Just days ago, Georgia State Representative Mesha Mainor, representing a deep-blue Westside Atlanta district, switched parties from Democrat to Republican. She is Georgia’s first Black Republican woman state representative. Since then, she has been flooded with shocking racist messages.

In my life as a pre-political-correctness Southerner, I have never heard such racist language leveled at anyone. This response reveals the truly disturbing psychological state underlying progressive ideology, with the greatest social taboos thrown aside to defend the power of the Party.

As Rep. Mainor handles the barrage of racist attacks with grace, we might ask, what was the personal journey that brought about this change? Mesha grew up in a very rough Atlanta neighborhood, within a few blocks of Vine Street and English Ave., known as ‘the Bluff’ -- the #1 most dangerous neighborhood in Atlanta, #5 most dangerous nationally. In 2012 it was described by Creative Loafing as:

"boarded-up homes built among the trees along the narrow streets… people loitering in the middle of vacant lots, casting hollow stares at passing motorists, and… young men hanging out on street corners, hollering at passers-by and then to lookouts down the street"

The Bluff stands for ‘Better Leave U F***ing Fools’, and is still a major drug-trafficking center left seemingly untouched by law enforcement throughout the decades. It was made recently famous when a local drug dealer made a docudrama movie about his life of crime there.

Mesha however, did well in school, and attended Howard University, a Historically Black University in Washington, D.C. While in school, she worked a short time in the office of Civil Rights legend Representative John Lewis. From there, she began to work as a speechwriter for and be mentored by Dr. Helene Gayle -- at that time assistant surgeon general and currently the president of Spelman College. 

When she returned to Atlanta and her daughters, now 17 and 11, were young, she wanted them to access the world, and started a language immersion pre-school called Little Voyages.  Later she started an Entrepreneur Camp, and also managed Emory Hospital’s outpatient rehabilitation center.

With Mesha’s connections, soon she was running for Atlanta city council, where she began to see a more seamy side of politics. She asked Corwin Monson, a volunteer, to stop working for her campaign. His response was to stalk her, stopping by her home, calling her daily, and joining her church, where he would stare at her throughout the service. He was arrested for stalking, and then hired the Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington, who then used his position of power to influence the case. The stalker was recorded saying that he wanted to destroy Mesha, even ‘if he had to stay in prison for 10 years.'’  This  was an eye-opening revelation as to the quality of some Metro Atlanta leaders.

Mesha also researched (33 minute mark) Fulton County’s elections, finding systemic voter suppression. Not from the Republican Secretary of State, but from incompetent management and unethical and apparently unaccountable Election Board leadership. She found serious flaws in virtually every election, from 100,000 ballots dumped in the trash to 20,000 voters directed to the wrong precincts. She even discovered that the winning candidate Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was in a business relationship with the director of registration’s son! She averred that Fulton County in 2020 had no handbook, no ethical guidance, nor did elections officials swear an oath to follow the Constitution. She inferred the haplessness of Fulton County elections was a feature, not a bug, and so authored a bill to make election reforms. In 2021, Fulton County was the first Georgia county to be placed under performance review, based on SB 202, the new secure elections law. This June, the state elections board said significant improvements had been made.

In 2020, during the COVID lockdowns, Mesha and her daughters campaigned and won the race (by 40 points!) for state representative for District 56 in Atlanta, a heavily Democrat, economically diverse area covering Piedmont Park, Georgia Tech, Atlanta University Center, and points west. She has sponsored a large number of bills. As a Democrat in a Republican majority legislature, she was successful in passing quite a few. For example, last year HB762 created the first authority of its kind in the nation, using the considerable human capital resources in the Westside Area to provide targeted workforce development in renewable energy and technology. This year, she was able to pass a bill to improve university campus policing in response to the recent bomb threats on the Atlanta University Consortium campus.

From the time she was first elected, education lobbyists reached out to convince her that school choice was the wrong answer for students in underperforming schools. She said, “I wanted to see the data, and the anti-school choice lobbyists never seemed to have a full set of data that would answer my questions.” So, when the bill to promote school choice was introduced in Georgia’s legislature, Mesha was a loud and vocal supporter. As she said, this is ‘parent choice’. The bill proposed a $6500 scholarship for public school students in the bottom 25% of public schools. The entire Democrat caucus except Mesha opposed this bill. Additionally, 15 Republicans representing rural districts also opposed school choice. On the last day of this year’s session, the bill did not pass. Mesha was ‘crucified’ by her fellow Democrats. In fact, one state senator from a wealthy district offered a $1000 campaign contribution to anyone who would challenge her in the Democrat primary! Mainor’s response was impressive:

“Democrat lawmakers (not constituents) will cry about abortion rights, wail for transgender rights, demand AAPI protections, and create legislation for antisemitism. Yet, if a Black independent female Democrat legislator who grew up in poverty wants to give the bottom 25% of children attending failing schools a second chance at education infuriates some of my fellow Democrats to the point they are soliciting my opposition -- that's exactly the problem."

Finally, Mesha announced that her disagreement over ‘parent choice’ had brought her to the Republican Party.

I have been impressed with the grace and class that Rep. Mainor has shown dealing with the deluge of racist attacks on her. She has shown an impressive passion, courage, and independent thought in taking a stand in favor of parents and children. 

Image: Adolf Scott