Congressional medal for Freedom Riders long overdue
We lost John Lewis, a fellow Georgian, in 2020. He was 21 when he was with the Freedom Riders. He later became a U.S. Congressman representing our state.
We lost Charles Person earlier this year, also a fellow Georgian. He was the youngest of the Freedom Riders at 18 and became a Marine serving his country that he loved that didn’t love him back quite so much.
That leaves Hank Thomas, another Georgian. He was born a sharecropper and became a multimillionaire. He was 19 at the time of the Freedom Rides.
The high school “Freedom Readers” in Greensboro, South Carolina, are reading Person’s book, “Buses Are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider,” and going after Congress, which refuses to communicate on HR 1247 and deliver the Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the Freedom Riders.
Systemic racism was dividing our country when the Freedom Riders rode 64 years ago. Politics is presently our divide in this country, and we must recognize that.
RANDALL HARMAN, GREENSBORO
Call it what you want. It’s still the ‘Guf’
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claims the bill that would officially rename the Gulf of Mexico is the “most important thing we can do this Congress.” That she says these things out loud indicates the level of disconnect she has for the things Americans are seriously concerned with. Her claim that it promotes patriotism is laughable.
In all my years, what we call the Gulf of Mexico has never driven my patriotism. The whole thing is just more of her embarrassing sucking up to Trump. The equivalent of her jumping up and down and squealing, “Look at me!” We need an adult Republican in the room to tell her to sit down.
If they wonder why we are so disenchanted, so cynical and so doubtful of their purpose, here it is. In the meantime, you can rename it every month, but I’ll keep going to the “Guf.”
PEGGY CORBETT, CANTON
Don’t keep us in the dark about weather damage
Unfortunately, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will stop compiling data on weather events causing more than $1 billion in damage. (“The U.S. retires database that tracks weather damage,” May 8).
The NOAA website says the change was made “… in alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates and staffing changes … .” In other words, the current administration doesn’t want us to have this information.
Let’s review what we’ll be missing when this report goes away. The average number of billion-dollar weather events increased from 3.3 per year during 1980-1989 to 23 per year during the last five years (all costs adjusted for inflation). The average cost per event increased from $22 billion during 1980-1989 to $149 billion in the last five years. A major cause of these increases is global warming because of carbon dioxide pollution.
Given these high costs, we literally cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand. Please urge Congress and the administration to reinstate this important weather event report.
JEROME TOKARS, ATLANTA
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