M. Alexis Scott
M. Alexis Scott is publisher of the Atlanta Daily World, a newspaper founded by her grandfather in 1928. She has responsibility for the overall editorial content and general management of the paper, which targets the African American community in metro Atlanta. In 1932, the Atlanta Daily World, founded by W.A. Scott, II, became the nation’s first black-owned daily newspaper in the 20th century. The paper publishes once a week now, can be accessed daily over the Internet at www.atlantadailyworld.com. The newspaper became a part of the Real Times Media family in March 2012, joining five other historic African American newspapers including the Chicago Defender, the Michigan Chronicle, The Michigan FrontPage, the New Pittsburgh Courier, and the Tri-State Defender in Memphis, Tenn. Ms.
Scott joined the Atlanta Daily World in 1997, following a 22-year career with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox Enterprises, Inc., where she worked her way up from reporter to vice president/community affairs at the Journal-Constitution and then director of diversity at Cox. In addition to her duties as publisher of the newspaper, Ms. Scott is a regularly featured commentator on “The Georgia Gang,” a week-in-review program on politics broadcast on FOX 5 in Atlanta. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Life Financial Group Ms. Scott is active in nonprofit organizations. She is a member of the boards of the High Museum of Art, the Historic South View Cemetery Preservation Foundation; the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and the board of the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta. She serves on the Global Advisory Board of the Center for Civil & Human Rights and the President’s Council of the Atlanta History Center.
Ms. Scott has received many awards and honors, including the inaugural Keystone Leadership Award from Build, Grow and Enjoy Radio in 2012; being inducted along with the rest of The Scott Family into the inaugural class of the Hall of Fame of the Atlanta Press Club in 2011; the 2011 Trailblazer Award from the Atlanta Hawks; 2010 Journalist of the Year Award from the Atlanta Regional Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; the 2010 Generational Torch Award from the Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce; 2009 Community Leader Award from the Alliance for Christian Media and the 2009 Pioneer Award from the Black Women Film Preservation Project. She was inducted into the 2007 Business Hall of Fame of the Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. She also received a 2007 Trailblazer Award In Honor of Coretta Scott King from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
A native of Atlanta, Ms. Scott is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, and attended Barnard College in New York City and Spelman College in Atlanta. She also attended the Columbia University School of Journalism as a summer participant in the 1974 Michelle Clark Fellowship Program. She is a 1992 graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute and a 1991 graduate of Leadership Atlanta. She has an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Argosy University. She has two sons. She and her family are members of First Congregational Church, U.C.C., where Ms Scott served as presiding officer from 1982-1992, was a member of the Sunday School staff for nearly 30 years and serves on the Board of Missions.
My Part of the World: The President is Back
While I'm not a particularly big fan of mano-a-mano fisticuffs, I'm happy to see that President Barack Obama held his own against the bully boss-from-hell Mitt Romney in the Tuesday night town-hall debate.
Obama did what he needed to do. He was totally engaged and reversed everyone's opinion that he had lost his mojo from the first debate. He confronted, interrupted and rebuffed Romney again and again. This time, Mr. CEO came face to face with the Commander-in-Chief in a not so friendly meeting.
As we head toward Nov. 6, with early voting already started here in Atlanta this week, the choice couldn't be clearer. Just look at the party platforms behind these two men. If there are any undecided voters still out there, you should just go ahead to the polls and vote for incumbent! Am I right?
My Part Of The World: Biden is no bully, but Ryan is scary
Okay, what we have here is a double standard for how to measure a bully. Most of the commentators are saying that Vice President Joe Biden was snarky and condescending toward his debate opponent Congressman Paul Ryan.
I felt the same way about Gov. Mitt Romney last week in the debate with President Barack Obama. But most of the pundits said he simply “dominated” and “took charge” of the debate. You decide this, but this is annoying style “malarkey” compared to Ryan’s frightening content.
The thing that took my breath away was the section on abortion rights. When moderator Martha Radditz, who was great by the way, asked them to talk about how their religion impacted their thinking about abortion rights, Ryan’s response was very scary to me.
Ryan said he would support Romney’s position on being okay with abortion only in the case of rape, incest or threat to life of the mother. Clearly a person’s right to an abortion is legal under current law. Nobody is “in favor” of abortion, as some weird form of birth control. But what is important to know is that some people are going to make a decision to get one. This has been the case for hundreds of years and will be the case going forward.
What is also clear is that many Republican-led state legislatures around the nation have been introducing bills to limit and/or interrupt efforts to get safe and legal abortions.
And Ryan continued this push during the debate when he said he didn’t think a panel of “unelected” judges should have the power to determine the legality of abortions and that the decision ought to be sent back to the states. What?!
That takes me back to the dark old days of racial segregation. Georgia almost voted to shut down the public schools in the state rather than desegregate them following the 1954
Brown desegregation case. This decision by the U.S. Supreme Court (that same unelected panel) ruled “separate but equal” unconstitutional.
We cannot go back to the dark days of back-alley abortions which threatened the health of and exploited mostly poor women.
People, you cannot put rights up for a vote, or as Vice President Biden would say: you cannot put rights up for a vote, “period.”
Tell me what you think.
Part of My World
Atlanta keeps making a positive difference in people’s lives here, around the country and around the world. Here’s just a sample of what happened over the weekend:
Kenny Leon scores again
Kenny Leon scores again with the airing of “Steel Magnolias,” a remake of the movie he directed featuring Queen Latifah and an all-star cast including Jill Scott, Phylicia Rashad and Afre Woodard.
Georgia-Pacific hosted a preview screening last Friday night that was a benefit for the True Colors Theater Company and Granny Nannies, a respite care organization for seniors.
Kenny led a discussion following the screening with some of the men cast members: Ofemo Omilami, Julius Irving (yes, Dr. J!) and Theatrical Outfit Artistic Director Tom Key.
Kenny said he pushed to do the Lifetime Channel movie in Atlanta because he knew the town, he knew we had the actors and he just got married in March and he wanted to be home. In response to a question, Dr. J said he’s been friends and golfing buddies with Kenny and he was able to make the transition to acting because “I’ve always been coachable.”
The classic line from the movie still rings true: “I’d rather have a few moments of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”
Jane Goodall’s cause expands
Jane Goodall, famous for her research on chimps and ages in Africa, continues to work to save the planet by focusing on three areas: people, animals and the environment. One of her latest efforts is called “Roots and Shoots.” It’s an educational program for young people that is located in more than 100 countries around the world. Its goal is to teach youth about taking care of the planet.
She was in Atlanta this past weekend raising awareness and funds for her organization at a reception hosted by Mary and Tim Mapes and Laura and Rutherford Seydel. After all these years and despite wars and economic woes, Goodall said she remains hopeful about the future.
There are three things that bring her hope, she said: youth, the human brain power and the resilience of nature and the human spirit. She nodded to Bernice King, who offered a blessing for the occasion, when she talked about “indomitable human spirit” of people like Martin Luther King Jr. Bernice’s father.
Joseph Lowery celebrates 91 years
The Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery celebrated his 91st birthday with family and friends over the weekend on the campus of Morehouse College. Among those making tributes were Morehouse President Robert Franklin, Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum, U.S. Rep. David Scott and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson. In addition his wife Evelyn and daughters Yvonne, Karen and Cheryl and their families were by his side.
True to form, Rev. Lowery thanked everyone for remembering him and announced his plan to launch a tour around the state to rally voters for the 2012 national election. He said he will participate in rallies in Macon, Savannah, Augusta and Albany to turn out the vote. Georgia lost the 2008 election to the GOP by 200,000 votes, he noted. “That’s 52-48 (percent). “This year, we can turn Georgia blue.”
Atlanta Chapter Black MBA Is a Winner
The Atlanta Chapter of the National Black MBA brought home three top prizes from the recent national convention. The Atlanta group is the largest and won Entrepreneur Channel, Entrepreneur of the Year (Atlanta Chapter member – Dan Jenkins – a Subway owner) and President of the Year for Charmaine Ward, director of community affairs for Georgia-Pacific. Congratulations!
