Last week, the AJC hosted a live chat in which we posed a question to readers that my colleague, Jay Bookman, had asked in a column: “Could what happened in Baltimore take place in Atlanta?” Today, an Atlantan who took part in that dialogue takes the issue a step further and challenges our community to host a conversation on racial matters in regard to contemporary inequities and past mistreatment. The other essay, by a self-described conservative, rounds out the discussion.

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Tamara Lamia puts her voting sticker after casting her ballot at the Israel Baptist Church in Kirkwood during the Georgia Public Service Commission’s special election at Ron Anderson Community Center in Cobb County on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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