The American South Has a Soul. Start Listening.
“The American South has a soul, and you feel it the moment you arrive.” Anthony Bourdain captured what many of us who live and work here understand viscerally: the South isn’t just a region; it’s a relationship between place, people, and memory. That’s why, when I woke this morning at 5 a.m. courtesy of my son’s enthusiastic sleep regression, I found myself catching the local news. The lead story? Neighbors across the South showing up to tell a proposed data center, politely but firmly: not here.
They cited cancer fears, water concerns, and rising living costs. And while some of these worries stem from misinformation or outdated assumptions, the emotional undercurrent is real: people feel scared of rapid change and unheard by the institutions shaping it.
The tension is growing and it’s bigger than one project
Across Georgia and the broader Southeast, data centers have become flashpoints. Counties have debated moratoriums, public meetings have been packed, and national reporting has spotlighted regional anxiety around water usage, grid strain, and quality of life impacts. The reality is that data centers can consume meaningful amounts of electricity and, depending on design, water. Communities deserve clarity not technical jargon, vague promises, or eleventh-hour presentations.
But here’s the crucial nuance we cannot overlook: these facilities are essential to the modern economy. And not just for cloud storage but for AI, security, logistics, telemedicine, precision agriculture, education, small business operations, and nearly every public service that relies on data. Georgia’s tech ecosystem, job growth, and competitiveness depend on them. When done well, data centers bring high-paying jobs, long-term tax revenue, power-grid investment, and community benefits that last decades.
The South needs these facilities. But the South also needs to be treated with respect.
Why the South reacts differently
There’s a reason that tension feels heavier here. You can’t separate today’s infrastructure debates from yesterday’s history.
1. A legacy of distrust, particularly in Black and brown communities
Atlanta’s Black and brown neighborhoods carry a deep legacy of environmental injustice and broken promises. Redlining, highway construction that split communities, industrial facilities sited overwhelmingly in minority neighborhoods. These patterns weren’t accidents. They created generational skepticism toward large-scale projects, especially those backed by out-of-state companies.
When a data center comes in with little community engagement, even a fundamentally safe, non-polluting facility can trigger old wounds. The question residents are asking isn’t just “will this project be okay?” but “will this be another situation where we absorb the downsides and others reap the benefits?”
2. The affordability crisis amplifies every concern
Inflation, housing costs, utility bills, insurance. Everything is up. Some families in metro Atlanta feel like they are one stressor away from falling behind. When a community member hears that a data center might increase water demand or power load, even inaccurately, it lands differently when budgets are already tight.
Fear takes root easily in soil that’s already stressed.
3. The South values relationship over transaction
In much of the country, developers can hold a few town halls, submit their paperwork, and build. But in the South, trust is built in person.
Church basements. Rec centers. Schools. Rotary meetings. Front porches. Conversations that start slow and end with a handshake.
Communities here want to understand not only the what but the why. They want to see the people behind a proposal. In many ways, the South’s insistence on relationship-building is its greatest strength, and companies that ignore it will always struggle.
Data centers are not the enemy, but the rollout has gone wrong
Let’s be clear: When properly designed, data centers are among the cleanest land uses a community can host. They require far fewer daily visitors than warehouses or factories, produce minimal traffic, and increasingly run on low-water or waterless cooling technologies.
The problem isn’t the technology.
It’s the approach.
Too often, developers arrive with polished slide decks but no local relationships. They emphasize tax revenue but skip over lived experience. They treat community engagement as a procedural requirement rather than a cultural expectation.
And yet, the data center companies that do invest early in listening, transparency, and partnership consistently succeed and are welcomed.
How data centers can earn trust… and keep it
Here’s what works in the South:
1. Start engagement early — months before filings
Show up before the rumor mill starts. Sit down with neighborhood leaders, school boards, faith leaders, environmental groups, workforce organizations, and local business owners.
2. Speak plainly and directly
Don’t bury people in acronyms. Explain what a data center is and isn’t. Explain water use with comparative benchmarks (e.g., “This facility uses less water per acre than a typical grocery store”), and explain the steps taken to minimize load on local systems.
3. Commit to engineering that reflects community priorities
If the area is water-stressed, use low- or no-water cooling.
If the grid is strained, co-invest in substation upgrades or clean energy solutions.
If traffic is a concern, show how few daily trips a data center actually generates.
4. Share the benefits clearly and tangibly
Spell out how tax revenue supports schools, public safety, and infrastructure.
Provide training pipelines for local residents.
Invest in STEM programs in historically marginalized districts.
Make community benefit agreements enforceable and transparent.
5. Honor the region’s history and lived reality
Acknowledge past harm, even if your company did not cause it.
Build trust through consistency, not just promises.
Show up when there isn’t a vote on the line.
The South has a soul, which means it has a voice
The South is not rejecting progress. It’s demanding partnership.
Data centers are vital to the modern economy, and Georgia is poised to lead in this industry. But leadership requires humility. Companies must roll up their sleeves, meet people where they are, listen before lecturing, and build as neighbors, not occupiers.
Bourdain was right: the South has a soul — warm, proud, complicated, and deeply rooted. Any company that respects that will find not resistance, but welcome.
I’ve built a Community Engagement Checklist for data center developers working in the American South you can download below.