University of Bridgeport, his master's degree from Atlanta University and his Ph.D. from Emory University. He is the author of Civil Rights to Cyber Rights: Broadband & Digital Equality in the Age of Obama, published in 2009, and has been a columnist for Creative Loafing and Southwest Atlanta magazine and a feature writer for Atlanta magazine. He blogs at Jabari Simama Speaks.

What happens in Georgia could be a harbinger of the next presidential contest as well as MAGA’s future. Politicians of both parties should not underestimate the political power of Black women.
Holding city council meetings downtown during weekday business hours makes them inaccessible to too many residents. To open up civic participation, local governments should rethink their scheduling and make the most of electronic tools.
The life of the former Atlanta mayor, congressman and U.N. ambassador hasn’t been without its contradictions, but today’s leaders can learn a lot from his decades of courageous leadership.
It's vital to democracy, but the economics of the business and corporate ownership continue to challenge the independent reporting communities need.
These programs are under relentless attack but there is no evidence that they’ve given Black Americans any disproportionate benefit.
There are plenty of strategies that have proven effective at dramatically reducing crime. Sending soldiers into the streets of our cities isn’t one of them.
There’s much to applaud in the ways Columbia now celebrates its Black heritage. But too much of that celebration is limited to Black residents.
Our universities’ real problems have little to do with DEI or antisemitism. Genuine reforms would encompass expanding access and equity and confronting a history of institutional racism.
Its ideals, expressed by New York’s Democratic mayoral nominee, have seen plenty of success around the world. Maybe it’s time for a third party that would unapologetically stand for working- and middle-class Americans.
Self-government and local control are in jeopardy as never before. Diversity initiatives are engines of equal opportunity, offering a direct return on public investment.