Letter to the Editor – Lora Arledge

Dear Editor,

First, thank you for publishing coverage of Georgia’s State Legislature. I must admit that I don’t always read the reports from the Dome, but what I read in the last few Journals will cause me to read future reports more carefully.

The story of the frog in the water that gradually warms up is most probably a myth and not fact; however, the idea behind that story can be applied to those of us who don’t pay much attention to politics and the laws that are passed “for the good of the people.”

When my husband and I moved to Perry in 1970, Georgia had finally been forced to comply with desegregation laws. The response from the white elites was to create private schools so that their children wouldn’t be forced to associate with brown kids. Now, Georgia is contemplating a private school voucher system, which, in my mind, is just another form of segregation and a way to prop up private schools in Georgia. If the Georgia legislature is concerned enough to create a financial pathway for students to seek “a better education in a private school,” why not invest that money in our public schools instead? Maybe then we could break out of the bottom 10 education systems in the U.S.

Speaking of education, while avoiding the word “book ban,” Senate Bill 390 would “prohibit city, county and regional libraries from using either tax dollars or private funds on any materials offered by the American Library Association.” If it passes and is signed into law, the bill would effectively be a book ban. If you google ALA, you’ll discover that it was established in 1853, when our country was just over 75 years old! What exactly prompted the writing of this bill? The ALA’s advocacy for diversity? Intellectual freedom? Equitable access to information? What? Could the senators who voted for this bill please give me examples of books or materials that “spread(s) misinformation, half-truths and outright lies,” as the bill sponsor claims? I sincerely hope this bill fails in the House.

Laws that would make it harder to vote, the practice of gerrymandering, false claims about voting integrity (it’s happened right here in Houston County), attempts to demonize our neighbor who might be different from us… all this and more can be likened to the frog in the water growing warmer and warmer. If we don’t pay attention, it might be too late to jump out.

Sincerely,

Lora Arledge

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