A Son of the South and proud of it
Residents can preregister even if they do not yet qualify.
Iam a Son of the South and proud of it. Born here, raised here and, God willing, will be planted here. The South is and always will be my home.
Have we always been a perfect place? Far from it. The notion of separate-butequal was anything but in the South in which I was raised. Black people rode in the back of the bus and attended substandard schools. They couldn’t eat in our restaurants or attend our churches or shop in our stores. They were required to serve in the military but discouraged to the point of intimidation from registering to vote. Black people were accused of crimes they didn’t commit and too many lost their lives as a result. It was not our finest hour.
The civil rights movement of the ’60s changed the dynamics. It was a painful but necessary time. There is disagreement as to just how much things have changed but in my view they have and for the better. There are special interest groups on both sides of the racial divide who will disagree. That is understandable because it is in their political and financial interest to do so. They will never be satisfied.
I grew up thinking that bigotry existed only in the South until I ventured north and heard the locals disparaging Greeks, Italians, Poles, Jews, Irish Catholics and, yes, Blacks. I discovered that prejudice was not regional. Neither was hypocrisy.
I grieve that what has made being Southern so special has come under attack. It started with the “Fergit, Hell!” crowd glorifying a way of life that no longer exists and probably never did. Their Lost Cause was exemplified by supporters of the old Georgia state flag which resembled the Confederate battle flag; as ornery a bunch of people as I have ever dealt with and I have dealt with a bunch of ornery folks in my long career.
They threatened and bullied and postured but totally misread public support of their cause. The state flag was changed during the Perdue Administration with the overwhelming approval of Georgians.
Now they are reduced to watching the pendulum swing the other way and having to endure politically-correct zealots tearing down statues and trying to obliterate anything having to do with Southern history, without knowing what they are talking about.
The flaggers with their heads turned toward the past and a war long ago lost do not represent my South. Neither do the fanatics trying to rewrite the history of the region by destroying it. In some ways, their actions are eerily reminiscent of the Taliban’s efforts to wipe out Afghanistan’s history 20 years ago.
My South is gentle and polite. We grew up saying “Yes, ma’am” and “No ma’am” and “Thank you.” I still do. Friday night football was a social gathering. It still is. We went to church on Sunday and on Wednesday nights, too. Nobody locked their doors. Southern cooking was equal parts lard, salt and fried. We ate supper because dinner was at noon. And nobody in the South prepared a meal. It was fixed, as in, “Come on in the house and wash your hands. Momma is fixing supper.”
People laugh at how we talk. The laugh is on them. It is everybody else that talks funny. Yes, our speech pattern may be slow but as my daddy used to say, we think fast. In the South, we will tell you what we want you to know when we are ready for you to know it.
My daddy, the quintessential Southern philosopher, also used to say we wasted a lot of money painting lines down the middle of the highway because nobody goes north to live, they all come south. And stay.
If you want to see the real South, you will need to venture out from the killing fields of Atlanta and environs. That area is about as Southern as South Bronx and just about as hazardous. Head in any direction – north, south, east or west – and you will find a South of mountains and lakes, pecan and peach and apple orchards, rolling farmlands and pristine ocean beaches. It is a special place filled with God-fearing people who love their country, sweet tea and each another.
This is the South that I love. This is why I am proud to be a Son of the South. If you don’t agree that this is hallowed and holy soil, I can only say, “Bless your heart.” It is not a compliment.
Judges and court staff in Georgia will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines starting Wednesday amid a large boost in dose shipments from the federal government that kicked in this week.
The addition of Johnson & Johnson-brand vaccines has helped roughly double the weekly allocation sent to Georgia from 228,000 doses in recent weeks to 458,000 doses, Gov. Brian Kemp said at a news conference Tuesday.
Widening eligibility to judges and court staff comes as state officials eye opening up COVID-19 vaccines to all Georgians, potentially as soon as early next month.
“We are getting closer to that day,” Kemp said. “So I still feel very good about that timeline.
“As we get more vaccines, we’re going to open up this sucker to everybody.”
Georgians can pre-register for a vaccine appointment at myvaccinegeorgia. com even if they do not yet qualify under the governor’s eligibility criteria. They will be notified once they qualify and scheduled for an appointment.
Along with judges and court staff, Georgia’s vaccine eligibility list currently includes all residents ages 55 and older, health-care workers, nursing home residents and staff, first responders and people with physical, mental and behavioral health conditions.
State data shows roughly 2.7 million vaccines have been given in Georgia so far, though Kemp said that figure does not include about 250,000 doses that officials have identified as administered but that have not yet been reported by local providers.
Nearly 1 million of those vaccines have been given to Georgians ages 65 and older. About 70% of the state’s older and most vulnerable populations have received at least one dose, Kemp said.
With demand still sky-high for vaccines, Kemp said his office is warning many providers to stop withholding vaccines to make sure patients receive both doses and to administer them within 7 days – or face smaller allocations going forward as shipments to Georgia continue growing.
“To be clear: We are going to move these doses where the demand is,” Kemp said. “And we are going to ship these doses to where they’re being used most efficiently. That is my message today to providers.”
Demand has particularly fallen in rural South Georgia, possibly due to doubts over the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, the governor added. He urged everyone to
schedule appointments for the vaccine so that enough Georgians will have immunity to effectively halt the virus’s spread.
“Vaccination is our ticket back to normalcy,” Kemp said. “The more people who are vaccinated, the more lives are saved and the quicker we get back to our normal way of life.”
The boost in vaccine shipments also comes as Georgia prepares to open five new mass vaccination sites Wednesday in Savannah, Columbus, Waycross and Bartow and Washington counties. Those add to four other sites already open in metro Atlanta, Macon, Albany and Habersham County.
As more Georgians are
vaccinated, the number of people who are contracting COVID-19 and being hospitalized by the virus is continuing to decline after a sharp winter outbreak, said Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey.
“This is a good sign,” Toomey said on Tuesday. “We would like to keep it down and keep it declining in the weeks ahead, and everybody being vaccinated will help with that effort.”
More than 837,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia as of Tuesday afternoon, with roughly 199,000 more reported positive antigen tests indicating likely positive results. The virus has killed 15,928 Georgians.
Vaccination is our ticket back to normalcy.”
Gov. Brian Kemp