World leaders must step up to fight ISIS
Once again we find ourselves in “times that try mens’ souls” to borrow a quote from Thomas Paine. Recently, the AJC reported on the front page that “Massacres attributed to the Islamic State have struck on four continents this year.”
On Oct. 23, 1983, the Beirut Barracks bombing took the lives of 299 American and French servicemen. This event may be marked as the opening round of the “Age of Terror.” The September 11 attack was a watershed event and a wakeup call. And here we are 15 years later with no strategic plan to eliminate this threat.
We desperately need world leadership to address the threat of the Islamic State and their affiliates. The United Nations, with the firm backing of the United States and other nations which have and are experiencing attacks, could and should lead the way.
DENNIS BALLOU, ATLANTA
The people deserve police policy reforms
What happens to grief when its presence becomes essentially constant? When one of its harbingers comes after the other without warning? Yet, when its coming does not cause surprise? It becomes rage. A justified rage stemmed in heartache and abuse.
The people of Atlanta have chosen to manifest their feelings by showing up in the thousands on the streets of the city in protest of the unjust criminal justice patterns experienced throughout the nation.
Atlanta has spoken. Now it is the authorities’ turn. They must do something other than make a statement. They must find where we can make policy reforms locally that can become exemplary for the nation. The people deserve that much.
We can rise above, or we can fall with the rest.
NAJIA HUMAYUN, ATLANTA
