Giving Thanks for Georgia
Those who are regular readers of this column know there is no shortage of things that I think Georgia could do better. From our overburdened public education system to our lack of affordable healthcare to our outdated and overcrowded incarceration facilities, there are plenty of areas in which ambitious fixes are both necessary and possible.
Despite those challenges, I have been proud to call Georgia home for my entire life and that is because we also have so much to be proud of. As Thanksgiving approaches and we all take a moment to reflect on the things we are grateful for, I would like to do the same thing for this state that we love so dearly.
Growing up in Athens, I’ll come right out of the gate to say I’m thankful for our Georgia Bulldogs. One of the best college football teams in the country, the Bulldogs have continued to put Georgia on the map alongside iconic teams like the Falcons, Braves, and the most recent addition to our major league sports portfolio, Atlanta United. I also want to shout out my alma mater Clark Atlanta University and its athletic program. It’s hard to imagine a better place to live regardless of which sport is your favorite.
Our university system is among the most acclaimed in the country as well. We have groundbreaking research institutions like Georgia Tech and Emory University as well as nearly a dozen historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), such as Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse, Spelman, Morris Brown, Albany State University, Savannah State University, Paine College, Fort Valley State University, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Interdenominational Theological Center. College graduates from Georgia are sought the world over for their skills and expertise. We are a state full of innovators.
That reputation for innovation is part of why we are experiencing one of the most robust clean energy manufacturing booms in the country. Thanks to a bipartisan combination of efforts which include tax breaks from Gov. Brian Kemp and federal incentives supported by Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, we have seen tens of billions of dollars in new commitments to construct electric vehicles and batteries in Georgia, which will result in tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs in the coming years.
These new investments and jobs are not concentrated in typical economic hubs like Atlanta and Savannah, either. They span from the mountains of North Georgia to the marshes of South Georgia, which are among our most valuable and beautiful natural resources we are lucky to have. Anyone who has seen a sunrise from the beaches of Jekyll Island or the peak of Brasstown Bald knows that our state is overflowing with ecological treasures.
Our state’s legacy in the battle for civil rights is among the things we should most be proud of. From Martin Luther King Jr. to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, some of the greatest champions of liberty for all that this country has ever known have called Georgia home. That legacy runs through everything we do and, despite the challenges that many of us still face here and throughout the country, our fighting spirit infuses us to our core.
No matter where you live in Georgia, I hope you will take a moment to offer gratitude for the state we all call home.
And for all the things we may not be as proud of yet, we are making progress. For the first time in years, the state fully funded the public education system for the 2024 fiscal year, thanks to surging public coffers. Following the abhorrent, racist murder of Ahmaud Arbery in 2020, the state acted quickly to pass and implement a hate crimes bill. Despite lingering hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy has bounced back with unprecedented speed, leaving us with billions of dollars with which to address the problems we face.
No matter where you live in Georgia, I hope you will take a moment to offer gratitude for the state we all call home. There is a reason why we are all here and why many of us cannot imagine living anywhere else. Just as in hundreds of years past, the lands and waters of Georgia continue to provide us with rich abundance while friends and neighbors build communities together that uplift one another.
Even where I see shortcomings in our state, I always see them alongside countless people working to fix them. We may not always get it right, but if I know one thing, it is that we will never stop trying.
Tharon Johnson received a Green Eyeshade award for serious magazine commentary for his December 2022 column, “Making Housing Affordable Again.” He can be seen Sunday mornings on The Georgia Gang on Fox 5 Atlanta.
