Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Articles by: Andy Brack

FOCUS: 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.”

by Andy Brack · 10/04/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News

Carter on his 27th annual Carter Work Project on World Habitat Day, Oct. 2, 2010. National Archives photo.

BRACK: Celebrating Jimmy Carter’s life of service

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.

by Andy Brack · 10/04/2021 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

Partain, being held by his mother on the day he was born at Camp Lejeune. Water bottle in bottom left. Provided.

BRACK: Congress must help Lejeune toxic water victims

From 1953 to 1987, more than 900,000 Marines, their families and civilian employees at Camp Lejeune drank water contaminated by toxic chemicals like gasoline and jet fuel that leaked into wells around the base. Across the country, 273,433 people have registered with the Marine Corps to receive notifications about the poisonous drinking water at Camp Lejeune. More than 7,600 live in South Carolina.

by Andy Brack · 09/27/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Alex Murdaugh turned himself in Thursday in Hampton County | CC license Ffuhr

BRACK: Murdaugh case’s twists, turns in national spotlight

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Keeping up the spectacle of South Carolina’s Murdaugh murder case is like riding a land rocket without steering. The rural killings of the wife and a son of a father later accused of plotting his own shooting to reap an insurance payout has more twists and turns than three television shows filmed in the Palmetto State — Southern Charm, Outer Banks and The Righteous Gemstones.

by Andy Brack · 09/20/2021 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Become the best person you can be

From the beginning, you’ve heard how South Carolinians are a warm and generous people with an independent spirit. On the day you were born, I wrote this to you: “You should know our people are generally good. Sometimes they stray and do bad things or forget to do what’s right. … Sometimes people forget the lessons of church to love their neighbors and, instead, love themselves too much.”

by Andy Brack · 09/13/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Meet South Carolina’s Yahoo Caucus

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It wasn’t too long ago that South Carolina’s congressional caucus carried a lot of clout, punching well above its weight for a state its size. Today? Not so much.

by Andy Brack · 09/06/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Let’s score victories for America, not just political points

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Throughout South Carolina’s history, there has been a streak of independence that morphed into an ingrained hard-headed reactionary reflex. It’s not uncommon for people on either side of the aisle — and people who don’t even care about politics — to react in one similar way: “Don’t tell me what to do.”

by Andy Brack · 08/30/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Uncategorized

BRACK: South Carolinians should expect civility, not promote incivility

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Politics has always been an occasionally nasty business. Alexander Hamilton died in an 1804 duel with Aaron Burr. A South Carolina congressman caned and nearly killed a Massachusetts senator in 1856 over slavery. A mob of zealots upset by presidential election results stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this year in an attack that led to five deaths.

Fortunately in America, these bloody internal conflicts aren’t the norm. Unfortunately, today’s polarized and charged political environment is making it harder for leaders to govern — particularly when the leaders seem to be more worried about the next election than governing.

by Andy Brack · 08/23/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: What happened to courage and pride in South Carolina?

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | More than 10,000 South Carolinians have died in the last year and a half from COVID-19. With the availability of incredibly effective vaccines and the common-sense step of wearing masks in crowded places, we have the tools to win the COVID War.

by Andy Brack · 08/16/2021 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Henhouse politics must change on redistricting

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | When the fox guards the henhouse, the fox pretty much can do as it pleases.

That’s what is bothersome about state lawmakers redrawing the lines of the districts they represent. Despite what’s ahead — months of tedious meetings, court challenges and complicated processes — the results are already rigged to favor the very people who are managing the whole shooting match. They don’t want the chickens in control.

by Andy Brack · 08/09/2021 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views