Anti-Cityhood Press Conference Scheduled Friday at the Capitol

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and three other local groups have called a Friday morning press conference in an effort to stop the advancement of the formation of a new city in Brookhaven.

In addition to the Caucus, Action for Justice in Georgia, Brookhaven Chamblee Home Owners and Neighborhood Business Alliance, and Stop Brookhaven’s Secession Coalition, will officially announce its Stop Brookhaven-Ashford Secession initiative on Feb. 24 at 11 a.m. at the Coverdale Office Building at the State Capitol in the Senate Press Room, according to one of the organization's spokesperson.

Hasan Crockett, a spokesperson for Action for Justice in Georgia and political science professor at Morehouse College, said the proposed city of Ashford will not only force its residents to pay additional taxes, but that the creation of the new city is unconstitutional and a way to neutralize the predominant African American power base in DeKalb County.

Kevin G. Hughley, president of Brookhaven Chamblee Home Owners and Neighborhood Business Alliance, said in a prepared statement, “We will fight this illegal act by the State of Georgia and these two political opportunist legislators... as they attempt do deny our rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution”.

Crockett pointed to a civil suit currently in Federal Court filed by long-time civil rights activist the Rev. Joseph Lowry and members of Georgia’s Legislative Black Caucus, charging Sandy Springs, John’s Creek, Milton, Dunwoody and Chattahoochee Hills of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The cities, the suit claims, carves out sections of diverse DeKalb and Fulton counties into majority white communities. Crockett said the formation of Brookhaven as a city is no different.

"There are issues here that deal with everybody," he said. "Now we have another layer of government, which means more taxes. We’re finding in John's Creek, that they need to increase police, and all these governments are just shell cities." He said.  "They create the city and contract back to the county for sanitation, schools water and sewer. Citizens of all colors will have another layer of government that they don’t need."