Is actually where I was born, in Charleston. It remains perhaps my favorite city in the world and sometimes I still pull the "well I'm actually a Southerner" card when I feel like it, just to upset New Yorkers mostly.
But I had very mixed feelings about the state of the U.S. vs. the State of South Carolina yesterday as I watched a 24 year old South Carolina State Rep. named Bakari Sellers get interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC. Chris as Rep. Sellers if at 24, this momentous occasion of the first African-American being elected to the presidency meant as much to him as a young black man who hadn't grown up with segregation, who was a child of the 80s and at just 24 is already a state rep. and will now have a black president. Sellers' response was amazing (I'm paraphrasing):
"You know Chris, it has been 40 years since Dr. King's assassination, 40 years since Robert Kennedy's assassination, 40 years since the Orangeburg massacre...and we've made a lot of progress since then, true. Yesterday was certainly a milestone in electing Barack Obama to the presidency, but everyday I work under the auspices of the Confederate Flag flying over the South Carolina Capitol Building. So we have yet a long way to go."
It's true, the Confederate Flag still flies over the capitol in Columbia. Insane. But Charleston County, if not the whole state, went to Obama!!!
Sorry about this being the first post of the day; I'm really busy at work saving the U.S. commercial property market. It's kind of a big deal.
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Holy shit! I went to school with Bakari Sellers for a year. I didn't know he was a state rep!
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely amazed to see that almost 45% of SC voted Obama! Additionally, Richland County (where I was raised and where Columbia is) went blue as usual.
I always confuse people when I tell them that I'm from SC. Both my parents grew up in NY.
Yeah - I confuse people too when i say i'm from Charleston originally - mom is from NY, dad is from Chicago.
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