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Credit: pskinner@ajc.com

Credit: pskinner@ajc.com

No pardons for Jan. 6 insurrectionists

The current discussions on pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists by Ron DeSantis are completely off the rails.

These people caused the deaths of innocent people and destroyed people’s lives. Let us not forget that these people assaulted federal police officers, destroyed federal property, broke into offices, smeared feces on walls, chanted death threats regarding the vice president and sent elected members of Congress running for their lives. These people need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Investigations need to yield the ringleaders and, if appropriate, Trump must also be held to account.

Pardons and amnesty? I think we all know that if these individuals were members of minority groups, the response of law enforcement would have probably been much more aggressive on Jan. 6. A terrorist group is a terrorist group, even if it is a white, right-wing organization. The law is the law.

To the right-wing politicians, I say stop courting these folks and stand up for law and order and decency.

BOB LOWTHER, DALLAS

When meaning nonwhite, diversity is divisive word

Authors Nina L. Gilbert and David A. Thomas, “Diversity doesn’t divide us. Ignorance does,” (Insights, May 25) claim, “To eliminate the words ‘diverse’ and ‘diversity’ from programs that prepare educators is to reject and ignore the lived experiences and identities of the approximately 1 million students of color who attend Georgia’s public schools.”

They don’t say how. But implied is the two words apply only to people of color.

By the op-ed authors’ usage of “diverse” and “diversity,” they portray what the problem is. The words no longer mean their traditional dictionary definitions. To the authors, both words mean nonwhite. And in that usage, the words have become divisive.

Another example: “Morehouse College ... is an institution that is inherently ‘diverse’ as it was born ... to educate ... formerly enslaved men.” Morehouse is “the only institution on the planet solely dedicated to educating Black men.” So, this bastion of diversity is diverse because it has few white students?

GREGORY MARSHALL, MARIETTA