The ‘Lag Effect’ In 2018, voters elected Gwinnett’s first board member of color, Everton “EJ” Blair, a graduate of Shiloh High School. Then, in November 2020, two women of color were elected to the board: Dr. Tarece Johnson and Karen Watkins. Now the board has three members of color and two white board members. The demographic shift has led to some tense board meetings recently. “Racial change in the suburbs is accelerating, but suburban districts are going through stuff that in central cities happened decades ago,” said Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University in New York.