Quality more important than diversity
In his recent opinion piece “Where’s the diversity in Ga.’s transit authority?” Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts expresses concern regarding the initial appointments to the newly created Georgia Transportation Efficiency Authority, asking, “No Black men? No Black women?”
Pitts says that he has “great respect for the individuals selected, as many have distinguished records of public service and professional achievement,” but because these appointees are the wrong color, he seems to advocate race-based appointments, arguing that the former “Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority … embraced the diversity that makes metro Atlanta strong,” and “that diversity strengthened the decision -making process…”
As Saporta Report founder Maria Saporta wrote in 2024, “…Georgia has a really good track record of creating regional transit agencies, but none of them have a good track record in actually building regional transit.”
Focusing on appointing the most qualified candidates to the newly created authority will yield better results for MARTA than appointing candidates based on skin color.
KELLY JAMES, ATLANTA
Racism is still rampant and thriving
James White’s recent guest opinion column — “Supreme Court ‘colorblind’ decisions preserve status quo and ignore the past” — prompted some discussion about whether we should continue laws protecting against racial bias 160 years after slavery and 60 years after the Civil Rights Act.
One need look no further than the recent gerrymandering reversal to see what will happen when such protections are withdrawn. States across the country couldn’t move fast enough to water down Black districts.
Racism is still rampant and thriving all these years later. Our current immigration policies reflect that. There’s a massive wealth gap, discriminatory hiring and advancement biases, pathetic health care and availability, growing education funding inequities, huge disparities in housing loans and rates ... and don’t get me started on policing. Black Americans are way disproportionately stopped, searched, arrested, incarcerated, and receive harsher sentences than white individuals convicted of the same offenses.
Imagine when more protection laws fall by the wayside. The scramble to take advantage will be as swift as the gerrymandering.
Those who claim “we no longer need these outdated laws” are usually white and have never experienced any of the frequent practices mentioned above.
As much as we hate to face it, we’ve still got a long way to go before equality “outdates” these laws.
TIM DORECE, MARIETTA
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