Georgia on My Mind
An Introduction
People who organize within and on behalf of a community decide who belongs to legends.
So we’ll begin by honoring the generations of Indigenous Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw peoples, who cared for the ancestral territory in today’s Georgia. Over the course of 20 years in the 1800’s, they were forcibly removed from their traditional homelands by the US Government.
Fearing for their youth’s survival, the Cherokee Elders prayed for a sign to remind the women of their inherent strength. The Trail of Tears sowed evergreen blossoms along its painful path. In 1916, this flower was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly as a state emblem.
Rooted in Georgia, the Asian American Advocacy Fund is a grassroots social welfare organization dedicated to advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and all immigrant populations for a more progressive Georgia. Our movement is possible because of the leadership and hard-fought gains won by Black women. We are part of the growing multiracial coalition in Our Georgia: a majority that includes Black, Indigenous, Brown, immigrant, and LEP (limited English proficient) communities. Together, we are building long term power.
Another Georgia native, the Monarch butterfly, is uniquely adapted to migrate long distances. They flutter through Georgia in the Fall, pollinating the next generation of flowers, among them the Cherokee rose. Occasionally, in favorable conditions, the Cherokee rose makes its second bloom in the Fall.
Our long journey of organizing community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, had yielded historic results. Outsiders were surprised to see Georgia turn blue, but we who have been here all along see the present descendants of the Indigenous, immigrant, and enslaved peoples rising together to take ownership of what we built.
We reject limited narratives of our peoples that consign us to simply supporting a single Party; these projections harm, erase, and marginalize our possibilities. We’ve been here, we’ll stay here, and we’ll keep doing the work to nurture our communities. We do this so future generations inherit a rich and vibrant tapestry of our interwoven histories. In our struggles and joys, we write our own stories as seeds of inspiration for the long path ahead.
#GeorgiaOnMyMind gives voice to diverse perspectives, life experiences, and viewpoints. With a vision for a thriving future, we share this series to shift and shape public narratives about Georgians who organize for and with their communities. It is in our nature to survive, adapt, and take care of each other.
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