AJC Opinions

06/30/2025

It’s been a while since AJC Opinions has posted here, but we are back with a new opinion editor, David Plazas, to share a variety of compelling perspectives throughout the week and to invite your thoughts. He started in May and previously served for a decade as opinion editor at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee. He comes to ATL with great curiosity, a desire to build relationships, and to encourage more robust civil and civic dialogue. (His first column is in the comments).

What are the issues that concern you today in your community, state and nation. Add to the conversation. Comment here, send letters to [email protected] and guest opinion columns to [email protected], or contact Plazas at [email protected].

04/12/2024

For the first time, a U.S. court has held parents criminally liable for a school shooting by their child. A judge this week sentenced James and Jennifer Crumbley of Michigan to 10 to 15 years in prison for their failure to keep guns out of the hands of their clearly disturbed 15-year-old who used his early Christmas present, a semiautomatic gun, to kill four classmates and injure others at his high school. In 80% of school shootings, the perpetrators got their guns from family, mostly parents and grandparents.

Prison sentences for the father and mother of a high school shooter in Michigan who killed four classmates should be a wake-up call for parents and politicians.

02/23/2024

An executive coach says the Fani Willis case has many lessons for women leaders.
Chitra Ragavan writes:
"The microscope you will be under as a woman is infinitely more powerful and subjective than your male counterparts."

An executive coach says the Fani Willis courtroom drama points to the pressure and microscope under which female leaders work, magnifying any of their missteps.

02/23/2024

In a guest column, Treva Gear, a Georgia environmentalist, warns: "Our trees are being turned into tiny pellets, shipped to Europe and Asia, and burned to make electricity in a process that emits more carbon than burning coal does."

The Biden/Harris administration’s latest efforts to protect forests focus on preserving old growth trees on public land. That sounds pretty good – unless you live in the South.

02/23/2024

An Atlanta attorney who believes her own use of hair relaxers since childhood damaged her health writes about safety concerns.

As a young girl, attorney Danielle Ward Mason used hair relaxers, which she now believes caused serious health problems for her and many other Black women. She is representing some of those women in a class-action lawsuit.

02/23/2024

In a guest column, Steve Suitts, author of the new book, “A War of Sections: How Deep South Political Suppression Shaped Voting Rights in America," looks at the effort in Georgia to supress the Black vote.
Suitts writes:
"Now, after Georgia recently elected with huge Black support its first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate, the Republican legislature enacted a new Republican-dominated state elections board for the expressed purpose of fighting against voter fraud. It also passed new restrictions on voting and polling places while making it easier for anyone to challenge thousands of persons’ right to vote.
Old ways die hard."

A historian warns the growing impact of Black voters in Georgia has made the Republican leadership worried and led to efforts to make it easier to challenge their ballots.

02/23/2024

A historian praises the courage and integrity of America's reluctant first president, who rejected calls that he seize control and install himself as a dictator.

George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was urged to declare himself king or dictator and essentially become the law in America but he refused, saying the new nation could only flourish under the rule of law.

02/23/2024

Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler comes out swinging in this rebuke of Fulton DA Fani Willis and what Loeffler deems the abuse of the courts by Democrats.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler says Fulton DA Fani Willis should be removed from the Trump case by the judge and from office by the voters.

02/23/2024

A veteran prosecutor says there is no legal rationale to disqualify Fulton DA Fani Willis based on Georgia law.
Suzanne W. Ockleberry writes:
"Otherwise, the standard for prosecutors becomes that salacious allegations merit a public hearing on whether a district attorney should be disqualified: our criminal system will halt as ingenious defendants and their attorneys will use this an avenue to have the prosecution delayed and derailed and the bar to disqualify a prosecutor would become lower that what the law allows."

A veteran prosecutor says there is no legal rationale to disqualify Fulton DA Fani Willis based on Georgia law.

01/31/2024

The what is changing. The why is as simple as ever.

01/30/2024

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01/29/2024

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