Readers write

Let’s keep political pendulum off the edges

The political pendulum swings from left to right and back again and again.

After President Joe Biden’s term ended, the pendulum swung to the extreme right, captured by MAGA Republicans. After this midterm election, the pendulum is swinging to the left.

For the good of the country, and therefore for the good of the Democrats, let’s hope the pendulum stops at center-left and is not captured by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America. If the DSA captures the pendulum, the next swing to the far-right might get it stuck there.

BOB BARTH, ATLANTA

Students learn Georgia history in real time

As an eighth grade Georgia Studies teacher for Fulton County Schools, I am always looking for ways to connect the history my students are learning with their present.

Recently, I projected the first paragraph of Ernie Suggs’ front-page story about Keisha Lance Bottoms on the classroom whiteboard for my students to read — byline included, of course. (“Keisha Lance Bottoms shatters racial and

glass ceilings,” Nov. 3).

“In 1860, an enslaved man named Sheppard Peek was listed among the possessions of William Peek, a white man in Crawfordville.

“His value was placed at $1,400.

“On another surviving document, Sheppard signed his name with an X.

“More than a century and a half later, Sheppard’s great-great-granddaughter, Keisha Lance Bottoms, was elected governor of Georgia.”

When they got to the fourth and final sentence of the e-paper front page, I watched their eyes widen, and their mouths drop in surprise. There were audible gasps. And then I told them that everything they are learning in that class explains how our state got from the first sentence of that short paragraph to the last.

Thank you, Mr. Suggs, for writing such a concise and impactful description of the Georgia story. And I suppose we should also thank Sheppard Peek and his great-great-granddaughter for living it.

MICHAEL DYE, ROSWELL

Georgia childcare program deserves full funding

Stephanie V. Blank’s Oct. 30 column, “Georgia voters want leaders to step up their game for our youngest children,” reminded me of something my mother said: She grew up when children were expected to be “seen and not heard.” I wonder how much of that attitude still shapes our priorities.

We call children our future and praise women for raising them, yet caregiving remains a private expense. Parents are expected to work, even when childcare makes employment financially impractical.

When I was married, we earned too much for childcare assistance, but care would have consumed nearly everything I could have earned. I cherished being home with my children, but that should be a choice, not a financial necessity.