Tragic setback in social progress

Well, it finally happened. One lone black soldier took matters in his own hands, expressing years of frustration. He was wrong, very wrong. He obviously did not think dialogue was enough, and was getting us nowhere.

The media have been filled with extensive commentaries and analyses trying to understand what happened. It’s obvious that “we have had enough” prevails. Of course, change in attitudes has been the main recommendation coming forth from both whites and blacks. How is this done? How do we feel about and treat those who are different

from us?

We are enjoined to love our neighbors as ourselves. Is this possible? True

love is an emotional response. As I see it, the best we can do is treat our neighbors as we would have them treat us, fairly, justly with respect. Afterall we are all of the same species, the human species, constructed of the same material.

I am a nonagenarian and have lived in the South my entire life, and have witnessed brutal discrimination and deep-seated racial prejudice. These feelings are deeply imbedded on both sides of the racial divide and cannot disappear overnight.

I do think in my long life that there has been some progress made toward attitude change, but there is a long way to go.

I wrote about this several years back and I still think that complete acceptance of each other, if it is at all possible, will only take place in another one or two generations when little black and white kids grow up together in the same neighborhoods , same schools. and workplacec. In the meantime, we can all work at it.

‘Opportunity’ for whom?

The public has been sadly misled by Governor Deal’s so-called “Opportunity School District,” as it will be designated on the November ballot. It will be an opportunity all right – an opportunity for profit-driven charter schools to move in and make a killing at the expense of public education.

Far from promoting school performance, this bill doesn’t include word one about methods of advancing achievement. It is actually a school takeover plan, engineered to increase profits for out-of-state charter school corporations which feed on the carcasses of underfunded public schools, employing underpaid teachers, struggling under impossible conditions.

Georgia has over 140 “chronically failing” public schools, about 60 of which are in Atlanta. Years of cuts by our Republican-controlled legislature have programmed our schools to fail; from 2010-2014 Georgia’s education budget was slashed by $1 billion annually by legislators who didn’t value the significance of education to our state’s economic life. Not too many years ago, Georgia had an enviable record of test scores and graduation rates, but now we dawdle below even our bottom-grazing neighbor states.

We already have the Office of School Improvement, a successful agency working with failing schools. Over the past three years it has reclaimed 198 of the 233 schools with which it has worked. Deal’s “fix” embodies eliminating local control over failing schools, while deputizing a state-appointed overlord who would hire and fire teachers, assign resources and set curriculum, without any public oversight or accountability.

A better proposal would be to bolster all schools by providing necessary resources: qualified teachers, smaller classes, effective afterschool programs and pre-K education, and by encouraging art and music, which are proven strengtheners of critical thinking skills.

What’s their stand?

There is a clear distinction between the two candidates In the Third District Republican primary congressional race on at least one crisis-level matter that bears close examination: the crime of illegal immigration.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Georgia ranks number seven in its population of illegal aliens, with more “victims of borders” than Arizona. Which also points out that we have a high number of illegal employers.

Readers in the Third district are woefully wrong if they think this does not affect them. We need a strong, fearless, pro-enforcement Georgia congressman to fight the powerful, corporate-funded anti-borders lobby and to stand up for Americans, legal immigrants and the rule of law in the Peach State.

Readers can access the candidate’s responses to immigration questions by accessing the NumbersUSA.com website and clicking on “Congress,” then “candidate comparisons,” and then Georgia in the national map provided, then clicking on the Third District.

With its damage to the rule of law and its debilitating monetary costs to our education, health care, law enforcement and wages, illegal immigration should never be ignored or regarded as an issue that is somehow separate from any other.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Tragic setback in social progress."