NEWS BRIEFS: 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