The pandemic has exposed the moral bankruptcy of basing critical public services such as health care and education on profit. Two recent examples:
South Carolina remains one of the few states to refuse using our federal taxes to provide health care to the quarter-million poor people living here who are now the most likely vector for spreading Covid-19. The Network led the fight to expand Medicaid, but our governors continue to choose free enterprise over public welfare.
In 2014, the Network organized a series of demonstrations in the State House and the grounds to protest the legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid in South Carolina. The weeks-long campaign culminated in 39 arrests in a series of peaceful acts of civil disobedience.
South Carolina is the only state whose taxpayers own the entire educational broadcast system. The state’s control of all 63 broadcast licenses and 700 towers began in 1958, when the legislature started ETV and was considering closing public schools to keep them all-white. There were no black legislators then in SC, or in Mississippi, where their Jim Crow legislature owns 75% of the licenses. In other states, communities and universities own the majority of licenses.
In 2009, when the nation’s broadcast spectrum went digital, the Network was the only voice at the table fighting to use the “excess spectrum” of our educational broadband system to provide a statewide system of free internet, at least for the 600,000 school children who qualified for free lunch.
Now, more than a decade later, the schools are finally closed, and students are told to watch their lessons on television. They could be taking interactive classes at home on their phones or laptops, but the legislature continued to worship free enterprise by leasing out ETV’s excess broadband to telcom corporations for a fraction of its value. Sen. Harvey Peeler argued that giving citizens something for free would be “socialism.” Free enterprise won again.
President Trump’s slavish obeisance to profit over people is killing those he was sworn to protect. Let us not let them die in vain. For the past 25 years, the SC Progressive Network has been in laying the groundwork for a movement to reconstruct democracy. Our Missing Voter Project has been reaching out to the 75% of young South Carolinians who don’t believe that voting will do any good. We agree with them, and tell them we can’t rely on the system that cheapens life to reorder its priorities and we need a movement outside the system to change it.
Our nonpartisan voter education and registration efforts focus on policies rather than candidates or parties. Our 2020 MVP is using high-tech tools to identify and mobilize the fewer than 10 percent of South Carolinians under 28 years old who have never voted in a general election.
Tim Liszewski serves lunch at a Progressive Network conference in 2007.
We were heartbroken to learn that our friend and colleague Tim Liszewski died at his home in Columbia on March 28 of coronavirus, which he likely contracted at an Indivisible conference in Wisconsin. He was 60 years old, and leaves behind two children, Aaron and Rebecca Liszewski.
Tim was to be married in May to his longtime partner, Maris Burton. Instead, she is planning his memorial, which will be held when it is safe to gather. Meanwhile, Maris herself is recovering at the home she shares with her sister, Barb.
After feeling sick for a week and suspecting that it might be coronovirus, Tim was tested on March 21. He was told they would get results in 2-5 days, but it wasn’t until four days after his death that the coroner’s office confirmed that he had tested positive. Maris is frustrated that they did not know sooner so they could warn others with whom they’d been in contact.
Their story lays bare the state’s slow response to the pandemic and lack of transparency in testing and tracking of Covid-19 cases in South Carolina. The governor has yet to issue a stay-at-home order, making ours one of just 12 states without one. Tim, who worked as one of the Network’s ACA Navigators in 2013-2014, would be angered by the way the pandemic is playing out here and in other states that refused to expand Medicaid, as detailed in this story.
We got to know Tim when he moved to Columbia in 2005 from his native Cleveland, Ohio, to serve as director for the Carolina Peace Resource Center, a longtime Network member. He would go on to work for various political campaigns, in South Carolina and out of state, but stayed in touch. The last time we saw him was at our Fair Maps event at the State House on the first day of session to press lawmakers to end gerrymandering in South Carolina.
Tim was mild mannered and big hearted. He lived his values. Alongside Maris, he helped feed homeless people in Columbia through Food Not Bombs, and volunteered regularly at Nickelodeon Theater. In a story in The State about his work helping people access health care, Tim said, “This is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.”
Tim was one of 19 Occupy Columbia protesters arrested in November 2010 after refusing to bow to Gov. Nikki Haley’s order to evacuate the State House grounds. Charges were later dropped, and Occupiers were each awarded a $10,000 settlement for violation of their First Amendment rights.
At a hearing during the Occupy Columbia saga, which played out for months, Tim spoke on behalf of those arrested. “There are lobbyists and people with money who are occupying inside the State House. This was our symbolic representation of us taking back the State House grounds for all of the citizens, not just the citizens with influence and with money.”
Maris Burton, left, and Tim under the Confederate Flag at the State House just before he is arrested along with 18 others.
Tim graduated from the Modjeska Simkins School in 2017. In a blog post about the session he said, “Knowing there are people younger than I am who are actually taking up the cause gives me hope and makes me less angry. Let’s make some change that lasts.”
Network Cochair Kyle Criminger had this to say about our colleague. “A creative, civilly disobedient Occupier of Columbia, a first-rate ‘commandant’ (his word) of the Progressive Network’s efforts with the ACA Health Insurance Marketplace, and a senior regional leader of the Indivisible Project, Tim was an astute community organizer, laser-sharp with his words and with purposeful quips. He always studied and adapted in order to be effective where his feet hit the ground beside his fellow progressives. The social justice movement will miss him.”
The Network sends our collective love to Maris, and to her and Tim’s families.
Maris shared this message: Tim’s family, my sister Barb and myself are overwhelmed at the amazing outpouring of love, respect and kindness you are sharing about Tim (and me). He would be embarrassed at the fuss and then say, “is it true? Do they really mean that?” Yes Tim, you are loved by me and so many more. So thank you all for your words and your “Service in Action” that Tim practiced daily. Our lawn looks amazing, we are being fed, groceries supplied, laundry done! and a continuing offer for other services we will be needing. We feel the love. I am working on getting rid of my virus symptom of “the cough and fatigue” and being well enough to tackle household tasks. Be kind, do good deeds, wash hands and take this seriously. It kills.
See special edition of The Gamecock recounting what happened after Bursey’s arrest and revelation that his partner in the incident, Jack Weatherford, was an undercover cop.
Instead of hugs and handshakes, students gathering for the first day of the spring session of the Modjeska Simkins School were greeted at the door with hand sanitizer and cleansing wipes. As the Palmetto State comes to terms with the growing coronavirus threat, some students opted to join through video conferencing. It is a sign of the times.
Today, after wide criticism for his slow response to the crisis, Gov. Henry McMaster cancelled classes in the state’s public schools for the rest of the month. Colleges across South Carolina have extended their spring breaks and are preparing to move their classes online.
The Modjeska Simkins School has decided to delay its next class for two weeks, and to live stream the rest of the session. “Being online will be a challenge,” said SC Progressive Network Director Brett Bursey, “but we are looking forward to learning new ways of doing things that will help us expand our distance learning capacity. Eventually, we’d like to make the school available to anyone, anywhere. This will help move us in that direction.”
Dr. Robert Greene (left) and Brett Bursey
The session will be led by Dr. Robert Greene (Claflin University). Joining him will be Dr. Todd Shaw (USC political science and African American studies), Dr. Jon Hale (USC education history), Dr. Alison McCletchie (USC sociology and anthropology), activist Kevin Gray, and special guests. Classes will be held on alternate Monday evenings through mid-July.
The class of 28 is made up of students with varied interests and backgrounds. The youngest is in 10th grade; the eldest is in her 80s. “We are impressed with this class,” Bursey said. “It will be a different experience for these students than those in years past, but we are confident it will be no less powerful.”
For more about the school, see the web site. Follow on Facebook.
The nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, in alliance with various in-state groups, is ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to vote in South Carolina. Election Protection’s 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline is an important resource for any voter who has questions or is experiencing problems at the polls. In addition, Election Protection volunteers will be on the ground across South Carolina to provide voters assistance.
“This will be the 12th year that this free, nonpartisan service has helped South Carolina voters with problems at the polls,” said SC Progressive Network Education Fund Director Brett Bursey. “The calls to the hotline provide the only real-time, statewide audit of our election system that helps us to identify and address systemic problems.”
Voters are urged to report problems that they experience or witness, so officials can see patterns and improve our election system.
Because not all polling places will be open on Feb. 29, voters should check the hotline or go to Find My Polling Place at scvotes.org. This is the first statewide use of our new voting machines that produce a paper ballot. Voters should verify their ballot was marked correctly prior to inserting it in the scanner. If the ballot does not reflect their choice, voters can turn it in to a poll worker and vote again.
“Voters must be aware that the state’s photo ID requirements will be enforced for voting in the 2020 presidential preference primary,” said Susan Dunn, attorney for the ACLU of South Carolina. All voters are required to bring either a valid driver’s license, DMV-issued ID card, or their photo-voter registration card with them to the polls on Election Day. Dunn pointed out that registered voters with a “reasonable impediment” to not having a photo ID will be allowed to vote, and the votes will be counted without the voter having to appear to defend their ballot at the county certification hearing. “We recommend voters without one of the accepted ID’s is to trade their old paper registration card at their county elections office for one with a photo on it,” Dunn said.
By calling the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline, voters can confirm their registration status, find their polling location, and get answers to questions about proper identification at the polls. Voters are encouraged to report any problems with the voting process to Election Protection.
Spanish language assistance is available at 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota (1-888-83-9-8682) or veyvota.org.
Voter Reminders
Verify your registration status to ensure that you can vote.
Confirm your polling location, even if it has been in the same place for years.
Bring required ID, and know your rights regarding providing identification.
Prepare your registered friends and neighbors, and bring them to the polls!
Jordan Wiggins graduates from the spring 2019 session.
Nearly 75 years ago, Modjeska Monteith Simkins wrote, “It must be conceded that at this very hour more so than at any time in the history of this nation, there is urgent need for the development of progressive thinkers to become the leaders of TOMORROW.”
It was the lead of an appeal Simkins mailed to college students across the state inviting them to attend a Leadership Training School she was helping organize in the summer of 1946 at Harbison College in Irmo.
In 2015 the SC Progressive Network launched the Modjeska Simkins School for Human Rights to honor her legacy and to advance her work for social justice. “We didn’t even know about the leadership institute when we started the school,” said Network Director Brett Bursey, who was mentored by Simkins during the last 18 years of her life. “It was stunning to find out how closely its curriculum mirrored our own, how this history had been lost, and how little things have changed.”
Students learn a people’s history of South Carolina, stories of the resisters who through the years have challenged the state’s unjust laws, culture, and customs. They also learn practical skills to be better citizens and more effective grass roots organizers.
“The Modjeska School pushes its students to think about the importance of history to the here and now,” said the school’s faculty coordinator Dr. Robert Greene II, assistant history professor at Claflin University in Orangeburg. “In an era when facts and experience are constantly under attack, it is important for citizens of South Carolina to understand that every decision, every bill passed, every statement uttered by a politician, has a history.”
South Carolina has long had an over-sized influence on the national stage, in terms of individual players as well as historical significance. The reasons can be traced back to the state’s beginning, a state built on a slave economy and maintained through the centuries by its exploitation of the working class, and its unrelenting resistance to progressive change. Connecting those dots — and understanding what they mean — lies at the core of the school’s curriculum.
Classes cover political and social theory, as well as strategies, tactics, and practical skills for making progressive change. Upon graduation, students work on one of the Network’s ongoing projects or create one of their own.
Among last year’s graduates was Vivian Anderson, who founded Every Black Girl after the attack of a Black child by a school resource officer at Spring Valley in 2015. She wanted to understand the history of South Carolina in order to make her a better organizer. “I do the work I do because I believe in humanity,” she said, “but I really stand for the liberation of Black people and how they define liberation for themselves. I want something different for legacies beyond me.”
Chris Gardner decided to attend the Modjeska School because he wanted to become more effective and strategic in his organizing rather than simply reacting blindly. “I was ashamed to be from Columbia, and as soon as I had a chance I moved away, but I realized I can’t be from somewhere else. Rather than chase greener grass, I thought, who else is going to fix it? There’s not many other people who are going to roll up their sleeves and try to figure things out. It’s up to all of us.”
Dr. Greene said, “Modjeska Simkins, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many other activists believed in the importance of history to making change in the present. The Modjeska School continues that tradition into 2020. Anyone interested in activism, or simply becoming better informed and more effective citizens, should apply for the Modjeska School. Being well informed is the first step to taking action to make our community, our state, our nation, and our world a better place.”
Enrollment is open for this year’s spring session, which runs March 15 – July 5. Classes will be held on alternate Monday evenings 6:30-8:30 at the SC Progressive Network’s new HQ at 1340 Elmwood Ave., downtown Columbia. For details about the school or to download an application, see the web site.
On the first day of the SC 2020 legislative session, fair maps advocates gathered at the State House holding signs with the names of state lawmakers and the percentage by which each won their seats. The original plan to assemble on the front steps of the State House was rained out, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of those who filled the lobby.
Some drove hours to be there — from Charleston, Greenville, Rock Hill, and more than a dozen from Horry County, where activists have been working a county-based petition drive for fair maps in South Carolina.
Brian Kasprzyk and his wife, Malle Kasprzyk, drove from Little River. It was a long trip, but worth the drive, he said. On the Fair Maps Facebook group, he posted: “Today was a great day for democracy and fair maps in South Carolina. It was great because 2 republican and 2 Democratic legislators joined together to address the crowd and support redistricting legislation — for the first time.”
Brian Kasprzyk
It’s true. In an unprecedented move, a bipartisan group of SC lawmakers stood in the State House together to make a strong and unified public statement against gerrymandering in South Carolina. DemocratsRep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter and Sen. Mike Fanning joined RepublicansRep. Gary Clary and Sen. Tom Davis at a morning press conference on Jan. 14.
Retired Sen. Phil Leventis made opening comments. In his 32 years as a state lawmaker, he took part in five redistricting sessions. “In 2002, we reapportioned the Senate,” he said, “and before the elections in 2004 it was reapportioned again. I can’t tell you why. But I can tell you it raises questions about the whole process. And the process needs to be fair.”
The system is broken. Fact is, 75 percent of South Carolina voters have only one name on the ballot for House or Senate. Ninety percent of legislative seats were won with an average of 86% of the vote. Just 10 percent of the General Assembly was won by less than 60 percent. That’s 17 seats out of 170.
Competitive districts make winners work to please a majority of the voters, not just the small percent that turns out for the primary.
The task at hand is studying and debating the several proposals that have been filed, and finding common ground that, ultimately, gets politicians out of the business of picking their voters.
“South Carolina has more problems with gerrymandering than any state in the United States of America,” Sen. Fanning said. “It is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem; it is a people not having a voice in their government problem. For every solid, safe Republican seat we have a solid, safe Democratic seat. We have created an apartheid here in South Carolina that has divided the voters at the whim of politicians.”
Rep. Cobb-Hunter said, “We all can agree the system is, indeed, rigged.” She vowed to support any fair maps bill that gets traction. “It makes for a better South Carolina, a better governance when all of us who are blessed and highly favored enough to be in these positions when we have to reach out to everybody as opposed to a select group.”
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter
Rep. Clary said, “What we’re talking about here is fundamental fairness. The idea that I, or any other member of the General Assembly, can go in and adjust the line to suit my whim – -to move someone out of my district or to remove a group from my district — is repugnant to me.”
Sen. Davis said, “What we have is a crisis of legitimacy. The idea that I or any other member of the General Assembly can go in and adjust the line to suit my whim – to move someone out of my district or to remove a group from my district is repugnant to me. What we’re talking about is restoring people’s faith in representative government. This is about returning power to the sovereign people.”
Fanning, a former social studies teacher, said he taught civic engagement. “We registered to vote in my class. I made sure my students knew where to vote and when to vote. I had pumped them up, with as much passion as I had inside me. What broke my heart is that when my students came back and said, ‘There was only one name on the ballot. My vote didn’t matter.’ There wasn’t anything I could say to that.
“We have banded together as Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the House. Each of us has bills, but none has gotten traction because the argument doesn’t belong to us, the argument belongs to the people.”
Preston Anderson has taken that directive to heart. As a volunteer with the Fair Maps SC Coalition has spent months going to events to talk about fair maps and gather signatures for the Richland County petition drive. By now he has talked to hundreds of South Carolinians. “Across the political spectrum, people were very interested in learning more about gerrymandering and the effect it has had on the political situation in South Carolina.”
Fair Maps organizer Preston Anderson
Fair Maps volunteers who have been in the field see a steep learning curve ahead. They are finding that a surprising number of voters know little to nothing about gerrymandering and how it corrodes the integrity of South Carolina’s elections. Same goes for lawmakers.
To that end, we gave each of them our handout full of numbers that should alarm anyone who cares about the state of democracy in South Carolina.
