Charleston Currents #12.12 | Feb. 3, 2020
SAVING THE LIGHT. The good folks working to preserve the Morris Island Lighthouse held a 5K run and half marathon over the weekend to stir more interest in Save The Light. Current leaders are looking for the next generation to take over the preservation project. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month in Folly Beach. More info.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Charleston Animal Society celebrates 146 years
COMMENTARY, Brack: Let’s build hope by talking more about our differences
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
NEWS BRIEFS: Burgess withdraws; Gallery to close
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
CALENDAR: Old Slave Mart Museum open on Sundays in February
Charleston Animal Society celebrates 146 years
Blackbaud received Charleston Animal Society’s Community Ambassador Award at the Society’s 146th Annual Meeting. Blackbaud President & CEO Mike Gianoni and his wife Kathie are surrounded by Charleston Animal Society Board Members and staff (L-R) Patricia Henley, Joe Elmore, Laurel Greer, Carolyn Murray, and Hank Greer.
Staff reports | The Charleston Animal Society celebrated 146 years of preventing cruelty to animals on Jan. 26 at Blackbaud World Headquarters. Before hundreds of supporters, the Animal Society gave away two significant awards:
- The Community Ambassador Award went to Blackbaud, Inc.
- The Elizabeth Bradham Humanitarian Award went to Dr. Shirley McGreal, the founder of the International Primate Protection League (IPPL).
Brabham presents award to McGreal, right.
Blackbaud software is used by thousands of nonprofits around the globe. Blackbaud was honored by Charleston Animal Society for building a better community for all of us and showing compassion for animals through their actions.
Among its many supportive actions for animals, Blackbaud sponsored and helped build a fence for a family’s dogs on Edisto Island, through Charleston Animal Society’s Pets for Life Program last summer. Pets for Life is an outreach program in urban and rural areas of Charleston. More than a dozen volunteers from Blackbaud participated in the fence build. Also, the President and CEO of Blackbaud, Mike Gianoni, and his wife Kathie, starred in an advocacy video for Charleston Animal Society, promoting the adoption of Pit bulls, the most endangered breed of dogs in shelters across the country.
This year Charleston Animal Society also awarded its Elizabeth Bradham Humanitarian Award to Dr. Shirley McGreal, the founder of the International Primate Protection League (IPPL). Founded in 1973, IPPL opened its doors as the only Gibbon sanctuary in North America in Summerville, 40 miles west of Charleston.
These “smallest apes” are rescued from medical labs, zoos and other situations – and brought to safety at IPPL. There are currently 34 Gibbons living in safety and solitude on 40 acres, provided by Dr. McGreal. She has received several international honors for her work with Gibbons, including the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II.
“I’ve been to Buckingham Palace but being recognized in your own backyard is so special,” McGreal said about receiving the honor from Charleston Animal Society.
Let’s build hope by talking more about our differences
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said something a couple of weeks back that’s been circling through my brain:
“Look, I have this firm belief that if America hasn’t broken your heart, you don’t love her enough.”
My heart is breaking as our nation is being torn apart in ways never imagined by founding fathers and leaders of the country for 200 years.
My heart is breaking as too many Americans find it acceptable for a president to lie routinely, to threaten, to intimidate like a schoolyard bully.
Mh heart breaks as too many of America’s political leaders lack the courage to hold a president accountable for unconscionable, immoral behavior.
My heart breaks as so many continue to get left behind as the haves have more.
My heart breaks as fundamental American precepts of liberty, truth, justice and the common good are trampled upon with reckless abandon.
My heart breaks when today’s headlines, rallies and tweets often recall simmering hate, vitriol, fear, racism and hopelessness that marked the American South for generations.
If you read the memoir “Just Mercy” or watch the new movie with the same title, it’s not difficult to draw parallels between declining societal conditions now and what existed just three decades ago when Alabama attorney Bryan Stevenson started trying to free people on death row thought to have been illegally convicted.
Bryan Stevenson at TED2012: Full Spectrum, February 27 – March 2, 2012. Long Beach, CA. Photo: James Duncan Davidson
Stevenson, who leads the Equal Justice Institute, has concluded through the years that the poverty that so many Southerners find themselves unable to escape has an opposite But it’s not building wealth. Poverty’s opposite, he says, is justice.
“We’ve all been acculturated into accepting the inevitability of wrongful convictions, unfair sentences, racial bias, and racial disparities and discrimination against the poor,” he said in a December 2015 interview. “I think hopelessness is the enemy of justice. We have too many insiders who become hopeless about what they can do.”
It wasn’t too long ago that a relatively unknown U.S. senator from Illinois became president on a campaign fueled by hope, iconically depicted by Charleston-born artist Shepard Fairey. So if what’s going on across the country now is loss of hope, a loss of justice and truth and the American way, what can we do to recapture hope?
Perhaps we can take a page from a community photography project from Newnan, Ga., a town 40 miles southwest of Atlanta that has become far more diverse in the last two decades. Two years ago, a rally by white nationalists fizzled when organizers apparently didn’t realize the community had changed, according to a must-read Jan. 19 story in The New York Times. A year later, Newnan installed 17 banner-sized portraits of residents, from a jewel-wearing white doyenne and Baptist preacher to people of color and a pair of Muslim sisters.
To say that the exhibit sparked conversation appears to be an understatement. It forced Newnan to look at itself — something that every town in South Carolina should strive to do. The portraits in Newnan by photographer Mary Beth Meehan will come down in June, but continue to inspire, as related by a Presbyterian pastor: “The truth is, these conversations are hard and uncomfortable and awkward, but we need to lean into it. We need to talk about who lives in our community and if they are different, why does that make us uncomfortable?”
Amen. In times when armchair computer warriors spew venom online to divide America, we must invest in the hard work to talk more, not less. We need to watch and talk about movies like “Just Mercy” and engage in hundreds of conversations that highlight our common American values, not our differences.
Let’s not let the dividers win. Let’s rebuild hope in America so we can move forward.
- Andy Brack is the editor and publisher of Charleston Currents and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Charleston Currents to you at no cost. Today we shine our spotlight on Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, founded in 1676 by the Drayton family.
It has survived the centuries and witnessed the history of our nation unfold before it from the American Revolution through the Civil War and beyond. It is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry and the oldest public gardens in America, opening its doors to visitors in 1870. Open 365 days a year, Magnolia offers its visitors splendid tours of nature and history and the role African-Americans played in the development of its award-winning Romantic-style gardens.
- Visit www.magnoliaplantation.com to learn how you can experience a complete plantation experience.
- Click here to learn about events and what’s new.
Burgess withdraws. Tax woes have sunk the nomination of North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess to lead the S.C. Department of Public Safety. Burgess said Thursdaythat while his unpaid taxes were paid in full in 2018, the stress on his family has led him to withdraw. Read more.
Gallery to close. Downtown Charleston’s Martin Gallery will close Feb. 17 after two decades of serving the community. According to an email announcement, the gallery is offering special pricing on nearly all artworks in the gallery between 20 percent and 30 percent. “This is a unique opportunity to acquire a stunning artwork at an extraordinary price.” More info.
Senate panel gives favorable report to microplastics study. A bill that directs state agencies to conduct research on microplastic contamination in South Carolina will advance to the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee. On Thursday, a subcommittee unanimously gave a favorable report on the bill, S. 1023, which was reported as part of a green package by Camden Democratic Sen. Vincent Sheheen last week.
- Previous coverage: As municipalities balk at plastics industry, state agencies continues to woo.
Bill allowing beer sales curbside moves forward. A state Senate committee has sent a bill to the floor that would allow those using a grocery shopping service to pick up goods curbside to also buy wine and beer. But Columbia Democratic Sen. Dick Harpootlian says the bill as it stands would not be enforced and could encourage underage drinking. Read more.
Santee Cooper gets setback in fight to charge customers. A state judge has rejected state public utility Santee Cooper’s request to stop a case challenging its ability to charge customers billions more for an unfinished nuclear plant project. The trial date is set for April 20. Read more. In related news: While the S.C. Department of Administration declined to give Statehouse Report a timeline of when to expect its report on bids for the utility, some lawmakers say they are expecting the report next week.
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Old Slave Mart Museum open on Sundays in February
The Old Slave Mart, Charleston, S.C.
The Old Slave Mart Museum will be open 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays in February as a part of the celebration of Black History Monday.
“The Old Slave Mart Museum serves an important role in telling the full history of Charleston,” said director Ista Clarke said, “We are glad to open our doors every day this month to our visitors to help us share in remembering all that happened here.”
The only known building used as a slave auction gallery in South Carolina still in existence, the Old Slave Mart, located at 6 Chalmers Street, was once part of a complex of buildings known as Ryan’s Mart that occupied the land between Chalmers and Queen Streets. Owned and operated by the City of Charleston, the Old Slave Mart Museum recounts the story of Charleston’s role in the inter-state slave trade by focusing on the history of the building, site and the slave sales that occurred there. Admission to the museum is $8 for adults and $5 for seniors, students, teachers and military personnel.
Also on the calendar:
Jazz artist Abate to perform: 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows, Feb. 7-8, Forte Jazz Lounge, King St., Charleston. International recording artist, saxophonist and flutist Greg Abate will be appearing as the club’s first touring jazz star to play there in its six month history. Abate, whose recent album Gratitude recently reached the top 10 on the jazz charts, was cited by Down Beat magazine’s annual jazz poll as among the world’s top alto saxophonists. For more information and reservations call (843) 637-4931.
Good Catch Oysterfest: 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Feb. 21, S.C. Aquarium, Charleston. The aquarium’s Good Catch series opens with an oyster event with Folly River Shellfish as the purveyor for a range of culinary preparers. Tickets are $50 to $75. For more information on Good Catch Oysterfest and the aquarium’s entire After Hours series, visit scaquarium.org/afterhours
Charleston Museum’s roast: Noon to 3 p.m., Feb. 22, Dill Sanctuary, James Island. The Charleston Museum will host its annual oyster roast and allow guests to enjoy Dill Sanctuary. Tickets to this event are all inclusive and include two tours with Museum Archaeologists, oysters, BBQ, sides, live music with the Paul Quattlebaum Jazz Band and a cupcake and coffee or hot cocoa courtesy of The Holy City Cupcakes! And of course, one of the best Lowcountry views Charleston can offer.
ONGOING
Lights of Magnolia: 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., through March 15, 2020, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, West Ashley. Enjoy nine acres of Chinese lanterns, dragons and more at the venerable garden’s new evening attraction. The lantern festival includes custom-designed installations of large-scale thematically unified lanterns, a fusion of historic Chinese cultural symbols and images that represent the flora and fauna of Magnolia. Learn more online. Tickets are $11-$26. On-site parking is limited, but shuttles are available. For more information and frequently asked questions, click here.
Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw: 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel. You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session. Registration is not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders. More: http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.
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