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opinion
Thursday, July 1, 2021 • Page 4A
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Letter to The Editor:
Don’t Turn Students,
Teachers Into Pawns
To the Editor:
On June 3, the Geor
gia Board of Education
held an “emergency”
meeting to pass a res
olution based on model
language circulated by a
national right-wing or
ganization. This is part of
an orchestrated cam
paign to create a moral
panic akin to McCarthy’s
Red Scare regarding Crit
ical Race Theory.
The only “emergency”
was a political one, with
the GOP convention due
to begin hours after the
resolution was passed.
This push to inculcate
fear by alleging threats to
“our communities, our
families, and our faith”
has real and dangerous
implications. Beyond
splintering our com
munities, restrictions on
classroom discussions are
damaging and back
wards.
The state resolution, if
enacted into enforceable
regulations, would
change the way history,
government, social
studies, and civics are
taught in public schools. I
question whether AP
classes in these topics can
even be offered, when the
state mandates a single,
narrow lens through
which they must be dis
cussed - a lens belied by
both history and the lived
experience of generations
of Georgians.
This new resolution is
woefully ambiguous. Are
teachers forbidden from
discussing the Tulsa mas
sacre, the Atlanta race
riots, or any of the dozens
of other organized attacks
against black com
munities in the early 20th
century during the insti
tution of Jim Crow laws?
Can classes discuss racial
disparities in health out
comes, such as the fact
that black women are
three to four times more
likely to die in childbirth-
related causes in Geor
gia? What about the
lingering effects of red
lining on intergenera-
tional wealth?
These are all well-doc
umented facts, the foun
dations of which lay in
the uncomfortable truths
of our history - but our
teachers may now be re
luctant to discuss them
for fear of crossing some
inchoate Rubicon.
These guidelines muz
zle our teachers and un
derestimate our children.
I trust our teachers to
teach Georgia standards
and provide our students
with varied viewpoints,
giving a comprehensive
perspective of our past in
order to understand our
present and improve our
future.
I trust our students to
be respectful as they dis
cern, interpret, contex
tualize, and discuss both
history and current
events, and to engage
critically and understand
the complexities of our
past.
I do not trust a culture
war driven by national
political operatives, ma
nipulating local com
munities, threatening our
public education system,
and turning our teachers
and students into pawns.
Chris Benton
No time like the present to
dust off the ol’ Declaration of
Independence and brush up on
its purpose and meaning.
The Declaration of Inde
pendence was, and still is
today, a beacon of hope. It
should stand as a foundation
for all Americans to come to
gether and realize that we are
one. We’ve fought and cele
brated together since before its
inception. We’ve made mis
takes together, we have some
Debbie McClain
Publisher
Lordy, Lordy...
May God
Bless America
very dark days behind us, but I
believe there is light at the end
of the tunnel.
If you would like to read the
Declaration of Independence in
its entirety, go to archives.gov.
To me, the first two para
graphs of the declaration,
alone, should inspire Ameri
cans to love our country and re
member that America is and
always will be the greatest
country on earth:
“When, in the course of
human events, it becomes nec
essary for one people to dis
solve the political bonds which
have connected them with
another, and to assume among
the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of
nature's God entitle them, a de
cent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are en
dowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, gov
ernments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the gov
erned. That whenever any form
of government becomes de
structive to these ends, it is the
right of the people to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its founda
tion on such principles and or
ganizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem
most likely to affect their safety
and happiness. Prudence, in
deed, will dictate that govern
ments long established should
not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accord
ingly, all experience hath
shown that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils
are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accus
tomed. But when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursu
ing invariably the same object
evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government, and
to provide new guards for their
future security. —"
Now more than ever, we
need to come together for the
good of our nation and fight
against the evils that are invad
ing our rights. We need to open
our hearts and throw out our
personal agendas. We need to
have some tough conversations.
No one has more rights than
another and we should all re
spect that. Big government isn’t
the answer, never has been.
Happy Independence Day.
Be safe, have fun, and God bless
America.
Now that we are seeing clearly
what happens when you elect
people that hate our country, I feel
it necessary to explain why I write
what I write.
It's really pretty simple. In my
small way, it is my intention to
continue to point out how and
why we find ourselves in the posi
tion of watching our country being
intentionally destroyed. And for
those that disagree with my eval
uation, sorry, but I do not care.
Anyone that doesn't see it is either
too ignorant or a supporter of it.
In either case, I do not care what
they think about what I say.
Those that attack and threaten
to destroy my/our country, I view
the same way I would view anyone
that attacks and threatens my
family, and they will have a fight
on their hands and it will get
nasty.
The same with friends, neigh
bors, community that come under
Alan Landers
A Reminder
attack from these radical extrem
ists that are being given free reign
across the land. So while I may re
peat myself, for my part, I intend
to point it out and remind, at every
opportunity, what these radicals
are doing and how they corruptly
got in a position to do it.
Who is it that wants illegal vot
ing and thinks that showing an ID
is beyond the ability of blacks and
other voters, though 80 percent of
ALL Americans back voter ID?
Well Democrats, that's who.
And to prove it, the radical So
cialist Biden administration is
sending down Kristen Clarke, the
racist “Black Supremacist" assis
tant attorney general that is in
charge of Biden's DOJ lawsuit
against Georgia's new voter ID
law.
Clarke has advocated theories
of black racial superiority and
anti-Semitism as a student at Har
vard. While a Harvard undergrad,
Clarke argued in the student
newspaper that blacks had greater
“mental, physical, and spiritual
abilities.” These are the guiding
principles of the racist that is sup
posed to tell Georgians and the
rest of the country how racist it is
to show an ID when voting.
She is also an advocate/activist
that believes race should be THE
number one consideration when
hiring. This extends to airline pi
lots, doctors, etc. where she be
lieves skill is secondary to skin
color.
Who is it that wants anyone
and everyone to be able to enter
the U.S. illegally and have allowed
nearly 200,000 illegals to do so in
May alone... nearly a million so far
this year? Who is it that thinks en
ticing tens of thousands unaccom
panied minors/teenagers, young
women to travel hundreds/thou-
sands of hellish miles being
threatened, raped, assaulted,
abused by narco-terrorist drug
dealers, child molesters, and who
knows what other kind of pervert
is compassionate? Democrats,
that’s who.
Who is it that thinks justice is
mobs of violent thugs burning
down cities/minority com
munities, looting liquor stores,
B. Waine
Kong, Ph.D., JD
Waine’s World:
An Annual Show of
Public Comity: A City
Committed to Equal Worth
and Dignity for All
On Jan. 9, 1865, the 13th
amendment of the United States
Constitution was passed at the
end of Civil War before the
southern states had been re
stored to the Union and easily
passed the Congress in January
1861. It became the law of the
land in 1865 but many of the
slave owners in Georgia and
Texas were confused or willfully
ignorant about the law and ille
gally kept their slaves in bondage
for several additional months in
Georgia and Texas.
After General Lee surren
dered on April 9,1865, followed
by the assassination of President
Lincoln on April 14, President
Andrew Johnson dispatched
Major General James H. Wilson
to march through Alabama and
Georgia to enforce the mandate.
His troops crossed the Double
Bridges in Sprewell Bluff Park in
the western part of Upson
County with little resistance,
moving through Upson County
destroying the agriculture, mills,
and railroads April 19-20, 1865.
The slave owners finally abided
by the military orders to free all
slaves in Georgia on May 29,
1865. William Guilford, a free
slave, organized a grand celebra
tion in Thomaston that very day.
Word did not get to Texas
until Major General Gordon
Granger, on the morning of June
19, 1865, arrived in Galveston
and ordered freedom for all
slaves. On June 19,1866, almost
a year and a half after the law
took effect, ex-slaves in Texas or
ganized the first of what became
the annual celebration of "Jubi
lee Day" or “Juneteenth.”
These two generals had fi
nally enforced the 13th amend
ment in the last holdouts. The
celebration organized by Wil
liam Guilford has endured for
156 years in Thomaston. Each
year, former residents of Upson
County return for several days of
celebration with a parade and
with the support of all segments
of the community with speeches
and activities designed to bring
our community together. Thom
aston should be so proud of this
history.
With too percent support of
the senate and 99 percent (415-
14) support of the House of Rep
resentatives, President Joe
Biden signed the bill to recognize
stealing TVs and assaulting for
months? You're right again. Dem
ocrats.
Who is it that is teaching chil
dren, employees, and soldiers that
it is ok to shame and hate people
because of the color of their skin
by indoctrinating them with a vile
and racist philosophy called Criti
cal Race Theory? Democrats,
that's who.
Defunding the police, attack
ing the police and allowing 90 per
cent of the rioters in major cities
go free and Democrats can’t figure
out why crime rates across the
country are soaring. Biden/Dem-
ocrats’ solution? Taking away Sec
ond Amendment rights of
law-abiding citizens to protect and
defend themselves and their fam
ilies. How do you sleep?
After a police-involved shoot
ing in Portland, Oregon, cops tried
to dispel “erroneous information"
being circulated on social media
claiming the deceased was a
“black or brown person” to pre
vent rioting. So police officials an
nounced, “We can confirm that
the subject killed is an adult
WHITE male,” the department
stressed... Nothing to see hear
folks, move along, it was just a
white guy that was killed... move
June 19 each year as a national
holiday. The bill's bipartisan
sponsors included Democrat
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of
Texas, Republican Sen. John
Cornyn of Texas, and Democrat
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachu
setts. Officially, it is “a holiday
celebrated on June 19 to com
memorate the emancipation of
enslaved people in the US. The
holiday was first celebrated in
Texas, where on that date in
1865, in the aftermath of the
Civil War, enslaved people were
declared free under the terms of
the 1862 Emancipation Procla
mation.”
While we may all want to be
first and the best and to lead the
parade, it is so much more im
portant to give in to our higher
calling to be first in service and
brotherly love. Social justice is
the foundation of our country
and how people around the
world characterize the United
States of America. So, let us join
with once voice and sing:
along now.
From the lips of the gas bag
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Mark Milley, “On the issue
of Critical Race Theory, etc., a lot
of us have to get much smarter on
whatever the theory is. But I think
it's important for those of us in
uniform to be open-minded and
be widely read,” Milley said. “I
want to understand white rage,
and I'm white.”
Mark, do you mean the white
rage that has burned, looted,
rioted, and assaulted for months?
You might want to have your eyes
checked if you’re looking for
“rage” ‘cause it ain’t white. What a
buffoon.
“I personally find it offensive
that we are accusing the United
States military generals of being
‘woke,’ or something else, because
we’re studying some theories that
are out there,” Milley added. “I've
read Karl Marx, I've read Lenin,
that doesn't make me a Com
munist.”
So you say, Mark. Do you
teach Marx Lenin as legitimate?
Well Critical Race Theory is being
taught as legitimate. You should
be fired immediately. You are dis
missed!
“Lift every voice and sing
’Til earth and heaven ring;
Ring with the harmony
of Liberty,
Let our rejoicing rise high
as the listening skies.
Let it resound loud
as the rolling sea;
Sing a song full of the faith that
our dark past has taught us.
Sing a songfidl of the hope that
the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun
of a new day begun,
Let us march on
'til victory is won!”
-(James Weldon Johnson)
Most of the information in
this column was provided by
historian Rev. James McGill,
whose book, “The First One
Hundred Years of Upson County
Negro History” (2017), is a reli
able source of information about
the history of Upson County.