Editorial roundup: Views from around Georgia

Published 8:00 pm Sunday, June 27, 2021

Rome News-Tribune: A day to celebrate: Juneteenth National Independence Day

There have been many Juneteenth celebrations, but this one was a special one.

On June 18 we, as a nation, recognized in the Juneteenth National Independence Day how far our nation has come but also how far we still have to go.

While it was the intent of the United States government to abolish slavery at the end of the Civil War, it was more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that the voice of freedom could be heard in Galveston, Texas.

Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the U.S. Army not only announced that all Black Americans were no longer enslaved, but showed up with the troops to enforce that measure, illustrating the reluctance of people to give up their power over others, no matter how abhorrent that power is.

“This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor,” were the words Maj. Gen. Granger spoke on June 19, 1865.

What was a shining moment in our history also had a caveat, and has had one since.

“The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages,” the proclamation read. “They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

There is still inequality for some. There is still injustice for some.

We’ve made great strides toward the “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property” promised in that proclamation, but as the saying goes we take one step forward and then often two steps back.

In many ways we haven’t lived up to that promise.

But we’re getting there and there are glimmers of hope that if we as a country work hard enough, that goal is still attainable.

We saw our Congress, which can so rarely agree on anything through the haze of toxic partisanship, come together earlier this month.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday and the House nearly achieved the same.

When 14 Republicans voted against it, our fear was that our representative would be among them. We’re happy to report that wasn’t the case. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Greene represented her district and voted to push the bill further toward law.

For that, we’re thankful.

Juneteenth, signed by the president on Thursday, is the 11th national holiday recognized annually by the federal government.

Continued toxic political rhetoric in our state alongside those 14 nay votes in the House show why recognition is so important.

These objections mirror other rhetoric coming from our state leaders which outright deny the existence of systems put in place to deny Black Americans rights all people on our soil should have equal access to — liberty as well as housing, health and employment opportunities and the most basic tenet of our nation, justice.

It’s an ugly truth, but truth nonetheless, that this nation’s prosperity was founded on the backs of an enslaved population, especially in the South.

Ignoring or denying that fact doesn’t make it less true, and not being able to admit our previous and current faults doesn’t change them. The denial leads wounds to fester and grow.

It’s time to be open and honest and heal as a nation. We’re already too divided by extremist political factions tearing our country apart.

But it’s not over until it’s over.

We must live up to the promises encoded in our Constitution and take a hard look at ourselves in order to achieve equality for each and every American.

Brunswick News: Local, state leaders need to get a grip on crime

All eyes are upon the courts and state lawmakers as community after community witness lawlessness gone amok. Residential areas are being shot up like in the days of the Old West, and employees murdered in cold blood at the workplace.

No one can blame these atrocities on law enforcement. The men and women in blue are doing their job, and oftentimes with barebones support from the cities and counties they serve.

Judges handing out lenient sentences and district attorneys preferring the convenience of plea bargaining down charges over criminal trials are the problem. Joining them are state legislators who acknowledge allowing mentally ill persons with long criminal records to freely roam the streets is a problem but do nothing about it.

Just recently, two or more people drove through a public housing area in Savannah and indiscriminately fired into residences with guns. If killing people was their goal, they succeeded. Two persons died of gunshot wounds. Six other gunshot victims included a baby who was nicked in the ankle by a bullet.

In an incident in DeKalb County, a 41-year-old cashier confronted a customer who was not wearing a mask even though the store required it. The customer left, returned with a gun and shot the cashier dead.

Few should be surprised given the skyrocketing crime rate in Atlanta. Officials say it is 60% higher than it was this time last year.

Defeatists will argue that there’s no stopping this speeding downhill train. They may have a point if the leadership in Washington continues to open the nation’s borders to anyone who walks inside.

Barring that, there are policies and actions that can be taken and adopted that will yield results, policies like going back to “Three Strikes and You’re Out” — long-term imprisonment for career criminals. Policies that actually address those with mental illness would help. Anything would be better than throwing them back out on the streets with a bottle of pills.

Getting tougher on gangs is another must-do recourse. Innocent victims most always get caught in the middle of turf wars, which are becoming more frequent as gangs and their memberships increase in number. These people are enemies of society. It’s time to treat them as such.

And it goes without saying that the state needs judges who will hand out sentences that fit the crime and a stricter pardons and parole board that will at least require criminals to serve half of their sentence before cutting them loose.

Violent crime is up. It’s time to get a handle on it. Local and state leaders can and will, but only when the public demands it.