When a young 12-year-old boy, reportedly named Tyler, was ridiculed live on social media for being effeminate, Devin Barrington-Ward was one of the first community activists to reach out in support of the pre-teen. 

He reached out, he told The Reckoning, because there is a lack of safety nets available to young people like Tyler. 

“There are countless young people like Tyler who are Black and LGBT who need an advocate and someone to care.”

Barrington-Ward is one of a handful of LGBTQ+ individuals running for Atlanta City Council. He is looking to unseat the incumbent Councilmember Dustin Hillis for the District 9 seat. (Charles Stephens, founder and executive director of the Counter Narrative Project, which owns The Reckoning, has financially supported Barrington Ward’s campaign) 

Tyler lives in District 9, according to Barrington-Ward.

District 9 covers northwest Atlanta, which includes the neighborhoods of Grove Park, Bolton, and Underwood Hills. Bankhead is in the heart of the city and includes several communities that have been ignored and often forgotten by City Hall, according to Barrington-Ward.

He points out that in Bankhead alone, the average life expectancy is 68 years old, while in Buckhead that number increases to almost 90. Not only are people not living up to the fullness of their lives, but seeing people in the community dying at such a young age impacts the psyche of the community. 

“What are the differences? Why is it that one community is expected to live almost 30 years longer than another? It is because District 9 is plagued with a lack of viable and healthy food options, affordable housing, and some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the state of Georgia. And there is also environmental racism,” he said.

Barrington-Ward believes that when people don’t see others living longer, it sends a signal to others in the community. 

“They start to believe their lives aren't valued,” he said. “It shows up in the faces of the young people and breeds cynicism, jadedness, and hopelessness.”

When considering these issues and the challenges facing people of color living in District 9, Barrington-Ward said running was a no-brainer. 

Of the two candidates running, Barrington Ward probably has the most name recognition. He is no stranger to Atlanta politics or politics in general. The candidate brings a mix of political and advocacy experience to the council race.

Last year, he challenged Sen. Horacena Tate in District 38 but lost in the primary. Prior to that, he worked for Savannah Democrat Sen. Lester Jackson as chief of staff in 2012 and 2013. He has also worked in Washington, D.C. for City Councilmember Mary Cheh in 2013 as her communications director. 

Now, he is committed to saving District 9. 

Even though he was raised right outside of Atlanta in Stone Mountain, Barrington-Ward spent a great deal of his time in the city limits of Atlanta. 

“My daddy was trapping in Atlanta,” he said. 

His perception of law enforcement was influenced by an altercation he witnessed when he was five years old. He and his father were in South DeKalb Mall buying him glasses when five police officers brutally beat his father. He knew, he said, from a very young age that the police were not interested in protecting him. 

“When we are young, we participate in career days and see police officers who, at their core, are good people. But when you witness something like that, you learn quickly that the system is extremely flawed and that some of those good people have the ability to cause undue harm to others.”

The system, he said, can corrupt the genuine. 

“And in a city like Atlanta, there is an abundance of potential that you can see, but there are so many people in leadership that are committed to not allowing Atlanta to live up to its potential.”

Developing Innovative Strategies 

Barrington-Ward says his platform is expansive, but there are at least two issues he believes should be of concern to all Atlanta citizens: local taxes and public safety.

He lifts the city’s redevelopment of the gulch as one example where an unnecessary amount of tax breaks has been given without the city really getting anything in return. 

“So much money is given away through tax breaks to areas that are already extremely popular,” he said. “The gulch is being built on the backs of low-income people. Many of which who identify as Black, trans and queer, which leads to a lack of affordable housing.”

Without affordable housing, members of the Black trans and queer community are left to make life choices that are dangerous to their well-being and their health. Rather than giving away so many tax breaks, Barrington-Ward suggests using those revenues to finally create a robust LGBTQ+ center where Black trans and queers can benefit from mental health services, conflict transformation training, and the like. 

“That money can create tangible support for young people like Tyler. We have to think about these things.”

Public safety is another one of the important issues to his platform. It is integral because there are root causes that, if addressed, could fix some of the issues plaguing the city — like eradicating poverty. 

Atlanta, according to Barrington-Ward, has one of the highest rates of income desperation, which has been overlooked for generations. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated such issues. For example, school is where most kids get their meals during the day. The pandemic created the perfect storm where many of these kids’ backs were against the wall. 

“Now, what you end up with are Black trans and queer kids selling sex on the streets or sticking a gun in someone’s face at Lenox Mall. Or selling water on the side of the road. And the solution those in City Hall come up with is to increase the police budget to put more police on the streets?”

In the last five years, the Atlanta Police Department’s budget increased to a quarter of a billion dollars. However, fewer people feel safe. 

“We have to make decisions that will take us down an alternative path,” Barrington-Ward said. “In order to get to the root of the problem, we need to create ways for every young person to get a job in this city, paying at least $18 to $20 an hour with benefits.”

And with so much trash on the roads throughout the district and elderly community members in need of help with maintaining their property, Barrington-Ward believes recruiting and paying young people to help keep the neighborhood clean could also help curb some of the crime. 

“I am invested in developing strategies that are innovative, that look to the future and guarantee buy-in and create benefits to every person within District 9,” he said. “It’s time we stop looking to old strategies, old relics of the past.”