Recent editorials from South Carolina newspapers:
The Times and Democrat
February 8
Marking February 8 as a memorable day in Orangeburg
“The annual memorial service should continue to be a basis for better relations between the races, not the root cause of increased tension in the Orangeburg community.”
In 1999, 250 citizens of Orangeburg, black and white, used a full-page ad in The Times and Democrat to urge this community to end the division because of the tragic events of 1968, to use February 8 each year as a day of memory and respect.
“Orangeburg, shall we heal ??” remains necessary today, after the death of Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond and Delano Middleton on February 8, 1968.
The three students were shot dead and 28 others were injured by state police during a prolonged clash over the breakdown of an Orangeburg bowling alley. It is known as the “Orangeburg Massacre” due to the title of a book by journalists Jack Bass and Jack Nelson.
The 1999 March declaration sought to end the seemingly endless cycle of rewriting that night’s accounts – a cycle that produced new wounds annually in Orangeburg and elsewhere.
The declaration recognized the importance of remembering Smith, Hammond and Middleton and called for the memory “to be maintained with the dignity it is intended for – a solemn observance of that tragic night in 1968”.
“It should not be hampered by the creation of a day of racial hatred in Orangeburg by those of both races who are trying to rewrite the chronicle of the events of that unforgettable incident,” the statement said.
The years since 1999 have produced significant events. Two years after the Orangeburg declaration, then Gov. Jim Hodges spoke at the memorial service, expressing official regret for what happened here in 1968. For the first time, Highway Patrol troops were present.
Then, in 2003, Governor Mark Sanford surprised many by issuing a formal apology. “I think it’s appropriate to tell the African American community in South Carolina that we don’t just regret what happened in Orangeburg 35 years ago – we apologize for that.”
It is important that people never forget what happened in Orangeburg on February 8, 1968. Our community is forever linked to a historic tragedy.
In the spirit of the 1999 declaration, Orangeburg remains a place that can be a model for cooperation between races.
When Mercer University Press in 2002 launched a revised edition of the “Orangeburg Massacre”, a new postscript by the authors noted that the story “took on a new life and a path to healing and reconciliation”.
It is a path on which our community must commit itself to stay as long as we remember and promote the unity where there was division.
The Post and Courier
February 4th
South Carolina trees must be protected for our future
While scientists and climatologists are providing us with more and more specific information about how trees play a crucial role in reducing floods and global warming, South Carolina seems to be losing them faster than ever. At least that is the impression obtained in recent articles by the Post and Courier that detail unfortunate losses due to development, road safety, invasive species of beetles and power lines.
Each story reported unrelated efforts to remove trees – including some for understandable, if not easily acceptable, reasons. Our concern is with the cumulative effect that South Carolina’s growing population and prosperity are having on our collective tree cover, particularly in developed areas where its loss is seen by the majority.
Last year, the newspaper’s Rising Waters project described how Charleston County has lost more than 10,800 wooded acres to development since 1990, a loss that has exacerbated floods and the impacts of climate change. And Charleston County is a state leader when it comes to local government actions to protect trees. The county and its largest municipalities restrict the removal of large trees and require the planting of new trees when a large, healthy tree is cut. We are happy to see more governments taking a similar approach, including the city of Greenville, which must protect “historic trees”, those with a diameter between 20 and 40 inches.
Still, even in Charleston, one of the first cities to pass a tree decree, about 170 hearts of palm are at risk because Dominion Energy says they are growing on power lines and creating a fire risk (separate and distinct the danger that some large trees pose to power lines during high wind storms). The city’s response – to examine the change in its underground power line policy to allow smaller projects instead of just the whole neighborhood – is a good step, which can save some existing, or at least future, trees by removing the power lines instead.
In southern Charleston County, thousands of other trees are at risk because they are infested with long-horned Asian beetles, a problem that has existed for several years. About 430 trees have had to be cut so far because it is the only way to limit the problem. The Clemson Extension Service and the SC Forestry Commission are looking for resources to provide trees for a replanting program to help make up for the loss, an effort that we applaud.
Meanwhile, SC Department of Transportation players who see the trees on Interstate 26’s central jobsite as more of a fatal danger to rebel drivers than a healthy, attractive corridor now have the advantage, as cleaning up that jobsite remains unfortunate. advance towards I-95. Some said that this is justified in part because the trees will eventually need to fall during an expansion project, many years from now; we disagree.
It is not just a question of shade and aesthetics (although the value of beauty should never be overlooked); A survey by the US Forest Service in the Francis Marion National Forest, north of Mount Pleasant, found that trees captured about 70% of the rain there and returned moisture to the atmosphere. Less than a third flowed through rivers and streams. Although it is a large-scale example, it is clear that the loss of a hundred trees here and a few hundred there will increase the amount of rainwater that we are all struggling with.
The more our population grows, the more people there are to find reasons for this or that tree to disappear – and the more we risk losing a characteristic that helps make Lowcountry unique.
What this region and state need is more enlightened elected officials and corporate policies that seek to preserve our trees, and more advocacy groups that urge us, and them, to plant, restore and protect the trees.
The Index-Journal
February 4th
Impeachment lawsuit against Donald Trump
An editorial is usually written with the intention of positioning itself in one way or another.
Allow us, if you like, or at least forgive us as we move towards one of these points of view “on the one hand and on the other”.
It is not that we are in the field of Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Greene on the issue of the impeachment of former President Trump. Instead, we can’t help but wonder if exercise is really worth it. And whether there will be enough support for a guilty verdict.
Yes, we said and still say – unlike Graham, McCarthy and others – that Trump absolutely played a role in the January 6 invasion of the United States Capitol. First amendment or not, words are powerful and must be chosen carefully, especially when you are the leader of this great nation. And as the leader, there are many attentive ears and many people ready to carry out what they clearly believe to be not only tolerated actions, but, in essence, marching orders.
If Trump is found guilty, it will certainly close the deal that many hope for, not only holding him accountable for acts of insurrection, but also preventing the former president from holding an elected post again. But the impeachment trial will also rekindle the fire that Trump has lit. And the procedures tend to keep the former president in the spotlight that he undoubtedly likes. Good or bad, PR is PR and has a purpose.
What if, instead, our leaders in the corridors of Congress and the Senate decide it’s enough? What if they said that what is needed now is less focus on the past and more on the future of our country?
What if we believe that the American people believe that any Trump’s aspirations to be elected again would be thwarted by voters? That even some of Trump’s most loyal supporters actually saw the constant lies about a stolen election and the role of promoter that Trump played before and on January 6 and could no longer support his candidacy for the job?
And then, instead of talking about impeachment, voters could regain some sanity and focus on replacing the wafflers, the political barbarians who are tied to extremism, madness and insurrection.
Trump is gone. He must not return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And now, the Capitol can and should focus on cleaning and eliminating, with the help of voters.