Charleston Currents #13.46 | Oct. 4, 2021
SPREADING THE MESSAGE. More than 600 people marched Saturday in Charleston’s streets to support reproductive freedom. Read more and see more photos below in today’s Focus. See something you think our readers would enjoy? Snap a shot and send it along. Photos by Andy Brack.
FOCUS: Hundreds march to support reproductive freedom
COMMENTARY, Brack: Celebrating Jimmy Carter’s life of service
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: SCIWAY
NEWS BRIEFS: MOJA Arts Festival continues this week
FEEDBACK: Lejeune poisoning caused injury, pain, suffering
MYSTERY PHOTO: This one should be easy
CALENDAR: Latin American Festival is Oct. 10 in North Charleston
Hundreds march to support reproductive freedom
By Andy Brack | More than 600 people, many of them shouting “My body, my choice,” marched midday Saturday from Charleston City Hall to the U.S. Custom House to support reproductive rights.
Across the state, hundreds more were expected at similar rallies in Columbia, Greenville and Myrtle Beach to send a strong message against a restrictive abortion measure, known as the “fetal heartbeat” law, that state legislators passed in February.
Organizer Erica Cokley, left, rallies the marchers at the U.S. Custom House.
“The marches this weekend continue to highlight the still heinous attitudes toward women in South Carolina,” said Charleston women’s right’s advocate Jennet Robinson Alterman “Consider that women did not serve on juries until 1969. We have among the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the U.S.
“Women’s reproductive rights are practically nonexistent. Women are still paid significantly less than men to name just a few of the reasons we march and march and march.”
Spurred on by restrictive anti-abortion legislation passed in Texas, South Carolina and other states, marchers also rallied in Augusta, Savannah and Charlotte and in scores of Women’s March events across the nation.
Supporters of reproductive health care are rallying to show our support for the right to legal abortion, said Molly Rivera, communications director for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “We also know that a right without access isn’t a right in practice.
“Decades of attacks on reproductive rights and health care by state legislators have already made abortion inaccessible for many people in South Carolina. And these same lawmakers have long made clear their intention to continue to pass as many laws as possible to stigmatize abortion and restrict access to care, if not block it entirely.”
On Saturday, women’s rights advocates gathered at 11 a.m. in Washington Square next to Charleston City Hall for pep talks and prayer, which was led by the Rev. Thomas Dixon of North Charleston. They left around 11:30 a.m. and walked along Meeting Street bearing placards and wearing lots of white clothing. It took about eight minutes for the line to turn the corner from Meeting Street to Market Street as participants headed to the Custom House.
At the Custom House, organizer Erica Cokley of Charleston shouted messages of support for reproductive freedom as the crowd, comprised mostly of women, made noise with call-and-response shouts.
Earlier last week, Cokley, a member of Charleston County School Board, said the march was a national call to action after passage of the Texas law that bans almost all abortions.
“We want to continue to send a unified message that we stand in solidarity … amplifying the voices of the marginalized and standing together for all women’s rights,” specifically standing with women of color, Cokley told the Charleston City Paper.
Courtney Thomas, director of communications of the S.C. Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network in Columbia, said Thursday that a threat to abortion rights would impact all South Carolinians.
“Our leaders need to know that this issue is not niche, [and] there are advocates who are willing to fight to retain their reproductive freedom,” she said.
Samantha Connors of the Charleston City Paper contributed to this story. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Celebrating Jimmy Carter’s life of service
Carter on his 27th annual Carter Work Project on World Habitat Day, Oct. 2, 2010. National Archives photo.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Former President Jimmy Carter, who turned 97 on Friday, was born when trains were a common form of transportation.
There were no interstates, information superhighways, fax machines, computers, emails or texts. Social media and instant communication to the other side of the world were the things of science fiction. Cars broke down a lot. Phones were elementary and not ubiquitous. Times were hard. A Depression was around the corner.
In An Hour Before Daylight, Carter described struggles on farms across the South like the one where he grew up outside of Plains, Ga.:
“Despite the extreme rural poverty that prevailed at the time, Southern farm population increased by 1.3 million between 1930 and 1935, as desperate people lost their jobs in failing factories, left their urban homes, and eventually wound up in places like our community.”
In this environment, Carter grew to form a value system based on family, community and church. Then, as now, he believes in things that may seem old-fashioned in today’s interconnected world — faith, honor, doing the right thing, helping others and moving forward for the betterment of all.
Carter, governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, swept into the presidency in 1977 after the international embarrassment of the Watergate scandal when Americans were looking for a decent man to be president. A Democrat, he carried the South and much of the Northeast, but failed to win states west of Missouri, other than Texas and Hawaii.
But Carter’s presidency didn’t set Washington on fire as he often didn’t play by its rules. By today’s standards, that would make him popular, but those were different times. Carter was an outsider when Republicans and Democrats cozied up to one another and lobbyists and played an inside game even more out of the sunlight than today. It didn’t help that the country struggled to get out of an economic malaise and an energy crisis.
A bruised Carter at work on a Habitat hat in 2019 when he was 95. Click here to see a video.
Yet Carter had successes. He pushed energy conservation during a time of profligate energy waste and when no one had heard of climate change. He promoted airline deregulation. He created the federal departments of education and energy as cabinet-level agencies. He boosted funding for Head Start and other safety net programs. In the arena of foreign policy, he was widely credited as getting leaders of Egypt and Israel to move toward Middle East peace through the Camp David accords.
After losing the 1980 election to Republican Ronald Reagan, Carter didn’t sit idly by drinking tea in the breeze. He embarked on a post-presidential career that set the gold standard for public service. Not only has he written more than 30 books — he had to make a living somehow — but he established the Carter Center in Atlanta, which promotes peace and human rights and monitors international elections. One of its most astounding successes has been leadership in a campaign to eradicate water-borne Guinea worm disease which once affected millions. In 2020, only 27 cases were documented worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
During his life after the presidency, Carter has often been on construction sites helping to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Internet memes crop up periodically that show Carter hard at work on a house just days after a fall that left him with a black eye. He even showed up for work while recovering from cancer. That’s toughness. That’s resilience. That’s commitment.
As the nation’s president who has lived longest — and who has had the longest post-presidential career — Jimmy Carter continues to inspire. He’s a quiet force whose strength, faith and goodwill are a testament to what’s still right in America. Learn from him.
Happy birthday, Mr. President!
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Charleston Currents, and publisher of the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
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MOJA Arts Festival continues this week
Arianne King Comer was the artist-in-residence at the Gibbes Art Museum earlier this year, and created this batik featured in the MOJA poster | Credit: City of Office of Cultural Affairs
Staff reports | The MOJA Arts Festival, Charleston’s annual celebration of African-American and Caribbean culture with music, arts, spoken word and other events, continues through Oct. 10 k with events that might be happening in your neighborhood.
First held in 1984, the MOJA Arts Festival was built out of previous Charleston Black Arts Festivals, and is named for the Swahili word for “one.” The annual fest incorporates family friendly events that highlight cultural touchstones woven into Charleston’s identity by African-American and Caribbean artists and their descendants. The city’s office of Cultural Affairs heads up the festival each year.
While the festival had dynamic events over the weekend, here’s what’s on tap for the week ahead with details of some neighborhood events to be announced (TBA) to ensure smaller crowds because of the pandemic (Check MOJA event listings on Facebook to confirm TBA details.)
- Daily: MOJA juried Art Exhibit on view at City Gallery (34 Prioleau St.) Noon to 5 p.m. daily – A variety of work on display through Oct. 10, selected by watercolor painter Andrea Hazel.
- Oct. 6: Celebrating unity through music and dance at Enston Homes (900 King St.) 4 p.m. – Mystic Vibrations to perform
- Oct. 8: Joey Morant tribute at Festival Hall (56 Beaufain St.) – Time and details TBA
- Oct. 9: Cha-Cha-Charleston Afro-Cuban celebration at Festival Hall (56 Beaufain St.) Time TBA – Gino Castillo to perform.
This year’s poster art was created by Arianne King Comer, of North Charleston, who served as artist in residence at The Gibbes Museum of Art this spring. King Cromer’s selected work is a batik painting depicting the 2019 reinterment of the remains of enslaved Africans on Anson Street, found during excavation for the city’s Gaillard Center. The work is in honor of Ade Ofunniyin, a beloved activist and teacher who founded the Gullah Society, led the Anson Street project and died in October 2020.
In other recent news:
Follow the money. If you missed The Post and Courier’s blockbuster Sunday story on the cozy sand deal involving former Charleston City Council Chair Elliott Summey, you really should spend the time to read it. At issue: Where’s the big money that the town of Awendaw was supposed to get from its deal with Summey’s sand-mining company? From the story: “All told, the town received about $150,000, nothing close to what it needed to build a large park. By Summey’s own accounting, he’d removed about 1.4 million cubic yards of dirt or sand. That’s equivalent to a 50-acre lake dug 17 feet deep. At $2.50 a cubic yard, the excavated dirt and sand would have fetched at least $3.5 million.”
Mask mandate provided week of drama. A legislative ban on any mandate that required students to wear masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 virus, caused havoc across the state last week. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled the budget proviso was in violation of the national Americans with Disabilities Act since it effectively bars some students from participating in school by prohibiting school districts from enacting mask mandates. On Wednesday emboldened by the federal court’s decision, Education Superintendent Molly Spearman released a memo saying districts had the authority to require masks on campuses and to consult with their lawyers to help protect the medically vulnerable. Then on Thursday, the state Supreme Court voted again to uphold the legislative ban on mask mandates two days after the federal judge’s Tuesday ruling. The new ruling, however, allows districts to require masks without violating the state rule if they can find a way to avoid spending state money enforcing the wearing of face coverings. Stay tuned.
Outreach group gets big grant. Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach Services (OLMCOS) on Johns Island has received a $50,000 general operating grant from The Leon Levine Foundation to support building equitable communities and empower individuals to reach their full potential through basic and emergency needs, education, employment and health services.
S.C. is 6th worst state for women killed by men. On the heels of nationwide attention over the disappearance of Gabby Petito and the body of a Florida student found dead in Florence County, South Carolina has received another dubious ranking. The state is ranked the sixth worst state in the rate of women killed by men, according to a new report. In 2019, the most recent year of available federal data, there were 57 women killed by men in South Carolina. Just over nine in 10 women killed are murdered by a man they know, the report said. More: The Post and Courier, WCIV, Violence Policy Center
Hate crime reports nearly double in S.C., according to FBI statistics. With reported hate crimes rising in South Carolina, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a campaign to encourage residents to report crimes of discrimination. More: The State, WCSC TV
Aging roads in S.C. have nation’s highest fatality rate. A new report from The Road Information Program says that not only does South Carolina roads have the nation’s highest fatality rate but the aging roads cost drivers $2.1 billion per year. More: The Post and Courier
Butterfinger is S.C.’s favorite Halloween candy, retailer says. CandyStore.com says 14 years of sales data suggests that Butterfinger is the preferred Halloween candy of choice in the Palmetto state. More: Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Lejeune poisoning caused injury, pain, suffering
To the editor:
Re: Camp Lejeune Justice Act: [There was] extensive damage that was strewn through my life with no help from those in power, from in utero poisoning in 1968 to 1969 through damage to my law career in 2021. That pain and suffering will not stop until SOMEONE decides to say yes when people like me make demands.
YES to health care. YES to compensation for my mother’s death, my disabilities, and my daughter’s scoliosis, with all consequences paid. YES to an apology. YES to my protection as a lawyer when I lost my mother to her Camp Lejeune cancer 308 days before I graduated.
How much injury and pain must people like me suffer while Congress has money for everything else under the sun?
— Andrew U.D. Straw, Washington, D.C.
Send us your thoughts by email
We love hearing from readers. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information. Send your letters to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. | Read our feedback policy.
This one should be easy
We’re betting this orange building on a contrasting blue background will be a pretty easy mystery for you to solve. What and where is it? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live. And if you’ve got a clever mystery photo for our readers, send it to the same address (Try to stump us!)
Our previous Mystery Photo
A gracious reader sent in our most recent mystery, “A brick folly?” It shows the remains of a bell tower at Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site on the Ashley River near Summerville.
Congratulations to all of the readers who identified the structure: Christel Newton of North Charleston; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Stephen Yetman of Charleston; Jay Altman of Columbia; Bill Segars of Hartsville; Chalmers Broach of Moncks Corner; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Vickey Middleton of North Charleston; Dan Beaman and Bryan Norwood.
Segars added some detail: “This week you’re at the St. George Parish Church ruins at 300 State Park Rd in Summerville, Dorchester County. St. George was first built in the 1730s with the addition of this bell tower in 1752. It was burned by the British in December of 1781 as they were being driven out of Fort Dorchester by Col. Wade Hampton and Gen. Nathanael Greene. St. George was one of 13 churches burned in South Carolina during the American Revolution. St. George was repaired in 1811 and burned again in 1820 by an accidental fire.”
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Latin American Festival is Oct. 10 in North Charleston
Staff reports | You can enjoy five hours of music on Oct. 10 at Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston during this year’s Latin American Festival.
The non-stop music will include everything from the beats of merengue, to reggaeton, bachata and salsa. Live bands will play throughout the day with DJ Luigi Bravo spinning the hottest hits between sets. This year’s live music lineup will feature UltimaNota, Orquestra Mayor, and Fulanito. The performance schedule is:
- Noon – 12:30 p.m.: DJ Luigi
- 12:30 p.m – 1:30 p.m.: UltimaNota
- 1:40 p.m – 2:20 p.m.: DJ Luigi
- 2:30 p.m – 3:30 p.m.: Orquesta Mayor
- 3:45 p.m – 5 p.m.: Fulanito
After visitors work up an appetite on the dance floor, they’re invited to get a taste of cuisine from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean – from flavorful empanadas to tasty arroz con pollo – along with traditional festival foods and beverages. Admission is $10. More info. No outside food, alcohol or coolers permitted. No pets allowed.
Also on the calendar:
October at the Terrace. Check out Horror weekends at the Terrace Theater on James Island: The theater will offer weekends featuring slasher, vampire, classic and comedy films.
Jazz at the College: 7:30 p.m., Oct. 11, Sottile Theatre, 44 George St., Charleston. The College of Charleston’s Faculty Jazz Ensemble will feature an evening concert of jazz standards, arrangements and originals performed by Robert Lewis (saxophones), David Heywood (flute), Tyler Ross (guitar), Gerald Gregory (piano), Ron Wiltrout (drums) and Frank Duvall (bass). Tickets are $20 for adults; $10 for CofC students and youth (18 and under); and free for CofC faculty/staff. Purchase tickets online or by calling (843) 953-4726.
Maintenance of Way exhibit: Through Oct. 30, Redux Contemporary Art Center, 1056 King St., Charleston. Redux and Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenwill are presenting this exhibition of work by Hannah Barnes and Gyun Hur. They = create work that considers place as a mental and physical construct built by layers of time, a collection of striations. Barnes and Gyun explore the idea of maintenance in their practices as a physical and emotional pursuit, connected both to one’s private self and a broader public society. Their work invites the viewer to share in the collective experience of being private selves in public spaces.
Reviving photos. Through Oct. 31, Charleston Museum, Meeting Street. The museum is exhibiting The Lowcountry in Living Color: Making Historical Photographs Come to Life as the latest offering in its Lowcountry Image Gallery. Colorizing black and white pictures allows viewers to see components that otherwise might be overlooked. Buy tickets.
Birds of Prey flight demonstrations: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays, Center for Birds of Prey, 4719 Highway 17. Awendaw. The center has reopened its doors to visitors after closing due to the COvID-19 pandemic, inviting people to once again come and explore the world of raptors through an outdoor program and flight demonstration. Tickets: . $20/adult; $15/children age 3-17.
Bird-watching at Caw Caw. Every Wednesday and Saturday — particularly through the end of February — you can see a plethora of birds at Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel as they make their way through the Lowcountry. The two-hour regular walks, which start at 8:30 a.m., are through distinct habitats that allow participants to view and discuss a variety of birds, butterflies, and other organisms. Registration is not required. Participants are encouraged to bring their own binoculars. A paid chaperone is required for participants ages 15 and under. Max. 10 participants. Fee: $9; free for Gold Pass holders. Open to all ages. More: Caw Caw Interpretive Center.
Farmers markets
Closing in October
North Charleston Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Thursday, Felix Davis Community Circle in Park Circle. The market offers fresh, locally grown produce as well as arts-and-craft vendors, specialty foods and live music. More. Closes Oct. 28.
Moncks Corner Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., every Thursday, Market Pavilion at the Regional Recreation Complex, 418 E. Main St., Moncks Corner. More. Closes Oct. 28.
Closing in November
Summerville Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, First Citizens Bank parking lot near Town Hall, 200 S. Main Street, Summerville. More. Closes Nov. 20.
Charleston Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, Marion Square, 329 Meeting St., Charleston. More. Tentative closing Nov. 27. Holiday market to open temporarily in December.
Closing in December
Holy City Farmers Market: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Wednesday, Holy City Brewing, North Charleston. vendors rotate weekly to provide shoppers with a tiny but mighty shopping experience. vendors will be selling a range of products from specialty foods, home and body care to arts and crafts. More info. Closes Dec. 18 with holiday market.
Open year-round
West Ashley Farmers Market: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., every Wednesday, Ackerman Park, 55 Sycamore Avenue, Charleston. More.
Sunday Brunch Farmers Market: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., every Sunday, Charleston Pour House, 1977 Maybank Highway, James Island. While the market is discouraging people from spending too much time hanging out during the market, everyone is invited to shop their local vendors. More info.
Sea Island Farmers Market: 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., every Saturday. Charleston Collegiate Campus, 2024 Academy Rd., Johns Island. More.
Goose Creek Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., every Saturday, 519 N. Goose Creek Blvd., Goose Creek. More.
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