READERS WRITE: MAR. 10

Only real collusion’s with Democrats, mainstream media

No evidence has come forward proving Trump colluded with the Russians and affected the outcome of the 2016 elections. Democrats, with support from the mainstream media, continue to perpetuate a story that has little if any credibility. Why? The answer is simple. Democrats, with help from the news media, are “colluding” to discredit by any means possible and in a concerted effort to throw Trump out of office. What will become of this nation when a supposedly fair and unbiased news media so blatantly show their readers that they are in lockstep with the Democratic Party agenda?

TOM GAMBESKI, CANTON

Regarding “Kemp urges strict Ga. law on abortion” (News, March 1), why are men the ones making laws about (and writing about) abortion? Women know the effects of a pregnancy on their lives and their bodies, and think beyond the pregnancy to their lives with a baby. All this proposed law does is force childbearing on women who can’t afford to miss two days of work or two trips to a clinic. Women make these decisions based on information no one else, least of all a man, will ever have. Women must be responsible for their own decisions, and if laws are involved, they should be made by a collection of women who’ve been poor, whose birth control has failed, who know they can’t prove they were raped even if they were – these voices are missing from the debate and decisions around abortion. We need to trust women to make their own best decisions and stay out of it.

PATRICIA YEARGIN, LILBURN

Chosen news photo shows anti-Trump bias

As a longtime reader, I applaud the AJC’s efforts to provide balance in its articles and those it prints from other news outlets like the Associated Press. But the AP photo that accompanied the story about the president’s meeting with Kim Jong Un (“Sanctions issue sinks Trump-Kim talks,” News, March 1) was obviously selected to paint a negative impression of Mr. Trump. In it, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is prominently displayed looking at the president and apparently wiping his brow. There is no doubt this image is intended to indicate Mr. Pompeo is dismayed at what Mr. Trump is saying. In other words, Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The AJC would do well to carefully select images to accompany its stories that aren’t slanted. Your readers deserve better.

FRANK MANFRE, SUGAR HILL

AJC does impressive work on racial issues

I am a lifelong reader of the AJC and am impressed with the manner in which your publication covers both local and national race-based violence and racist messages from local business and education leaders. As a mental health counselor, I am proud to say our profession is finally treating racism as exactly what it is – trauma. People of color can present post traumatic stress symptoms following overt racism, such as racially motivated violence. The counseling professional is also recognizing the way more covert and subtle forms of racism – known as micro aggressions – can lead to trauma responses. Micro aggressions can refer to racist jokes or comments such as asking to touch a person of color’s hair. As a Caucasian counselor, I work toward moving the profession beyond the simplistic stance of “I don’t see color” or “I’m color blind.” These statements disregard the ways people do in fact have differing experiences in school, professional and social settings based on skin color.

ALEXANDRA PAJAK, SANDY SPRINGS