James “Major” Woodall, Sr.

KLB said in her exit interview that after the first year, she knew she would not run again. That was before her next three years in office, when Atlanta faced some of the hardest challenges in recent memory: - GOP pushing to annex Buckhead from the City of Atlanta - GOP-led General Assembly working to take the Atlanta Airport from the City of Atlanta - The civil unrest after the death of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of Atlanta Police Department - The killing of Secoriea Turner and the city’s failure to keep children safe - APD officers tazing AUC students - The City of Atlanta requesting the Georgia National Guard to occupy Atlanta streets - Failure to remove Erika Shields as Police Chief after repeated extrajudicial killings - Championing Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (“Cop City”) - Leading the displacement of Peoplestown residents through eminent domain The list goes on. Atlanta faced defining moments with a leader who had already shown the city she was done. A new campaign does not erase the questions left by the last one. This is about whether our choices produce the leadership the moment requires. Honoring Black women in leadership and asking honest questions of leadership are not opposites. A mature politics should be able to do both.