Manuel’s Tavern, an institution in the unofficial capital of the American south, has been at the forefront of all things politics in Atlanta for the last 50 years, but on Friday the bar popular with the city’s power brokers will sit out the battle brewing in Georgia over the reopening of the state’s economy.
The conservative Republican governor, Brian Kemp, has announced Georgians will be able to get a tattoo, go bowling and get their nails done starting on Friday and sit at a table in a restaurant at the start of next week. But Manuel’s Tavern posted a notice on its Facebook page with a blunt response.
“All of our experience and the wisdom of some really smart people that work at the tavern think it’s way too early. As much as I would like to be open, it’s not happening. Being closed has not been fun, but it’s been the safest, best thing we could do for our staff and our customers.”
The restaurant, where the former president Jimmy Carter announced his gubernatorial campaign in 1970 and Barack Obama played a game of darts in 2015, said to its fans, “Don’t hate us for being safe.”
The opposing sides taken by the owners of Manuel’s – and many others like them in Georgia – and the state’s Republican leaders, backed by a few rightwing protest groups, are a microcosm of the controversy starting to play out across the US as some states push to reopen their economies in the face of dire warnings by many healthcare professionals.
Across Atlanta, businesses are balking at the thought of allowing people into their establishments as Georgia’s coronavirus cases and deaths show no sign of following a sustained downward trajectory yet.
According to federal recommendations, Georgia should not be opening up businesses until sometime in June. Critics of the governor call this a purely political move in a year in which he has faced much opposition, including from his own party. Kemp has been at odds even with the Republican-majority legislature this session for his decision to place Kelly Loeffler in a US Senate seat, and he is looking towards an election year when demographics point to the red, southern state swinging left.
Critics say he is making decisions with politics uppermost in his mind, stirring a rightwing base in the hope of retaining power – much like Donald Trump.
“This is absolutely a reckless political decision made to appease the president, despite the fact that experts tell us Georgia has neither enough widespread testing nor enough medical resources to reopen without endangering many lives,” said the Georgia Democratic party chair, Nikema Williams.
The Guardian spoke with a dozen business owners and residents across the city and not one agreed with the new state guidelines.
Even Kemp seems aware of the risks of reopening.
When asked if the the state legislature’s session – suspended since 12 March – would also resume, the governor told WGAU’s Tim Bryant lawmakers were “waiting to come back until it’s a safe environment to do so, and have the proper protocols where, you know, we can make sure that that’s not a dangerous situation for anyone that would need to be at the Capitol”.
He also mentioned in the same interview that he had asked his mother and his wife to stay home due to pre-existing conditions.
Many of the governor’s critics say his decision to allow certain businesses to reopen will affect minority communities disproportionately, giving the dispute a racial tinge in a region already rife with such issues.
“This virus has disproportionately impacted the lives of black and brown people. We cannot and will not stand silently by and watch the premature opening of businesses that are mostly in the African American communities,” the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus (GLBC) said in a group statement.
Bernice A King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King, who is also on the governor’s outreach taskforce, only found out about the decision when a friend texted her, she said on Twitter.
Killer Mike, the Atlanta-based rapper and barber shop owner who has been an advocate for the city’s African American community, said his business would not reopen.
“Our first concern is ensuring the safety of our employees and patrons. While we obviously want to reopen, and we have an incentive to do so as business owners, we do not want to contribute to the spread of the virus,” he said in a statement to the Guardian.
Kemp’s office did not respond to a request for comment, though he and Loeffler held a teleconference town hall on Wednesday.
“We feel like we can create a business model while keeping tables separated and protecting our employees as well as our customers, so I think you will see some of that starting the first part of next week in a limited way,” Kemp said.
“We’re asking people to continue to not travel or run errands unless they need to. Certainly they can go to these establishments that I just talked about and other ones that are necessary,” he added about soon-to-be open nail salons and bowling alleys.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
