Category Archives: Network News/Events

Free online course on barriers to voting starts April 21

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As the 2008 election approaches, few issues have been identified as greater concern to voters than the economy. Actually voting, unfortunately, is not always so simple.

Tough to Vote, Tough to Get By: Economic Insecurity and Barriers to Civic Participation, a free online course organized by Demos and YP4, is now enrolling.

Over six weeks, you’ll cover the following topics:

Not Getting By: A Look at Economic Insecurity
Debt: De facto safety net
Middle class insecurity
Youth economics
Election Reform: Breaking Through Barriers to Voting
Allegations of voter fraud and voter ID laws
Understanding the potential of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)
Improving access to the polls – the case for Election Day registration

Sign up for the free course here.

This course starts April 21 and runs through May 30; enrollment will be open until April 28.

Network members make news

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The SC Progressive Network is always proud of its members, but this week several of them got the media attention they so deserve. Read about what they’re up to, and be inspired by their dedication to work and community.

South Carolina Coalition for Healthy Families helped successfully defeat a bill that would have required women view an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. A compromise was reached that changed the language to “allow” rather than “require” a woman view an ultrasound image. You can link to the bill here. Read more in The State, the Greenville News, and WIS News 10.

Conchita Cruz, an organizer for Coalition for New South Carolinians, was featured on the cover and lead story in Free Times.

Ed Madden, a longtime Network activist who has served on our executive committee and on the boards of SC GLPM and SC Equality Coalition, was featured in the arts section of Free Times for his debut poetry book, Signals. Join him for his launch party on April 20 at the Hunter Gatherer Pub, 900 Main St., in Columbia and on April 23, 7-9pm, at if Art Gallery, 1223 Lincoln St. Madden describes the book as “meditations on personal and cultural memory, race, and sexuality in the New South.” It includes several poems on the politics of race and sexuality in Southern culture, and at least two poems written at and about SC Progressive Network events.

And the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Columbia’s effort to “go green” was featured in The State.

Great work, comrades!

Sean’s last wish

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Elke Kennedy sent this piece around to friends today. After her son’s death, she founded Sean’s Last Wish (a Network member) to work for passage of hate crimes legislation in South Carolina. The editorial was published in Washington Blade.

Gay man’s killer should be the last homophobe to get away with murder.

By Jeff Marootian

SEAN WILLIAM KENNEDY would have turned 21 on April 8, but his life was taken from him last May when he was beaten to death while walking home from a bar in Greenville, S.C.

After an evening of fun with friends, you’re happy as you walk toward the comforts of home. A car speeds up beside you. An unfamiliar man jumps out. He calls you a faggot and punches you in the face knocking you out. As you fall, unconscious, your head cracks on the curb.

Stephen Moller, who issued that blow to Sean’s head, later left this voicemail for a friend of Sean’s: “You tell your faggot friend that when he wakes up he owes me $500 for my broken hand.”

As punishment, Moller will likely serve less than a year in jail for an act of violence motivated by hate and fear. Less than a year for ending the promising life of a mother’s son, brother to loving siblings and a friend to many.

In Sean’s case, the prosecutors claim they cannot prove “malicious intent” — that Moller intended to kill Kennedy.

So, they have formally charged him with involuntary manslaughter. While this carries a maximum sentence of five years, Moller will likely be set free with little to no time actually served.

A JURY SHOULD have the option to decide if this is a hate crime and prosecutors should have the option to ask for such a verdict. Sadly, hate crimes laws do not exist in South Carolina and the federal statute for hate crimes does not include sexual orientation and gender identity. The major force of hate crimes laws lies in the generally included “penalty enhancement” clause that empowers the court to increase the penalty for someone convicted of such a crime. Sean’s killer should spend more than one year in jail.

Having spent five years working as a civilian in a law enforcement agency, I have heard most of the arguments from all sides of the hate crimes issue.

There has been a great deal of meaningful debate about their effectiveness and concern over their justification. Proving that hatred is a motivation can be both costly and untenable, but this cost pales in comparison to the cost of letting offenders slip through a faulty system.

SINCE SEAN KENNEDY’S death, there have been several other high profile incidents that involved killing motivated by hate and fear. No single law will end the cycle of ignorance that leads people to this type of violence.

Our energies must be focused on changing the root causes of this kind of violence, and the criminal justice system must be united and unwavering in handling these types of crimes. Sean is sadly not the last LGBT youth to be killed because of who he was, nor was he the first.

We should work to honor Sean’s last wish that his killer must be among the last to be prosecuted under a sieve-like system that lets Moller slip through.

For more information about the passage of hate crimes laws, visit www.seanslastwish.com.

Mind the pay gap

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UAW-CIO Fair Practices and Anti-discrimination Department poster c.1950

By Mary Beth Maxwell

Recent headlines reveal what many of us already know — Americans are witnessing the highest inflation rates seen in over 20 years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices climbed nearly five percent in 2007, and as housing and energy costs skyrocket out of control, working families are getting squeezed. In these difficult times, we should also be reminded that women face even greater financial struggles when weathering this economic storm.

With the observance of Equal Pay Day on April 24, we mark how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man did in the previous year. Recent wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not give cause for celebration. In 2007, women earned only 80 cents for every dollar a man earned. This pay gap was substantially greater for minorities, with African-American women making only 70 cents and Hispanic women making only 62 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. While women are more reluctant to negotiate salaries and are often employed in underpaid professions, one grim reality remains — gender-based discrimination still inherent in our society has largely caused the pay gap that persists today.

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Lobbyists rake in record $2.8 billion in 2007

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Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby for favorable policies in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated. This represents an increase of 7.7 percent, or $200 million, over spending in 2006.

And for every day that Congress was in session, industries and interests spent an average of $17 million to lobby lawmakers and the federal government at large. The drug industry spent more than any other, increasing its lobbying 25 percent last year.

Read the full news release here.

See OpenSecrets.org’s Lobbying Database here.

Upstate progressive throws hat into ring

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Ted Christian has announced he is running against US Rep. Bob Inglis, the congressman who is so low-profile it’s easy to forget he’s even in DC. Christian is one of three candidates vying for the Democratic congressional nomination, along with Paul Corden, a former marketing executive and retired community college teacher from Spartanburg, and Bryan McCanless of Greenville. Inglis faces a primary challenge from Charles Jeter, an environmental engineer and Reagan administration official from Greer.

Here is a clip from Christian’s kick-off press conference on March 31.

Here is a bit about the candidate, taken from his Web site.

Bio:

I grew up in Florida, received a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida in 1983, and then worked in Houston on the space shuttle and space station programs until basically retiring on stock market investments in 1991. I moved to Greenville in 1999, and bought a house off North Main.

Why am I running?

As much as anything, I’d like to raise the bar a bit.

The democratic process in our country has become a money driven circus, with politicians marketed substantially like cereal, in many cases qualified for office by not much more than money and packaging, while the principal fixed goal of either main party has become greater market share and the power it brings.

The consequences of this political retailing are increasingly dire. Our country now as a matter of stated policy wages aggressive war, the greatest of crimes, invading other nations without legitimate cause. The US is increasingly under what amounts to martial law, with American citizens subject to imprisonment without charge and search without warrant. The US now tortures people, sometimes to death, and laws against torture are brushed aside by a President who essentially proclaims himself above the law. A potentially ruinous public debt continues to mount, the current administration having amassed nearly as much debt as all the previous administrations combined. The US military budget is by any rational standard morbidly obese, greater than all the military budgets for the rest of the world combined, fueling a spiraling arms race which threatens to eventually destroy humanity. The US operates a de facto concentration camp in Cuba, to the detriment of our global standing. The US is effectively a client state of Israel, degrading the quality of American political leadership and compromising prospects for peace in the Middle East. Election turnouts are at historic lows, and with the increasing use of unverified computer voting many have lost confidence their votes are even counted. The Constitution has substantially in principle, and in no small measure in fact, passed into history.

These are grave matters, yet it is unlikely most will be discussed in any substantive fashion, if they are broached at all, by most politicians in the coming election. The American political process is plainly dysfunctional, and we need to talk about it.

Remembering the legendary Modjeska Simkins

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If you’re in Columbia Tuesday night, join us for a special screening of ETV’s documentary about Modjeska Simkins, “Making a Way Out of No Way.” The 50-minute film celebrates this icon of South Carolina’s civil rights movement.

The 7pm screening will be followed by a discussion with some of Modjeska’s comrades about her teachings and legacy. We will meet at Modjeska’s house (now a historical site) at 2025 Marion St. in downtown Columbia. Modjeska’s favorite libation, port, will be served, along with other beverages and popcorn. The event is free and open to the public.

Come out for an evening of remembrance and celebration of a life well lived. You will be inspired – maybe enough to get involved yourself in the fight for human rights.

For information, call the SC Progressive Network at 803-808-3384.

Talking down to America

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By Michael Winship
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

I haven’t worked in the realm of children’s television in more than a decade, but lessons learned in that world are lessons learned for life.

First and foremost: never condescend. When writing for kids, think of them as slightly shorter grown-ups with fewer bad habits and better credit.

Would that the Bush administration followed the non-condescension rule for adults. Instead, they’ve taken a page from the playbook of the late Uncle Don, host of a kiddy show during the glory days of radio.

It’s apocryphal, one of those hoary urban legends, but the story goes that after finishing the broadcast of his usual half-hour of moonbeams and treacle, Uncle Don turned to a colleague – not knowing the microphone was still hot – and said, “Well, that ought to hold the little bastards.”

Similarly, the White House seems to believe, all evidence to the contrary, that dispersing the same old, Uncle Don-style effluvium to the American public will continue to placate and hold us close. But more and more of us know it’s nothing more than a bad smell.

A comparison of two noteworthy speeches last week – Barack Obama on race, George Bush on Iraq – shows the difference between a candidate who talks to us like grown-ups and an incumbent who seems to think he’s still reading “My Pet Goat” to second graders in Sarasota.

Regardless of how you feel about Obama’s candidacy or the continuing issue of his past affiliation with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, last Tuesday’s speech in Philadelphia was formidable, candid, sophisticated rhetoric.

As Republican Peggy Noonan, a virtuoso of speechwriting for Ronald Reagan, observed in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, “He didn’t have applause lines. He didn’t give you eight seconds of a line followed by clapping. He spoke in full and longish paragraphs that didn’t summon applause. This left TV producers having to use longer-than-usual soundbites in order to capture his meaning. And so the cuts of the speech you heard on the news were more substantial and interesting than usual, which made the coverage of the speech better. People who didn’t hear it but only saw parts on the news got a real sense of what he’d said.”

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Gay business guild to hold awards gala May 16

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Make plans now to attend the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Business Guild 2008 Annual Awards Gala on Friday, May 16, at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Greystone Boulevard in Columbia. (SC GLBG is the SC Progressive Network‘s newest member, and we welcome the group on board!)

* 6-7pm – A networking/reception hour will be held in the hotel atrium
* 7pm – The awards dinner with ANT as featured entertainer
* After Party – A DJ will help you dance the night away right after the program until midnight.

A cash bar will be provided throughout the evening’s festivities.

Awards include:
The Freddie Mullis Corporate Member of the Year – 2007 award recipient was Sheila Morris
The Dan Burch Volunteer of the Year – 2007 award recipient was Rebecca Majeski
The Community Partner of the Year – 2007 award recipient was Harriet Hancock

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, you should immediately contact us at sclgbg1@aol.com or call (803) 771-0411 and someone will contact you. Sponsorships start at $250.

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Our featured entertainer for this year’s event will be acclaimed comedian ANT. ANT first appeared on The Last Comic Standing and quickly made his name known with frequent appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Tyra Banks Show. Recently The LOGO Channel’s “US of ANT” series and VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club” helped propel ANT into a name that many recognize as a comedic sensation.

Gala Sponsors for this year’s event include:
American Airlines / American Eagle
Asset Realty, Inc.
Cap’n Al’s Hawaiian Sunglass Hut
Embassy Suites Hotel
FASTCO Threaded Products
QNotes
Robin Ridgell & Marla Wood

Tickets prices: $60 for members / $75 for non-members / Table of 8 for $500, includes a table tent with your personal or company name. Ticket order form and more information is available on the web site at www.scglbg.org.

Thousands of new jobs threatened by old politics and bad judgment

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Today’s The State ran a letter from Ken Riley, president of the International Longshoremen Association in Charleston (not vice-president; The State got it wrong) and longtime member of the SC Progressive Network. The letter is a response to the guest editorial the paper ran last month by Carroll Campbell III, in which he fans fear of unions.

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In his Feb. 29 column, Carroll Campbell III made it clear that he is dead-set against economic growth in South Carolina.

Some of the world’s most important maritime companies seek to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our state to develop private shipping terminals. They believe that a huge investment of private capital (and not of taxpayers’ dollars) is needed to keep South Carolina competitive. And they want to employ more South Carolinians to man these ports. Private investment is indispensable, and without it, our state’s maritime industry will founder.

Mr. Campbell believes that private shipping terminals are dangerous to our state. Why is he against private enterprise, job creation, keeping pace with our neighboring states and loosening government restrictions on industry? His excuse: Private ports mean more union jobs.

Mr. Campbell’s counter-productive reasoning is based on “What if?” scenarios. But the businesses that operate in the port on a daily basis rely on “What is?” These businesses know our track record, and they see it projected on their profit statements, year after year.

The longshoremen have operated as a union in Charleston since 1869. Over these 139 years, the union has worked tirelessly to attract and keep business in South Carolina. The companies that actually employ union longshoremen want to employ more of us.

Whether one likes union labor or not, it is a fact of life in the global maritime industry. Virtually all major ports and virtually all major shipping companies and maritime employers rely on organized labor. The arrangement between labor and management is extremely efficient and cooperative, in large part because workers are hired on an as-needed basis.

It is Mr. Campbell’s hysteria that is the real danger to our economy. Hundreds of millions of dollars of private capital are being redirected to neighboring states (that use union workers). Workers want privatization, the businesses that employ them want privatization, the shippers want privatization, and only a few special-interest consultants such as Mr. Campbell want to hold our state back. While Mr. Campbell relies on his consulting fees for his income, longshoremen, shipping lines, stevedoring companies and so many other businesses rely on ships at the dock. No ships, no dollars. Who has a greater interest in keeping our ports busy?

The state should allow private companies to invest in and operate their own terminals, just like they do all over the country and all over the world. If they build them, the ships will come, in fleets.

Ken Riley,
Vice-president, [sic] International Longshoremen Association
Charleston