Your 1.13.21 Playpen

After what’s been a disturbing week of news for anyone who cares about this country, I (and a couple of readers who sent me suggestions via email) could use a little positivity, and this op-ed from Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who in 1961, along with Hamilton Holmes, were the first African-Americans to attend the University of Georgia is something of a salve in that regard.  It’s a good reminder that, while there are significant bumps along the way, we Americans do eventually grow and strive to make things better.

The trick is not to become so discouraged we give up on that.

We have many challenges ahead. There are times when, watching the news, I am brought to tears, not least when I see some of those I still think of as my fellow citizens, nevertheless exhibit awful behavior toward others who don’t look like them — the latest in the despicable behavior at the Capitol.

It is in these moments that I wonder: Why have they not learned from history? Is it because not all of our history is being taught in many schools around the country? And why is there no embrace of respecting differences of opinion?

As we make sense of these questions, history will continue to echo itself. As Georgia elected its first Black senator, Raphael Warnock, I thought back to Henry McNeal Turner, my high school’s namesake, and other Black officials freely elected to office during the brief period of Reconstruction over 150 years ago.

And so as I reflect on the 60th anniversary of my university’s desegregation — as a Black person and a woman, as a wife and mother, as a sister, aunt and citizen — remaining true to my calling as a journalist, I leave you with the question: What can we all do to keep working toward a more perfect union? Go Dogs!

Have at it in the comments.