CIVIL RIGHTS
Time heals wounds,
even racial animosity
Everybody loves a good story — especially one with an upbeat ending.
Bo Emerson’s account of the reunion between a civil rights activist and filmmaker and a former klansman was a spirit-lifter for me (“The Filmmaker,” Living, Feb. 3).
For Saltzman, the activist, to be willing to talk again with Beckwith, the klansman who once attacked him, showed strength of character. People like him always make me feel better about the human race.
For Beckwith to show at least some change in his own character also gave me hope. Even if he wasn’t telling the truth about having supported blacks for political office, we can see that he is willing to show more respect for blacks than he ever did in the past.
Like any other species, humans apparently evolve, too, a little bit at a time. That ‘s good.
MARGARET CURTIS, ATLANTA
NATIONAL DEBT
GOP should stand
firm on budget crisis
For decades, politicians have bought their re-elections by borrowing money from future generations.
The cumulative effect has been to so cripple the economy that it will no longer respond to the usual remedy of more borrowing and more spending. The economy is too broken for that, and now cries out for a systemic fix — rather than another bandage.
Yet, the human tendency is to delay pain at all costs. Politically, this manifests itself in impossible promises, more debt and delaying the day of reckoning.
Apparently, the Democrats have no fear of economic collapse. Hopefully, the Republicans will dig in their heels. Better a double-dip recession now than irreversible catastrophe a few years down the road. There are some things more important than winning the next election.
JOHN COWAN, CARTERSVILLE
STUDENT SAFETY
In dangerous world,
‘gun-free’ is senseless
I find myself puzzled by the logic of the “gun-free zone.” Here is an area set up to be “safe” from guns. I do admit that some locations have a vested interest in keeping guns out (the occasion of visiting days at prisons comes to mind).
Think, for example, if armored cars advertised they were a “gun-free zone.” Does that make sense? Telling the bad guys that there are no weapons in a certain area would seem to me to be a magnet for those intent on criminal behavior.
As we recently saw in Newtown, there are those who would prey on the innocent and the defenseless. Our most sacred duty is to provide our children with all they need to become adults. Ban the so-called “gun-free zones,” and let us protect our children.
JAMES VAN VALKENBURG, SNELLVILLE
CONGRESS
Voter is fed up with
both political parties
A few years ago, I was proud of the fact that I’d shaken the hands of Senators Isakson and Chambliss, but given their recent votes in the Senate (regarding sending F-16 fighters to Egypt’s new dictator, in particular), I’m now sickened to say that they represent my state.
Redistricting has also given me a Democratic representative — so now, I truly have no one in Washington with my core values.
LAURA KENT, LOGANVILLE
