Former Atlanta Mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young (above with a copy of The Atlanta Voice from 1979) said he believes Atlanta could easily host another Summer Olympic Games. Photo by The Atlanta Voice
Former Atlanta Mayor and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young prefers to sit in the tan straight-back chair instead of the large, soft loveseats in the all-hands room at the Andrew J. Young Foundation’s Midtown offices. The steadiness of the chair helps the former Civil Rights era leader relax during long sitting spells. Never afraid to get into a debate, conversation, or storytelling session, Young, 92, grabbed a chair, got comfortable, and took part in an interview with The Atlanta Voice last month.
With his 93rd birthday approaching on Mar. 12, Young said he has many things on his mind these days, so the interview, which was more like a conversation, ranging from whether or not the City of Atlanta could host another Summer Olympic Games, the importance of Black-owned media, his thoughts on the recent attempts by the current presidential administration to erase Black history from curriculums across the country to the secret to a long life, and his message to Black America in the wake of a second Trump presidency.
“I don’t feel no ways tired. We’ve come too far from where we started, and nobody ever told us the way would be easy,” Young said about the state of Black America. “I don’t believe HE brought us this far to leave us.”
Young (above) will turn 93 on March 12. Photo by The Atlanta Voice
Atlanta: The Center of the Universe
The discussion began with the question of whether or not Atlanta is as good as advertised. Young answered the question by echoing a familiar phrase in this town.
“There are several Atlanta’s,” he said.
“There’s an Atlanta before 1960. Then there’s an Atlanta from 1960 to 1970, and there’s still another Atlanta from 1970-1996,” Young said.
Young believes Atlanta is one of the most international cities “on the planet.”
“That’s in terms of our culture, in terms of our economy, and in terms of our vision,” Young said. “Atlanta, since the Second World War, has been a cultural center.”
He used Coca-Cola and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport as examples of what helped Atlanta become a household name around the world.
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“Coca-Cola went everywhere, and that made us an international city. Then, on the other end, the airport put us in touch with people from all over the world,” he said.
Having spent two terms as the 55th Mayor of Atlanta, Young has seen the city grow a lot. He says his youth in segregated New Orleans helped prepare him for the diverse Atlanta that exists today.
“I loved being mayor. I almost think I was born to be mayor,” Young said. “I was trained in New Orleans. The neighborhood that I lived in had an Irish grocery store on one corner, an Italian bar on the next corner, the Nazi Party was on the third corner, and a Chevrolet dealership around the fourth corner. Now that was one view of the world.”
Young, pictured in the lifestyles section of the Sept. 15, 2001 issue of The Atlanta Voice. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Olympics Again?
One of the key moments that helped lead Atlanta to where it is today as one of the top states to do business, live, and work in the United States came when the city hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
“Of the 85 countries that had a vote, I knew I had some connection to 55 of them,” Young said. “I didn’t have to think twice about it. I said we can win it.”
When asked how such a lofty goal for Atlanta in 1990, a much different city in so many ways compared to today, seemed so possible to him, Young said he simply believed it was possible.
“Not for me. I didn’t think of it as lofty,” he said. “The only thing we didn’t want to do was leave the city in debt.”
The 1996 Summer Olympic Games cost $1.7 billion and was funded entirely by private investment. There was no financial assistance from the government, which made the Atlanta Games the first Olympic Games of its kind. And one of the most profitable to date. The Paris Games in 2024 cost $9.45 billion, in comparison.
“We didn’t use any city money, no state money, and no federal money,” Young said.
Asked if hosting the Games again would be a good idea, Young isn’t as gung-ho as he was when Billy Payne walked into his office some three-plus decades ago.
“We didn’t have the traffic problems in 1996 that we have now,” Young explained. “The way we dealt with the traffic back then was we took over the bus system, and you bought your ticket, and it had transportation on it.”
“We set up our own traffic system,” Young said about how MARTA buses were used as shuttles to and from Olympic venues around the city.
Young believes the reason he, Payne, and so many others were able to help bring the Summer Olympics to Atlanta was the power of ideas and where those ideas came from. Payne had watched the Olympics on television and thought, why not Atlanta?
“You don’t think about things like that unless you’ve also experienced the power of God in your life,” Young said.
During the interview, Young shared his own story about the Summer Olympics. Growing up in his native New Orleans, his father took him to a local movie theater where the pair sat in the segregated seating area and watched legendary sprinter Jesse Owens win four Olympic gold medals during the 1936 Berlin Games while Adolf Hitler watched.
Young said another Atlanta administration might do it again, but he doesn’t have the energy to participate in the planning process. He does believe Atlanta is more than capable of hosting the Games in the future.
“We could do it,” he said.
Asked if he would throw his support behind a second Olympic bid for his adopted home, Young said he would.
“I’d never be against anything that’s good for Atlanta. I’d always believe it can’t be too big or too good for us,” Young said. “We are a people that rise to the occasion.”
Photo by The Atlanta Voice
Live Long and Prosper
Young said that in order to live a long life, the secret was to “eat right, sleep right, exercise, and drink water.” And then he got serious.
“And I think there’s an element of faith and trust. It’s hard to live right if you’re not living for something that is right,” Young said.
He listed being able to contribute to one’s family and community as a reason to live a long time. Not material items.
“To say that I want to live to be 75 or 85 because it’s going to take me that long to afford a Cadillac isn’t a good reason,” Young said. “I want to be able to contribute to my family and my community and see that all of them have an opportunity to be the best that they can be.”
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