Descendants Proud of Anti-KKK Speech
Grandaddy Erwin’s [former Athens Mayor Andrew Cobb Erwin] speech at the 1924 Democratic Convention has always been a source of pride to the members of our family [Pub Notes, Aug. 21]. He spoke to a divisive issue in an eloquent manner to persuade, not denigrate, those with opposing views to use reasonable judgment and common sense about the matter. My first cousin, Milton Leathers, would have been thrilled that Erwin’s speech was now available to a new generation of folks who are intrigued by politics.
I believe Grandaddy Erwin and Cousin Milton would be extremely disappointed at the two candidates running for the highest office in the land. They would not believe this is the best America can do.
Andrew Neighbors
Athens
In Praise of Tim Walz
If you don’t know much about Tim Walz, go find out. Christians will quickly find someone to identify with. He’s “good people.”
He’s the kind of person who listened thoughtfully to Minnesotans and passed the kind of populist laws any sensible individual would want in their own state. He’s as American as apple pie, camouflage caps and Carhartt clothing. His Midwestern values and rural bona fides speak to a man comfortable in his own skin and one willing to give the citizens of his state laws that make their lives safer and better. Teacher, football coach, hunter, National Guard officer, U.S. representative and unassuming Governor.
His views are our views, if we all dig deep inside and admit to them. Former felons get to vote once their debt to society is over. Free breakfast and lunch for all school children so families can thrive, no matter the size. Codifying a woman’s right to choose. Tampons in school bathrooms; if you’ve ever needed one, you know what this means for a teen’s self-esteem. Sensible gun laws that keep people safe that the majority of Americans repeatedly ask for and don’t get from the right.
Some will try to paint him as a liberal. By deed and word, he consistently shows he’s in touch with everyday Americans. His character is above reproach, and his strong set of moral values is so appealing in comparison to that of Donald Trump. Tim Walz will be an excellent vice president.
Angela Greene
Winterville
Every Vote Counts
Reports from ethics watchdog groups have called attention to state election officials who have refused to certify elections. Since 2020, we’ve seen a right-wing Republican infiltration of local election offices and even some state elections boards, which is the MAGA Republican plan to walk off with this year’s election.
Our state is a notorious case in point. Georgia rises to the top of the cesspool with its five-member state election board packed with an election denier majority and only one Democratic member.
In August, the Georgia state board enacted a rule requiring local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into voting issues before certifying the election. That vague rule is a green light to stall certification while fishing for any excuse to vote against it. The new rule makes certification mandatory before the election results are verified by the secretary of state’s office. These actions were described as a “mess” by Georgia GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
As if to test the plan, eight local election-denying county officials have refused to certify recent local elections. Their attempt was unsuccessful, but in three counties, including Fulton County, the non-certifiers needed to flip only one vote. With the new rules passed by the State Election Board, the MAGA members could obstruct the process, cause turmoil among voters and subvert the legitimacy of the election. Certification delayed is certification denied. What a mess indeed!
An overwhelming Harris/Walz victory at the polls in November would fortify right-minded state attorneys general, secretaries of state, governors and even courts, to dispense quickly with election denialists’ refusal to certify local results. Efforts to vote and get out the vote need to be redoubled to potentially build a landslide national vote.
More than ever, every vote counts.
Robert B. Covi
Bogart
Trump’s Agenda Threatens Education
As my kids pulled out backpacks and returned to school this month, I was again reminded of the value of public schools in Athens and in our nation. The long, hot days of summer can feel isolating. Going back to school is always a chance to reconnect with the community through common purpose: our kids’ future.
Connecting feels more important than ever given our current political context. Donald Trump is running on a platform to shutter the Department of Education and “send it back to the states.” The DOE is the only federal agency that ensures every student’s right to an education.
Moreover, the policy proposals of Project 2025 recommend redirecting taxpayer dollars away from public schools to fund vouchers for private and religious schools, defunding Head Start and Title I (including the $14.2 billion in federal money earmarked for special education), censoring anti-racist curricula and eliminating free lunch programs.
As a Title I district, Clarke County has much to lose to this extreme agenda. Project 2025 proposes divesting from the Title I program that provides states supplemental funding to meet the needs of low-income students. States currently depend on that already underfunded program to recruit and retain teachers in low-income schools.
Our country’s founding fathers did not invent democracy, but they did envision a public system of education that would sustain it. They recognized that for democracy to work, citizens would need to understand political and social issues to vote, protect their rights and resist tyrants and demagogues.
Soon after the American Revolution, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and others proposed a unified system of public schools. The federal government invested in that lofty initiative through land grants. The process was slow and uneven, but the idea and then the reality of a public school system for the common good took hold.
Segregation compromised that idea. Schools provided unequal access for girls, children with disabilities and non-white children. Beginning in the 1870s, Southern state governments passed Jim Crow laws to codify segregation. It took decades of federal action for our country to achieve universal access to public education.
Today about 82% of students in the U.S. are enrolled in public schools. The focus of ensuring access has shifted to providing a high-quality education for all students. We are nowhere near this goal, but the project continues. It’s exciting and patriotic to be a part of it.
But rather than building on this all-American achievement, Trump and his allies seek to defund, deregulate and dismantle a foundational pillar of our democracy. Thanks to our schools and our teachers, we know better than to let that happen.
Ramsey Nix
Athens
Trump’s Ridiculous Mailer
As a self-described amateur historian, I have become more well-versed than is perhaps psychologically healthy in the ways to run a negative campaign. Recently, I have begun receiving in my mailbox fliers from the Georgia Republican Party that contain an insult so juvenile, a schoolyard-level taunt so sadly befitting the depths to which the modern Republican Party has sunk (and so in-line with the narcissistic comment of the former President that “I’m a better-looking person than Kamala”) that were it not so sad, I would laugh. I will, however, laugh bemusedly at the ineptitude of its execution.
The supposed policy statements of both candidates are the source of enough ridicule for their inaccuracy and misinterpretation alone. It is the photographs of each candidate that drew my eye, however, and my head-shaking ire. Trump’s photograph is photoshopped to make him look as young (and as orange) as possible. Vice President Harris’ photograph, however, has wrinkles attached to her cheeks and chin, smoker’s lines around her mouth, and a neck beset by the turkey-wattles well-known to be on her opponent’s. (It is also in black and white, presumably because whoever created the flier knew deep down they were so incompetent at photoshopping an image they had to stay away from a color print.)
This is the level at which the opposition operates. I am looking forward to their being consigned to the back pages of history’s ledger this November.
Iain S. Walsh
Athens
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
The celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month has arrived in the United States. From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month will celebrate Latin culture, also known as Latinx or Latiné… huh?
“Hispanic” was the first way to refer to the Spanish-speaking population that is not native to the United States or Canada, but that lives on the American continents. However, other communities that do not speak Spanish were technically outside of this group. To integrate them, the term Latin came up, thus including people from Brazil and Haiti.
However, indigenous communities and the third root were left out; the third root is African culture, without it there would be no salsa, cumbia or son jarocho. By the way, the majority of inhabitants of the Latin American continent are mixed; the indigenous and African heritages are vast and robust, despite the extermination they have faced for many centuries.
Nowadays in Latin America, the term Latiné is more accepted. Its pronunciation is simpler in Spanish, and it was created by Spanish speakers, unlike the term Latinx, which is a term born from the English language. Latino, Latina and Hispano are the popular terms within the community. Latinx and Latiné are used in academic circles and by a smaller population in the Latiné community.
We do not need special occasions to practice our culture. At every quinceañera and every wedding, we celebrate our music and our food. We do not need permission to dance salsa, corrido or cumbia. Latinos do not need permission to wear sombreros and huaraches all year round, and thus preserve the traditions and culture that was inherited to us.
Unfortunately, many people think that somehow this harms their own culture and tell us that, in America, we speak English when they hear us speak Spanish in public. Even though the United States is one of the countries with the largest Spanish-speaking population on the planet, even though half of the United States territory once belonged to Mexico, some Americans continue to believe that there is no place for Spanish speakers in the U.S., and they think that we do not have the right to celebrate our culture.
Despite the rejection of our culture, the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month is approaching. People all over the country will have the opportunity to enjoy colorful dances, music and food that reflects the Latiné diaspora and makes America beautiful again.
Beto Mendoza
Elberton
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