Change is Coming to Cobb County

By DAVID MARKIEWICZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/20/08

The message board outside his Marietta bar and restaurant suggests Mulligan's owner Mike Norman is about done with the whole Barack Obama-as-Curious George T-shirt thing.

Cobb County social activists, on the other hand, aren't ready to let go of the issue that flared brightly last week.

Leaders of more than a half-dozen groups met on the Marietta Square on Tuesday afternoon to announce they have united to fight racism and injustice, and to spread acceptance and harmony.

Their motivation: Mulligan's sale of shirts bearing the cartoon character's image, banana in hand, with "Obama in '08" inscribed below it.

Before a smattering of onlookers and a few police officers, the founders of the Cobb United for Change Coalition called on politicians and the public at large to stand up and promote brotherhood.

"Say 'no' to those who push up by pushing others down," urged the Rev. Dwight Graves, chairman of the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The coalition said the next step is to hold a celebration Friday night and then a public community forum on May 29. There, citizens will be invited to share their thoughts and concerns on matters of civil liberties and justice in Cobb.

Gerald Rose, founder of the New Order National Human Rights Organization, referring to coalition leaders and supporters, said, "You will see all of us. Numbers are powerful."

Other coalition leaders, from groups that included the Cobb Immigrant Alliance, the Nation of Islam Cobb chapter and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, called on the elimination of a "sickness" in the county, and said, "Let them know Cobb County is for everybody."

Norman could not be reached by telephone at Mulligan's Tuesday, but the message board posted outside bore this note: "G.I.'s dying in Iraq. Thousands killed in quake. Gas 4.00. And a tee shirt makes the news. Shame. Shame!"