Last week, Decaturish, the blog parked at decaturish.com, announced a new newsroom hire: Jim Bass, a recent University of Georgia graduate. He joined founder Dan Whisenhunt and assistant editor Zoe Seiler as the 10-year-old blog’s third full-time staff member. Decaturish takes its name from the suburban city where it was founded, Decatur.

Decatur is the seat of DeKalb County, Georgia, one of five counties that form the historic core of Atlanta’s sprawling metropolitan area. Atlanta itself has long been called a Black Mecca for its substantial Black population and African American institutions, from successful Black business empires to the arts and some of the nation’s most prestigious HBCUs. DeKalb County itself has a significant Black history and Black residents comprise 53% of the county’s current population.

Decatur’s city hall is about six miles east of downtown Atlanta’s Georgia state capitol. It’s a city with a tangled racist and exclusionary history that includes a school week designed to keep Jews from living inside the city limits, urban renewal, and aggressive gentrification that decimated a once prominent Black population and all of the city’s affordable housing.