Add the federal courthouse in downtown Atlanta to the list of places facing renewed scrutiny over their namesakes.
The Daily Report featured this piece by Matthew Dodge, an attorney at the Federal Defender Program, questioning why former Sen. Richard Russell deserves to be enshrined in the building's edifice.
For the sake of our citizens walking into a federal courthouse seeking justice, for the lawyers who work with them and for the countless public servants who work inside, we ought to pause a moment to consider what it means that Russell's name is emblazoned across the front facade. It is a confused, hostile message. As we turn our eyes to Charleston, the South Carolina Statehouse and the etchings on the flank of Stone Mountain, we are reminded again that symbols and words matter.
Racially-charged shootings have brought new attention on the names and images hanging on schools, diners, license plates and giant carvings scrawled in stone, to name a few.
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Gov. Nathan Deal gave his stamp of approval to Secretary of State Brian Kemp's decision to offer free credit monitoring for more than 6 million Georgia voters whose personal information may have been exposed after a massive data breach at the agency.
The governor, who was tight-lipped about Kemp's plans earlier this week, said Friday that he has gone "as far as you can reasonably expect him to go."
Added Deal:
"I don't know what else he can do. We don't know the full extent of the risks are. If all the disks have been recovered or accounted for, and there was no leaking of that information, that should be the end of the issue. And offering credit monitoring goes above and beyond that."
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Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has a new top aide.
Bo Butler was tapped to replace Ben Fry, the long-time Cagle deputy who left for a private sector role in November. Butler will oversee the lieutenant governor's office, act as his top adviser and spokesman to the media.
Butler was Rep. Tom Graves' legislative director and a former aide to Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
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The campus carry advocates in Georgia will have this example in their back pocket this year.
"Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here," Falwell told an estimated 10,000 of the campus community at convocation Friday in Lynchburg. While Falwell's call to arms was applauded, his remarks also seemed to target Muslims.
"I've always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in," Falwell said. The final words of his statement could not be clearly heard on a videotape of the remarks.
President Barack Obama's remarks Sunday night seemed aimed squarely at that type of rhetoric.
"We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "ISIL does not speak for Islam. They're thugs and killers. Part of a cult of death."
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