The Augusta Chronicle kicks off a year-long series on race relations in the community. Find out what local residents think about Augusta's racial climate.

Series brings hot-button issue to the forefront
Web-posted 2/26/2005
Race relations in Augusta has long been a topic colored in black and white.

Discussion provides only chance at solutions
Web-posted 2/26/2005
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

To solve problems, we must confront them
Web-posted 2/26/2005
When does examining a problem contribute to that problem?

Race Relations in Augusta 
As part of an ongoing project looking at race relations in Augusta, The Augusta Chronicle wants to talk to residents of all races about their feelings on the issue. If you have an opinion you would like to share use the form below to send it.

Note: Items marked with ** are required.

Previous Stories

The Augusta Chronicle kicks off a year-long series on race relations in the community. Find out what local residents think about Augusta's racial climate.

As society integrates, most churches stay separate
Web-posted 2/12/2005
When Gary Rose enrolled at Georgia Tech in the 1980s, the black engineering student joined a choir at the Baptist Student Union on campus. The singers were thrilled because he helped them pick up the black gospel style.

History helps explain segregation in churches
Web-posted 2/12/2005
When he immigrated to the United States some 30 years ago from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Noel Makidi was surprised when he saw that churches were either black or white.

An expert look at race and the church
Web-posted 2/12/2005
Dr. Michael O. Emerson, a professor of sociology, became director of the Du Bois Center for the Advanced Study of Religion and Race at the University of Notre Dame last year. The following question-and-answer series is excerpted from earlier interviews on race and the church

'Chronicle' seeks input on bridging divide
Web-posted 2/12/2005
In January 2004, The Augusta Chronicle began a series on race relations by asking readers to share their thoughts about the issue. Fourteen months later, the newspaper is again asking for help.

Neighborhoods provide lessons about division
Web-posted 01/16/05
The brick veneer houses on Carvers Court, part of Hephzibah's upscale Walton Hills subdivision, went up in 2002 and 2003 and sold quickly in the $120,000 range.

Race issue still finds way into commission votes
Web-posted 12/18/2004
Ask any Augusta commissioner if their decisions are made along racial lines, and they'll say no.

Are perceptions of a racial division hurting Augusta?
Web-posted 11/13/2004
When three black Augusta commissioners went to Washington four years ago and intimated to the nation that the city had a race relations problem, those responsible for bringing business to the area likely cringed.

Editorial
An open, honest talk?
Web-posted 11/14/04
Can Augusta have an open and honest discussion about race? We're about to find out.

Black football coaches want fair play in hiring
Web-posted 10/9/2004
A perfect football season. It is every high school coach's dream, one that John Starr lived in 1995.

Task force has slow first year
Web-posted 7/25/2004
Their mission was clear but massive - find a way to confront the deep-rooted distrust and intolerance that bedevils Augusta. The going, however, has been slow in the 12 months since the Community Trust Initiative kicked off July 22, 2003.

Higher posts remain far off
Web-posted 6/26/2004
Just a decade ago, a white customer refused to shake Walter Dukes' hand.

Most employers quiet about race
Web-posted 6/27/2004
Despite reporting minority hiring practices to the federal government, most of the area's top employers are unwilling to discuss them publicly.

Students who are minorities in schools find acceptance
Web-posted 6/14/2004
People often look strangely at Ashley Williamson, 17, when she tells them she attended Lucy C. Laney High School.

Equal but separate
Web-posted 5/16/2004
Shelita Wright isn't bothered by the lack of racial diversity at Lucy C. Laney High School. She has noticed that only a handful of white students walk the hallways where her son Jamar is a senior. But Ms. Wright, who is black, cares simply about the quality of her son's education.

Diversity is key in school, teens say
Web-posted 5/16/2004
Schools dominated by pupils of one race lack the diversity necessary to teach pupils about an increasingly diverse world, said members of The Augusta Chronicle's Teen Board.

Results force 'Chronicle' to examine itself
Web-posted 5/8/2004
When The Augusta Chronicle kicked off its yearlong project on race relations in January, one of its goals was to examine the perceived causes of racial tension in the area.

Interracial couples often have to face subtleties of racism
Web-posted 3/28/2004
Bart and Marcella Harper have a running joke between them. It goes, "Them's yo' people."

Test couples report stares, but no racism
Web-posted 3/28/2004
So what's it like to be an interracial couple in Augusta? That was the question we asked ourselves at The Augusta Chronicle when the responses to one of our survey questions suggested that most people in Augusta had no problem with couples of different races.

Taboos, not laws, prevented most unions
Web-posted 3/28/2004
Blacks and whites have been falling in love in America since the arrival of the first Europeans and African slaves.

Some minorities left out in talks
Web-posted 3/7/2004
When Kip Edwards moved to the Augusta area seven years ago, he and his Mexican-born wife, Maria, noticed something interesting about the local racial climate.

Hispanic population increases
Web-posted 3/7/2004
Pedro Brito came to Augusta four years ago with the vision of opening the area's first Mexican grocery store. A year later, Mi Pueblito was born on Martintown Road in North Augusta.

Advocates of '56 flag urge vote boycott
Web-posted 2/28/2004
Woody Highsmith's life has become entwined with the Georgia state flag. For him, it's an issue of heritage and one of business, with the recent opening of his Martinez store, Flag City.

Racist use of flag has tarnished symbolism
Web-posted 2/28/2004
For the most part, I chose to stay out of the Georgia flag debate because, like a lot of people, both black and white, I believed there were more important issues to be concerned over.

Vote will have little financial effect in Augusta
Web-posted 2/28/2004
If voters choose the 2001 version of Georgia's flag in Tuesday's referendum, the cost of replacing the current banner will be negligible to Augusta-area governments, officials say.

Death's dividing line
Web-posted 2/22/2004
If, as is often said, God is colorblind when it comes to racial matters, then it's odd how the loved ones of the dearly deceased appear to let race color their decisions on who puts them to rest.

Project creates candid forum
Web-posted 2/15/2004
One of the stated goals of The Augusta Chronicle's yearlong project examining race is to create an open dialogue with readers about this delicate issue.

Residents discuss the issues
Web-posted 2/15/2004
The Augusta Chronicle interviewed eight of the more than three dozen people who commented on the topic of race in Augusta. They offered a wide range of views that the newspaper believes represent the many opinions among the public.

Survey suggests problems persist
Web-posted 1/25/2004
For most cities, race is an issue that smolders on the periphery of public consciousness, awaiting only a spark to inflame passions on a topic many people feel uncomfortable discussing.