Remembering our friend, ally, mentor and leader Rev. Joe Neal

Rep. Joe Neal leads discussion at the SC Progressive Network’s fall conference.

•  •  •

Network members and staff were heartbroken to learn that Rev. Joe Neal died unexpectedly on Feb. 14 at age 66. He was our friend, mentor, and strongest ally in the state legislature. He was instrumental in founding the Network in 1996, and served as our co-chair for 12 years. Unable to let him go completely, we named him chair emeritus, and relied frequently on his counsel in the legislature.

Rev. Neal is irreplaceable. We will do our best to live up to his example and keep his spirit alive by promoting our shared values of justice and equality.

Here are a few video clips that we think capture the essence of who Rev. Neal was as a true public servant dedicated to the needs of South Carolina’s most vulnerable citizens.

•  •  •

In 2011, the Network led a vigorous campaign to pass a moral budget. At a rally in March, Rev. Neal reminded us that the fight was a long one. He asked the crowd to meet in the State House lobby on the following Monday to let their lawmakers hear from them. And they did.

As the House began debate on a budget bill that would cut core services, citizens gathered in the lobby to urge lawmakers not to solve our budget crisis on the backs of working people, the elderly and disabled, and to cut special-interest tax breaks instead.

Rev. Neal recounted the scene with House Speaker Bobby Harrell when we “mobbed the lobby,” crediting that action – and the rally we held two days earlier – with successfully pressuring the legislature to reduce budget cuts from 20% to 5%. This bolstered the spirits of activists who’d gathered for the Network’s 15th annual spring meeting.

Studies showed that some 1,400 South Carolinians would die in 2014 because the state refused a federal grant to expand the program. Rep. Neal spoke on behalf of the legislators who left the House chambers to stand with their constituents at a Network rally.

In April, friends and allies of the SC Progressive Network marked 20 years of grass roots organizing in the Palmetto State. Rev. Neal offered a look back.

Photo Scrapbook: A Look Back