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When I was a scant four months old my parents moved us three out of our Roswell Road apartment and into a $90K ranch
house in a new, heavily-treed Forsyth County subdivision called Mulberry Farms, if you must know the name. Yes, that's the
Forsyth County, GA where not even four years earlier neo-Nazis gathered by the thousands to throw bottles, rocks and mud at
members of a protest march organized by Atlanta's Hosea Williams. It's also the Forsyth County where, supposedly, not one
black person lived until 1997 or so, interestingly two years after my dad was transferred to Birmingham, Alabama. If
you're curious, enter "Forsyth 1987" into Google and browse the results.
I found this (very recent) history out not so long ago, and promptly became angry at my parents for picking a "Nationalist"
stronghold in which to raise my little brother Andrew and I. They explained to me how progressive and such our subdivision
full of transplants was, and though I did take their word for it (I don't remember many easily discernable rednecks except
for outside the subdivision) that was still pretty uncool. But, hey, dad had to work in Sandy Springs and couldn't afford
to live any closer. Decent excuse.
I checked Wikipedia yesterday to see how much more 21st-century (20th?) the county has become as far as minorities actually
wanting to live there, and came up with this in the Demographics sub-entry:
As of the census of 2000, there were 98,407 people, 34,565 households, and 28,101 families residing in the county.
The population density was 168/km˛ (436/mi˛). There were 36,505 housing units at an average density of 62/km˛ (162/mi˛).
The racial makeup of the county was 95.05% White, 0.70% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 2.01%
Pacific Islander, 2.27% from other races, and 0.93% from two or more races. 2.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino
of any race.
Wow. There are exactly 2.871 times as many people in Forsyth County, GA who list themselves as Pacific Islander
as there are Black people, or at least that was the case six years ago. Not that Forsyth County needs a minimum percentage
or anything, but they don't seem to mind moving to, say, Gwinnett or even Cherokee County nearly as much. Something's wrong.
Are the neo-Nazis still there or something? I mean, I haven't been back in my neck of those woods in at least eight years,
so I don't know. I'll make it a point to go next week, though, and maybe even "report" about it here with photos. So
just wait; all I have to do is get that damn car.
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