Letters to the Editor – 9/25/15

Clear Leo Frank

As one who has extensively studied about the Leo Frank case since I first learned about it in my U.S. history class at Miami-Dade College in 1972, I must say that I agree with your editorial that Leo Frank should receive final exoneration (“Our View: The Pardon,” Aug. 21).
I wrote an essay about the case a few years ago, “Why the Leo Frank Pardon Is Important,” available online through the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation at jashp1.wordpress.com/tag/leo-frank, explaining how the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles’ pardon of Frank opened his case to honest dialogue and discussion and led to author Steve Oney writing the best history ever about this tragic episode, “And the Dead Shall Rise.”

Though the pardon did not declare him innocent, it did say in effect that the state’s failure to protect Frank from the lynch mob (Oney exposed, named and shamed those responsible for this heinous crime) trumped the question of guilt or innocence. Despite its shortcomings, on balance the 1986 pardon of Frank was the right thing for the state of Georgia to do as a first significant step toward righting this wrong.
Now it is time, as you have so eloquently said, for the Georgia General Assembly and/or Gov. Nathan Deal to pass and sign a resolution exonerating Frank to carry him “past the innocence finish line.” After all, Georgia’s next-door neighbor, Alabama, did the same thing with the Scottsboro Boys in April 2013.

— Richard Mamches, Plantation, Fla.

Regarding the Iran Deal

Obama’s Folly
Chamberlain’s Peace
Munich, 1938
Israel Erased
AGAIN!

— Judith Stein Golick, Atlanta

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The Atlanta Jewish Times welcomes your opinions on our articles and other issues of interest to the Jewish community. Letters to the editor should be 400 or fewer words; proposed guest columns may be as long as 700 words. Email them to Editor Michael Jacobs at mjacobs@atljewishtimes.com. Include the town where you live and a phone for verification.