Tag Archives: macon

Tourism and the future Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve

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Georgia currently has the following federally-protected areas:

  • 1 National Forest (Chattahoochee-Oconee)
  • 6 national historic parks, historic sites and/or military parks (Andersonville, Jimmy Carter, MLK, Kennesaw Mountain, Chickamauga-Chattanooga, and Ocmulgee Mounds)
  • 2 national monuments (Fort Frederica and Fort Pulaski)
  • 10 national wildlife refuges
  • 5 national natural landmarks
  • 12 federal wilderness areas
  • 1 wild and scenic river
  • 2 national trails
  • 1 national recreation area
  • 1 national seashore
  • 1 national marine sanctuary
  • 1 national estuarine research reserve

But apparently Georgia does not have any “national parks”. Also, most of the national forests are located north of Macon and the Black Belt.

Last year, the National Park Service commenced a study to estimate the feasibility of expanding the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park as a full-on national park and preserve. This study also estimated the feasibility of expanding the protected area down the Ocmulgee River to south of Robins AFB. The study, which was completed and sent to Congress this week, ultimately estimated that both would be unfeasible due to cost and landowner opposition, but, in the interest of providing some form of protection for the river, recommended designating a smaller area as a National Heritage Area, a form of public-private partnership in which the NPS plays an advisory role while most of the work is carried out by a government or non-profit organization.

The group which advocates for this expansion has a website. And the congressional cohort which supports this initiative – Sens. Ossoff (D) and Warnock (D), Reps. Bishop (D) and Scott (R) – are not accepting the NPS study and are seeking for approval of the park in Congress. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always presidential designation as a national monument via the Antiquities Act, which could overrule opposition from local landowners and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Political implications of national parks

Ever since first coming across research regarding how Democratic candidates for president (with the exception of Hillary Clinton in 2016) have done very well in rural counties whose economies depended on ecotourism, I have become deeply interested in how “new rural economies” which draw population have different economic outcomes and political interests than counties in “old rural economies” which depend on agriculture, livestock and/or mining. This held true for Joe Biden in 2020 as well, going so far as winning Teton County, Wyoming, the location of Grand Teton National Park and the most Democratic county in the deep-red state.

Granted, this doesn’t exactly seem to apply to ex-Confederate states, with several national parks and national forests in the Appalachians (i.e., Tennessee, North Carolina) not translating to rural gains for Democrats in presidential elections, or at least not drawing many transplants residents from outside of the region. But it somehow seems to work elsewhere in the United States.

National Heritage Area?

As stated, a National Heritage Area (NHA) affords fewer protections and restrictions on development, but can cover larger areas. An example is the new Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area, which spans 19 counties and their cities in Alabama’s Black Belt region, is one of two NHAs in Alabama and is administered by the University of West Alabama (based in Livingston).

The NHA system, compared to the national park system, is very new, with NHAs first being designated in the 80s under Reagan and the NHA system only being established in January this year through the National Heritage Area Act (which also established the Alabama Black Belt NHA).

  • What tourism can NHAs draw compared to national parks?
  • Why are there so many more NHAs located east of the Mississippi than west?
  • Conversely, why are these so few national parks east of the Mississippi compared to west?

At the very least, NHAs seem to be easier to establish in the eastern U.S. because they don’t seem to require strict preservation of historic or natural properties, which works just fine for a much more densely populated and farmed region like the eastern U.S. Apparently, NHAs can even overlap each other (odd).

We need a park and preserve

IMO, Georgia needs a park and preserve which extends south of Macon:

  • the Southern half of the state is absent of any national parks, national preserves or national forests;
  • Dependence on mass agriculture is a population loser;
  • Federal protection of land would be a massive method of economic diversification
  • the Black Belt, which also forms a concentration of African-American majority counties stretching from Louisiana to South Carolina, does not have enough natural preservation and ecotourism going on;
  • The colleges and universities in the Macon-Warner Robins area (Middle Georgia State, Mercer, Wesleyan, Fort Valley State) would benefit from this as well.

If an Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve extending to south of Warner Robins is the way to make this diversification happen, then so be it. A National Heritage Area can be secondarily added to the surrounding area, but the park and preserve should also become a reality.

So its very important that some questions be answered! I am making this blog post to ask our LGBT activists, organizations and LGBT media to be that loud voice asking several questions of several people.

1. What are State Representative Allen Peake’s views on the legislation? Does he support it? Will he vote for its passage?

2. Will State Representative Allen Peake abstain from voting for this legislation and realize the conflict of interest because his business will be affected by the new law if it passes.

3. IF State representate Allen Peake does support this legislation and votes for its passage, what are the views and what would the course of action be by any of the parent companies that franchise restaurants to Allen Peake’s company, C&P Restaurants.

via Edric Floyd: Telling It like It is!: Will a restaurant franchisee support Georgia’s License to Discrimate?.

“They will say we are not here”: Choices, From Uganda to Arkansas

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David Kato’s murder in January 2011 was a brutal footnote in the ongoing attempt to fully criminalize homosexuality in countries which are heavy in Abrahamic religion and light in liberal arts education. U.S. President Barack Obama’s statement of support for same-sex marriage in May 2012 was a touchstone in the history of LGBT people’s relationship with the U.S. electorate.

Two events in LGBT history involving two men of color of renown in two different political climates, in two years.

But I think that they, both Kato and Obama, are examples of what can happen when someone decides not to hide, but to stay, come out and fight.

Some time before his murder, Kato told filmmakers Malika Zouhali-Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright this:

“So if I run away, who will defend the others?”

And defend he did, even to his last breath, even as the threat of the upcoming Anti-Homosexuality Law continued to enshadow so many LGBT people in Uganda. It has gotten worse since his death, with the bill now law and more Ugandans seeking asylum in neighboring Kenya or elsewhere.

By contrast, Obama was one of countless beneficiaries of those in the United States who did not run away from their home communities, but stayed and fought for better conditions. By the time he stated his support for marriage equality for same-sex couples, tens of thousands of couples had already gotten married and challenged other states’ prohibitions on their marriages. Several more jurisdictions – state, county, city – had placed non-discrimination laws into their books. But none of these laws would have been instituted had the LGBT residents of these jurisdictions had ran away or focused on their vacations in more LGBT-friendly destinations rather than sought change in their own neighborhoods.

California would not have overthrown Proposition 8 had safer conditions had not been fought for in the 1960s and 1970s by the likes of Harry Hay, Harvey Milk and Jose Sarria. New York would not have gained marriage equality in 2011 had the Stonewall riots not happened against gross police brutality. No anti-discrimination laws would have been sought to the present without a bunch of activists getting them put into law in Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan in 1972.

People stuck it out and fought for their posterities when their own sexualities and gender identities were proscribed under state law, when they were subjected to police abuse, when there was nothing to protect them from violence or discrimination.

And now, you have marriage equality in freakin’ Arkansas! South of the Mason-Dixon Line!

So if someone stuck it out here in the Southeast, if someone waited for all these years somewhere in a region which tends to be the last to do anything that is politically inclusive and progressive until after every other region has written such legislation into law, then why can’t I?

My friend Edric from Macon, who runs PFLAG Macon and MaconOUT, tells me often about how so many LGBT people in Middle Georgia would rather indulge in Atlanta Pride every year rather than have a pride festival in Macon or Middle Georgia. But is there nothing in Middle Georgia that is positive for LGBT people?

Nothing at all?

This is why I’m torn right now. I will put myself more into website design, make some money, pay for my expenses, and spend the rest on LGBT-related or UU-related work. But when I have the opportunity to leave for a greener pasture, will I leave? Or will I stay and fight?

Politically, I want to stay, whether it is in Columbus or in Macon, but I want to stay and help the LGBT community here in Georgia.

I want to help build a better, more inclusive community for HIV+ people in the community, LGBT people, women, people of color, organized labor, secular atheist, etc. – in Middle and West Georgia.

By the day, I revisit my interest in going to places like California, with its enticing tech sector, but right now, it’s only half a place I’d want to live in and half a place to visit. The people there are leaps and bounds ahead of where we are here in Georgia, but their experience of equality is only one experience by people who already have a lot more going for themselves.

I think these two regions of Georgia, if we pulled hard and long enough, can go much further. I think this place can be much more inclusive. We can have non-discrimination ordinances, and domestic partnership registries, and more pride/diversity events, and LGBT people being elected to office, and less homeless or destitute LGBT adults and young people on our streets.

I hope to help with that, just as I’ve already helped as President of a Gay-Straight Alliance in college. I plan to stay and fight, whether in Columbus or in Fort Benning, until more people are awakened to the possibilities and can fight for themselves.

David Kato stated “If we keep hiding, they will say we are not here”. That can accurately describe the present situation in Middle and West Georgia.

Edric, let’s not hide. Let’s stay and fight. For Middle Georgia and West Georgia.

My weapon of choice will be this blog.

RIP, Irving Martinez

My friend, Irving Martinez, died yesterday at age 51 in Macon.

He was very passionate about politics, and last time I saw him, he was very talkative about perceived corruption in Macon city politics. I first met him at a downtown bar after a Bibb County Democratic Party conference at Macon City Hall. Openly identifying as bisexual, he claimed to have been a participant in the landmark Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969. We talked about the work that I did with PFLAG Macon, and about the political status of LGBT people in Macon and Middle Georgia. We friended each other on Facebook that night.

The last time we met, or even spoke, was during my 16 April 2013 guest spot on The Morning Roast, a live-streaming Internet show hosted by Irving, Derrick Barrett and Anthony B. Harris. On a 2 April episode, they had hosted then-incumbent State Senator Miriam Paris.

I’ll never forget what he kept saying to me during my guest spot: “Look at the camera!”

Unfortunately, the video of the episode is blocked on YouTube for music copyright reasons. Video is here:

Last I read, he pursued his political dream and gained 6 percent in the Democratic party primary, forcing Paris and former State Representative David Lucas into a runoff which Lucas won. Perhaps his message got through to that district.

The last time he posted to his Facebook account was on 6 February. Nothing in his post indicated what would happen this past Sunday morning, 16 February 2013.

Solidarity for his friends and family. I hope that The Morning Roast will press on in his stead.

I was on his co-hosted Internet radio show, The Morning Roast, last year. He invited me to talk about LGBT and political issues, and the other hosts kept reminding me to face the camera because a viewer was hearing-impaired.

I’ve moved to Columbus/Ft. Benning since last year, but I was still friends with him on Facebook.

I cannot believe Irving Martinez is gone, just like that. An ambitious and outspoken activist with a colorful vision of what life can become in Macon and a voice against political corruption. I wish we had talked more, and I’ve notified other friends in Middle Georgia regarding his passing. Solidarity to his relatives and his friends, especially The Morning Roast co-hosts.