{"id":1200,"date":"2020-11-08T17:29:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T17:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2020-11-08T17:29:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T17:29:28","slug":"georgia-counties-elect-the-first-black-sheriffs-in-their-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/georgia-counties-elect-the-first-black-sheriffs-in-their-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia counties elect the first Black sheriffs in their history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Three counties in <a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/atlanta-police-worked-with-land-developers-to-arrest-and-evict-black-residents-ex-cop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atlanta<\/a> are going to have the first Black sheriffs in their respective history after the three men, who are all Democrats, were elected to fill the seats during Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/news\/politics\/cobb-county-elects-first-black-sheriff-history\/VOQCE7GQPFFU3FONDQEP6H46OA\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Channel 2 Action News<\/em><\/a>, Craig Owens, a police major, defeated long-time Cobb County Republican Sheriff Neil Warren whilst electorates in Gwinnett County chose Keybo Taylor over his opponent, Luis Solis. Reginald Scandrett also edged over Jack Redlinger in Henry County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s music to my ears,\u201d Owens, who defeated his opponent by a margin of almost 35,000 votes (54.7% to 45.2%), told the news outlet after his victory. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for this for well over a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>More about this<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/this-is-our-moment-cori-bush-becomes-first-black-congresswoman-in-missouri\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u2018This is our moment\u2019 \u2013 Cori Bush becomes first Black congresswoman in Missouri<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/all-members-of-democratic-partys-progressive-squad-win-reelection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">All members of Democratic Party\u2019s progressive \u2018squad\u2019 win reelection<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/jabari-brisport-the-public-school-teacher-set-to-be-nys-first-black-gay-state-senator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jabari Brisport, the public school teacher set to be NY\u2019s first Black gay state senator<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/barbara-jordan-first-black-woman-elected-to-congress-from-the-south\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Barbara Jordan: first black woman elected to Congress from the South<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have an opportunity to make history and that\u2019s something we don\u2019t take lightly,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna come in prepared being the professionals that we are and we\u2019re gonna run this county like it should be. We\u2019re going to treat everybody in this county with dignity and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over in Gwinnett and Henry counties, Taylor and Scandrett also convincingly beat their opponents by 57% to 43%, and 60.3% to 39.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYesterday, we finished the drill,\u201d Taylor told his supporters on Wednesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gwinnettdailypost.com\/local\/gwinnett-county-elects-its-first-black-sheriff-result-likely-means-gwinnett-will-end-participation-in\/article_7c38ed66-1eaf-11eb-a288-2b0ea359bfce.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Gwinnett Daily Post<\/em><\/a> reported. \u201cYou lifted your voices at the polls and stood in solidarity with an agenda that includes all of Gwinnett.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cobb County Board of Elections will officially certify the election results on November 12. Their historic victories, according to Owens, go a long way to show how the metro <a href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/atlanta-woman-in-police-grips-after-driving-over-a-man-in-domestic-feud-video1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atlanta<\/a> area is evolving when it comes to diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think that will show a young black man, or a female, that they could also be the sheriff one day,\u201d Owens told <em>Channel 2 Action News<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leading up to the election, Owens and Taylor promised sweeping reforms when given the mandate. In Cobb County, Owens\u2019 predecessor, Warren, faced intense scrutiny over the conditions of the county jail following the deaths of several inmates during his incumbency in the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna do things differently in Cobb. We\u2019re gonna do things the right way,\u201d Owens promised. \u201cYou can see how much Cobb has changed. And I think Cobb was due for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Owens\u2019 and Taylor\u2019s victories also mean they are most likely to scrap a federal partnership their respective counties have with the ICE following promises they made to cut ties with the agency during their campaigns. Known as 287(g), the program allows local deputies, who are trained and mandated by the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/ahead-of-u-s-elections-ice-officers-have-been-accused-of-forcing-africans-to-sign-their-deportation-paperwork\" target=\"_blank\">ICE<\/a> to act on their behalf, to identify, detain and deport undocumented immigrants in their custody, according to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/theappeal.org\/politicalreport\/georgia-sheriff-elections-limit-ices-reach\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Appeal<\/em><\/a>. The immigrants usually end up in county jails for traffic and other non-violent offenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Locals, however, argue the program unfairly targets Latinos, Africans, Muslims and other immigrants and also scares people out of reporting crimes for fear of being deported. In Gwinnett County, for instance, the number of ICE detainees under the program shot up after <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/trumps-spiritual-adviser-prays-for-angels-from-africa-to-help-him-win-election-video\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> assumed office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s all kinds of crimes being committed in these neighborhoods that are not being reported because people are afraid they\u2019re going to be deported as well,\u201d Taylor told <em>The Appeal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Owens also said the program \u201coften turns into profiling, looking at Africans, Latinos, Muslims and other immigrants. It causes all types of problems, is expensive to maintain and I don\u2019t see why the county should be involved in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And though the ICE could retaliate with raids as they did in 2018 in Mecklenburg County, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/face2faceafrica.com\/article\/north-carolina-man-who-won-10m-lottery-charged-with-murder\" target=\"_blank\">North Carolina<\/a>, after a newly-elected Sheriff ended the program, Taylor, during a virtual debate with his opponent leading up to the election, said he would still take the high road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s almost like an ultimatum: either I cooperate with ICE or I\u2019m going to be responsible for what they do in my neighborhoods. I take issue with them conducting raids simply because I refuse to participate in 287(g),\u201d Owens said. \u201cAt the end of the day, I still won\u2019t participate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three counties in Atlanta are going to have the first Black sheriffs in their respective history after the three men, who are all Democrats, were elected to fill the seats during Tuesday\u2019s election. According to Channel 2 Action News, Craig Owens, a police major, defeated long-time Cobb County Republican Sheriff Neil Warren whilst electorates in<a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/georgia-counties-elect-the-first-black-sheriffs-in-their-history\/\"> Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[133,6,1],"tags":[336,338,337,335],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1202,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}