Georgia, Jurors, and the Old Ball and Chain

[bondwooley]

It must be getting hard to find jurors in DeKalb County, Georgia.

To make it easier, the county put its juror questionnaire form online and made it all fancy, with pull-down and drop-down menus and auto-fills. Pretty savvy.

But when one citizen got to the "list your occupation" section of the online juror form and started to type "sales" she got quite a surprise: the autofill displayed SLAVE.

Now, we know it's a little hard for some southerners to embrace the way the Civil War ended, or at least stop buying images of the Confederate Flag. But this is a little extreme. Was it a mistake? Does it reflect a new acceptance among criminals regarding who can be considered a "peer" and qualified to sit on their jury? Or does Georgia have plans to bring back the institution -- and this was the equivalent of running it up the Confederate flagpole to test public reaction?

The county took "slave" out of the autofill database when complaints came in. But perhaps they should have left it. With Walmart employees being forced to work on cherished holidays and needing food drives to feed themselves, with McDonald's telling employees how to live on less rather than pay them more money, and with the 1% becoming today's landholders and eligible voters, maybe the institution really has started a comeback of sorts. And maybe DeKalb County was the first to call a fig a fig and a trough a trough.

[dawg]

1. I promise you, that if Georgia were planning to bring back slavery ...

we sure as hell would not start in DeKalb County. Decatur is one of the nicest places in the state, and is reliably blue.

Be nice to DeKalb County. Out of all the counties in the country, it is the county most likely to save you from the zombie apocalypse.

[bondwooley]

3. Good to know.

Take it you're familiar with the area.

[dawg]

5. I don't live there, but I visit fairly often.

It's one of the little "islands" of blue that are sprinkled throughout the red sea that is the south. It's home to lots of progressive minded people, a really good university, and most of this:

[bondwooley]

6. Sad, then, that

someone entering a database made them endure this kind of press. Explains why they didn't leave it up there for a while.

[dawg]

7. President Obama got 77.9% of the DeKalb vote in 2012.

There are entire states that had fewer Obama voters in the last election than DeKalb County alone. Which makes sense, because it's fairly liberal and has more people than Wyoming.

[CurtEastPoint]

8. And don't forget Emory U, Law and Med Schools are in DeKalb/Decatur

[CurtEastPoint]

9. And my favorite place ever...the DeKalb Farmer's Market!

HUGE, busy, crowded, everything possible to buy to eat, cook, drink, etc.

[dawg]

10. I need to check that out. I love going to the Buford Hwy farmers market.

Unfortunately, instead of getting lots of fresh, healthy ingredients, I'm mostly going for the Japanese candy and wasabi peas.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. You know, I've kinda fallen in love w/BHFM, too. LOTS of ...interesting... foods (?)

[CatWoman]

16. WHATEVER you do

say away from the Dekalb market near major holidays (Tgiving, Xmas, etc.)

I went there the day before Tgiving and almost went nuts!!

People everywhere, no parking.

Ugh!!

[CurtEastPoint]

28. Oh, I know. However, I went the day AFTER TG and it was GREAT!

[CatWoman]

22. wasabi peas are da bomb!!

[CatWoman]

15. I live in DeKalb

and I happen to work there

[dawg]

17. But Walking Dead fans probably think you work here ...

[CatWoman]

21. don't watch Walking Dead

what is that???

[dawg]

24. That's the Cobb Energy Center. It played the role of the CDC in the television ...

series.

[giftedgirl77]

2. Some stupid fuckhead thought they were being

cute when they made the questionnaire. Stupidity & ignorance at it's finest.

[bondwooley]

4. Well, the stupid fuckhead

might have been making a political statement.

[giftedgirl77]

12. It's GA, kind of thought that went without saying.

[cordelia]

19. Pretty ignorant comment.

[giftedgirl77]

20. Deal with it. I live here & deal with these

ignorant fucks day in day out.

[cordelia]

23. I'm sorry - it's an excruciatingly ignorant statement.

You calling me an "ignorant fuck"? There are a LOT of progressives living in GA, especially DeKalb County. Like me.

I repeat: EXCRUCIATINGLY ignorant statement.

[giftedgirl77]

25. Once again you are entitled to your opinion

just as I'm entitled to mine. Obviously there are some extremely ignorant fucks there if they felt putting slave on a juror questionaire was acceptable. I did not say every single person fell into that category, however, if you are feeling so offended maybe the damn shoe fits.

[fayhunter]

13. Have to agree with the poster ...

... slavery is making a comeback only now it's called "surviving on a minimum wage with no resources for education."

Wish we could all borrow money from Mitt Romney's father.

[BainsBane]

14. This image was actually a British depiction of a more "humane" and "efficient" way to pack

a slave ship. It did not depict how many ships actually were over packed. Many, perhaps most, slavers thought they would yield better profits by packing a ship to the gills and simply throwing people overboard as they died or got too weak. When people show this image, they think they are pointing to the horror of slavery when in reality common practice was far worse.

[fayhunter]

18. That is very disturbing.

The image is so iconic I personally always thought it was a good depiction of condition - and it was bad enough.

[scrubthedata]

26. Whether or not

it was a political statement, it wasn't appropriate. The scar of slavery affects each and every one of us every day in direct and indirect ways.

[fayhunter]

27. It never went away. n/t