Ruth Thomas chats with Jeff Koob at the Free Speech Pay-In outside the courthouse in Columbia in 2004.

Today’s paper featured a front-page profile on Ruth Thomas, the 87-year-old activist and founder of Environmentalists Inc. She has been a longtime member of the Network, and it’s great to see her get the recognition she deserves.

She calls our office about once a month, and I know it will be a longish conversation with her talking way over my head about some environmental crisis or other (this state has so many it’s hard to keep up with it all). She is passionate, very bright, and a force to be reckoned with, as so many hired suits have discovered in hearings over the years.

If ever there were one, Ruth is an argument for cloning. If we had more of her, imagine what we could accomplish.

Be inspired; read Sammy Fretwell’s story in today’s edition of The State.

Becci Robbins

By Becci Robbins

He has full-blown AIDS,” she said. The sound of it, like air escaping.

Full. Blown. AIDS.

The social worker handed over his file, a single sheet of paper with some handwritten notes on it, mostly addresses and phone numbers, which I scanned for clues to what might be coming.

Mark was 41. He had been in Columbia only a few months, since being forced to leave his home in Los Angeles after having grown too ill to care for himself. With nowhere else to go, he had moved in with his sister, who was stationed at Fort Jackson.

It was far from an ideal living arrangement. “Dysfunctional” was the term the social worker kept using. The sister was often gone; Mark was increasingly bedridden. She had an alcohol problem; he had a coke habit. She resented Mark’s intrusion on her life; he, in turn, was humiliated, lonely and raging mad.

After she had left him alone for three days, knowing he was too sick to make it down to the kitchen, Mark had called Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services to ask that someone be sent over to make sure he didn’t “starve to goddamn death” in his upstairs room.

As a PALSS volunteer, that was to be my job. To make sure Mark didn’t starve to goddamn death.

Read the rest of the story

If you weren’t at the SC Progressive Summit Nov. 17, this is just one of the moments you missed. Clip features master drummer Amara Camara, his student Toni Jones, and Network Co-chairs the Rev. Dr. Bennie Colclough and Donna Dewitt.

A Bible Lesson for Liberals
Rev. Dr. Neal R. Jones
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia

The Rev. Dr. Neal Jones gave this speech/sermon/Bible study at the SC Progressive Summit Nov. 17 in Columbia. It was so well-received, we asked permission to post it here.

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Hello, my name is Neal, and I’m a recovering Baptist. One of the reasons I fell in love with Unitarian Universalists and became one is because, unlike any other religious group I have known, they can laugh at themselves. We UUs may be dead serious about human rights and social justice, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. We can tell jokes on ourselves. You may have heard some of them.

A Unitarian Universalist died and came to a crossroad in the hereafter with three signs. One said, “This way to heaven.” Another said, “This way to hell.” And a third one said, “This way to a discussion about heaven and hell.” Without hesitation the Unitarian went to the discussion.

A jet airliner was having serious problems in flight, and it became apparent that the plane might crash. Everyone on board began to pray, except for the UUs. They organized a committee on air safety.

They’ve come up with a Unitarian version of the TV show “Survivor.” Contestants have to drive from Pelion to Pickens with a bumper sticker on the back of their car that says, “I’m a gay, atheist, vegetarian, and I’m here to take away your guns.” Anybody who gets there wins.

Unitarian meetings must be very confusing to visitors. A person speaks and says nothing. Nobody listens. Then everybody disagrees.

What do you call a dead Unitarian Universalist? All dressed up with no place to go.

Why did the Unitarian cross the road? To support the chicken in its search for its own path.

Why is a Unitarian congregation like granola? When you take away all the fruits and all the nuts, all you have left are the flakes.

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

Today I want to conduct a Bible study, and our Bible study is about prophets. Who are prophets, and what do they do? Many people think prophets tell the future, but prophets in the tradition of the ancient Hebrews told the truth. It’s informative to look at the etymology of “prophet.” In Hebrew, the word for prophet is “nabiy.” That shares the same root with “nabat,” the Hebrew word meaning “to see, to look intently at.” So one clue to what prophets do is that they help us to see more clearly. “Nabiy” also shares the same root with “nabach,” which means “to bark like a dog.” So a prophet makes a lot of noise to warn us of danger or to wake us up.

Hear the barking of some of the Hebrew prophets:

I hate, I despise your religious festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, I will not accept them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. — Amos

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; But they shall all sit under their own vines and fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid. — Micah

The Spirit of God is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. — Jesus

According to the etymology of the word, prophets bark to wake us up so that we can see “what’s going on,” to quote Marvin Gaye. The Biblical prophets were saying, “Wake up, Israel! This is not the way the Creator intended the creation to be. God intended for you to establish peace and justice here on earth as it is in heaven. Modern day prophets, like Martin Luther King, Jr., are saying, “Wake up, America! You’re not living up to your creed. You say you believe that all people are created equal, but you are not practicing what you preach.

We need prophets in every age because we can’t see clearly on our own. We can’t see the forest for the trees. We are born into a particular time and place, and the history of the place becomes our history, and the culture of the times becomes our identity. None of us asked to be born to our particular parents, in our particular communities, attending our particular schools and churches, in 20th century America, but we were. We could have been born at another time and place, but we weren’t. We perceive, think, and act the way we do because that’s the way people of our time and place perceive, think, and act.

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Activists meet for Network’s 12th annual Fall gathering
by Becci Robbins

Blogging last weekend’s Progressive Summit is late in coming. Sorry ’bout that. But these are heady, hectic days for the Network, and we’ve been distracted. We are in the process of buying a headquarters in downtown Columbia to house offices, meeting space and a social hall, a reprised GROW Cafe. The three-building complex, now occupied by Habitat for Humanity, is in a great location. It’s close enough to the college campuses to attract students, and the State House is just blocks away – the better to keep our eye on the scoundrels. More on this when we actually have the keys.

But back to the Summit. It was, judging by the feedback we’ve received, a smashing success. The statewide gathering may have been our best – most productive, most inspiring, most fun – since our founding conference in the spring of 1996.

One of our guest speakers, Angela Canterbury, outreach director at Public Citizen, said in an e-mail. “I am really impressed at the good work you all are doing. It was a great day – a little like a day at church, worshipping at the altar of hope and change.”

Nice.

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SC Progressive Summit Nov. 16-17

The Big Apple, 1000 Hampton, downtown Columbia

Join grassroots activists from across the state for the SC Progressive Network’s 12th annual Fall gathering. Whether you’re concerned about social justice, global warming, the Iraq War, or the growing influence of money in politics, participants will seek common ground upon which to build a movement for progressive power in South Carolina.

“This is the Network’s most important event of the year,” said Co-chair Donna Dewitt, president of the SC AFL-CIO. “Our folks look forward to this weekend retreat, where they can reconnect with old friends, meet new allies, and be inspired by the good work going on all across South Carolina that rarely gets the attention it deserves. We hope to see lots of new faces.”

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