On March 10, 2022 — two days before his 90th birthday — Ambassador Andrew Young walked through downtown Atlanta one more time. Hundreds of residents, elected officials, and marching bands from Georgia State University, Berkmar High School, Drew Charter School, and Booker T. Washington High School joined him for a peace walk that began at Centennial Olympic Park and ended at Peace Park, where a statue of Young was unveiled.
The walk was the centerpiece of a four-day celebration honoring a man whose biography reads like a history of Atlanta's transformation from a segregated Southern city to an international capital. Young was a key lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, served three terms in the U.S. Congress, was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by President Jimmy Carter, and then came home to serve two terms as mayor of Atlanta from 1982 to 1990.
The Mayor Who Built Modern Atlanta
Young's mayoral tenure coincided with — and in many cases drove — the period of development that created the downtown Atlanta visible today. He was instrumental in bringing the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta, a bid that required convincing the International Olympic Committee that a mid-sized Southern city could host the world. The infrastructure built for those Games — Centennial Olympic Park, the athletic venues, the transportation improvements — became the foundation for the downtown tourism district that now draws millions of visitors annually.
Beyond the Olympics, Young's administration attracted international business investment, expanded the city's airport, and built relationships with African, Asian, and European trade partners that positioned Atlanta as a global city rather than a regional one. The phrase "the city too busy to hate" — coined during the civil rights era — became, under Young's leadership, a description of economic ambition as much as racial progress.
The Walk's Meaning
The route from Centennial Olympic Park to Peace Park traced a geography that Young had shaped. The park itself existed because of the Olympics he helped bring to Atlanta. The surrounding hotels, attractions, and convention facilities reflected the international business relationships he had cultivated. The marching bands represented the city's historically Black institutions — communities that Young had fought for long before he fought for development deals.
Attendees understood the weight of the moment. One participant compared Young's importance to "Martin Luther King...Nelson Mandela, in his importance to peace." A YMCA employee offered a simpler assessment: "That's the greatest sign of love and peace and kindness. I think that's his legacy."
Young, characteristically, used his birthday remarks to look forward rather than back, addressing geopolitical concerns and urging leadership toward peace — the same message he had carried from the civil rights movement to the United Nations to City Hall to a park named in his honor in the city he had spent a lifetime building.
Original reporting by Georgia Public Broadcasting, March 10, 2022.