‘We have to be purposeful’: Progressive Caucus celebrates work in Orangeburg

The caucus hosted the Progressive Power Awards & Gala at the Orangeburg County Conference Center on Friday, May 31.

“The idea was to take this night and recognize people in our state who are progressive in their thinking and who, more importantly, think about bettering the lives of not just one group of people, but of all South Carolinians,” said state Rep. John R. King, D-Rock Hill.

Several awards were given in recognition of those who have contributed greatly to the progressive movement in South Carolina.

The Progressive Power Awards included:

• The Trailblazer Award: Councilwoman Lillian Brock Flemming and Vicki Ringer

• The Change Agent Award: Joey Preston and Kim Smith

• The Happy Warrior Award: Lee Turner and Sharon Garrett

• The Rising Star Award: Kelli Williams, Emily Mayer, Anson/A.D. Foster and Moses Pyatt

• The Culture Champion Award: Russell Bannan, Melina Rodelo and Moses Jones

• The SHEro Award: Melissa Watson, Miko Pickett and Chandra Cleveland

• The Organization of the Year Award: The Fellas, College Lodge 378, ILA 1422

• The Chairman Award: Sen. Mia McLeod

• The Visionary Award: Tiffany James and The Rev. Alma Dungee

• The Joe Neal Founders Award: Jim Rex

• The David Mack Founders Award: Krystle Matthews

• The Labor Champion Award: Ken Riley

Former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, who led the tour, was the keynote speaker for the event. She highlighted South Carolina’s progressive past, criticized the actions of current leaders, and gave a call to action.

South Carolina’s progressive past

In 1868, South Carolina passed “the most progressive constitution in the history of the United States of America,” Turner said.

According to Turner, the constitution ignored wealth as a basis for representation in the House and abolished property ownership as qualification for holding office.

It also eliminated debtors’ prisons, gave women rights, overturned the Black Codes, opened public schools for all races and provided schools for the deaf and blind.

The legislature was also responsible for passing a homestead law to aid farms.

“This is the first state to have a majority Black legislature that came in and tried to make crooked paths straight. You are the tip of the spear, South Carolina,” Turner said.

Current state

Turner expressed her disapproval of South Carolina’s more recent elected officials.

She mentioned former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump. Haley also ran a failed campaign to become the GOP nominee for president this year.

“My staff sent me a picture of this chick signing a warhead ‘Finish them.’ Who’s the ‘them?’” Turner asked.

“Our sisters and brothers in Gaza are who she was referring to. But when I checked her record, here in South Carolina, and the ‘them’ are people who look like you in this room,” she said.

She also criticized Sen. Lindsey Graham’s remarks on “giving Israel the bombs they need to end the war.”

“This dude, he’s celebrating America bombing Nagasaki and Hiroshima,” Turner said.

“We are the only nation on the face of the Earth, thus far, that dropped an atomic bomb on some folks. His mentality is that we should celebrate that,” she said.

Turner also denounced Gov. Henry McMaster’s comments during his State of the State address.

“I think he said something like he’s going to make war on unions. ‘Meet me at the gates of hell’ or something like that. I told the Retail, Wholesale Workers Union, when I was with them the other day, to tell the brother that we’ll beat you there,” she said.

Turner believes both parties, Democrat and Republican, must change their mentality.

“Sometimes when you’re in service to the people, you have to go against the grain,” she said.

“How can we expect Nikki Haley or Lindsey Graham, or anybody that’s navigating the federal level of government, from Democrat to Republican, to care about the bombing of other people’s children in Gaza when they don’t care about starving children right here in South Carolina?” she asked.

Call to action

Turner encouraged people to vote and engage in local politics.

“We can’t get caught up on who’s in the White House, it matters, but it doesn’t matter as much as who’s in your legislature or who’s in your governor’s mansion,” she said.

“The naked truth is the state of the union is all right, but the state of the streets matters more.”

Emphasizing the importance of the Progressive Caucus, she said, “We don’t have time to be partisan. We have to be purposeful.

“That is what the South Carolina Legislative Progressive Caucus is all about.”