Teacher Corrects Trump’s Grammar… and Civics?

A retired Atlanta teacher recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing her concerns about school safety and gun violence.

The teacher, Yvonne Mason, received a response from the president that disappointed her, so she marked it up with grammar corrections and sent it back, sharing a copy in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.

While Ms. Mason’s expansive pen and highlighter corrections of our leader’s epistolary shortcomings elicited waves of hilarity or indignation, depending on one’s political sympathies, this story may interest Countable readers for a different reason: Ms. Mason told the New York Times that Trump’s response had failed to address the issues she had raised.

Civic engagement

The president listed various actions his administration was taking in the wake of the Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people, such as listening sessions and negotiations on a bill to fund school safety improvements.

Ms. Mason said the letter had no provisions related to guns, despite the fact that it indicated the president’s support for a bump stock ban and strengthened background checks.

Ms. Mason writes regular letters and postcards to the White House and members of Congress. Her civic engagement is uncommonly high. As a Countable reader, yours is too, regardless of your views on this particular exchange.

What do you think? What’s your experience?

Have you sent feedback to legislators? Have you received a response? Was it satisfying, or did it leave you feeling unheard? What do you expect of your legislators when it comes to citizen communications? Share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)