Posted by Kara Collett,
DOUGLASVILLE, GA -- The Seven Venue isn’t too far from Atlanta unless you were
driving in our recent ‘Snowjam'. It’s a space for punk, hardcore, and metal
shows. It attracts mostly teens and young adults. Many of the people who
regularly attend the Seven regard it
as a second home. It's a safe space where emerging and young adults can go and
just be themselves. Many of the regulars have been
out-cast in one way or another because of their beliefs, experiences, looks, or the type
of music they like. At Seven people are free to be who they are and
the result is a bond thick as blood. In fact, Tony Hart, the owner
of the Seven, sees the mission of the venue as providing a positive environment
for disenfranchised young people to enjoy themselves and form positive social
networks.
I know that these photographs do not look like a Hardcore show, but that's because this was an acoustic event. Anyway, not too long ago, Seven
became a target of imminent domain. For the past 20 years, the Georgia
Department of Transportation (DOT) has been planning to widen Fairburn Road and
create another Atlanta bypass. Seven is located in the direct path of this
State planning initiative. After a few unsuccessful attempts to persuade the
DOT, regular attenders and community residents took to grassroots action with a
petition to DOT. From this grassroots action, the DOT agreed to reevaluate.
Well, at least for a little while anyway. But I believe our temporary success of this fairly small grassroots campaign
shows that even those the government considers “unimportant” will be heard when
they band together. No one would have ever believed that a bunch of teens and
20-somethings could actually influence the local government and then get the attention
of the media through collective action.
While I believe this campaign has been important, I also believe that since we
got noticed this should encourage other young people to be active in their
local government as well. Please act collectively for positive causes and
believe your voices will be heard!
Kara Collett is a Sociology major at Georgia State
University. She can be contacted at xdictatorkarax@gmail.com
It's nice post, I think Many of the people who regularly attend the Seven regard it as a second home. It's a safe space where emerging and young adults can go and just be themselves. Many of the regulars have been out-cast in one way. I think if Young people come to join them self then the shape of a society different........... Wrist Watch Phone. I would like to say thanks for this post.
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