(This was originally posted on my Facebook based on this article.)
Georgia is where a large part of my youth was spent. Growing up there gave me the chance to make friends with an incredibly diverse group of people.
My friends included not only other goofy white kids like me, but blacks, Asians and folk from all over the world. First and second generation immigrants.
And they were all welcome in our house. My parents, Richard and Deborah Bauldree Thomas, taught me to accept those different from me. They taught me that to look down on, or to fear, based on skin color or place of origin was the height of ignorance.
This message was further taught to me by my grandparents, especially on my mother’s side who lived closer to us. My grandmother, Nana, was a preacher’s daughter and my grandfather, Poppie, is the son of Alabama sharecroppers and moonshiners.
Discriminating against others due to there race, ethnicity, or religion is deeply against the values my family instilled in me. And despite its dark past, I want to believe it is against the fundamental character of politeness, acceptance, and hospitality that the South values.
To pervert a law targeting a hate group, a boil on the soul of the South that is the KKK, to target Muslim women is a gross perversion.
The South is a beautiful land and in modern day one of the more integrated areas in the United States. We cannot allow our state to again be part of government sponsored discrimination.
But more importantly, we owe it to our Muslim co-workers, neighbors, friends and family. We owe it to them to speak out against this bill. We must use our voices to protect them against hate and ignorance.
We must speak out against this. We must write, and more importantly call, our local and state representatives and tell them we cannot condone such foolishness.
Deadly Troubadour 