Local NAACP hosts forum in protest of Secession Gala

An NAACP-sponsored event at an AME church might be the last place you’d expect to see “The Birth of a Nation.”

But the historic-yet-racially inclined film wasn’t shown for entertainment. It only played in clips to set the background of a mass meeting that covered the general topic of discrimination, which was inspired by the specific topic of a sesquicentennial celebration of secession going on only one mile away at Gaillard Auditorium in downtown Charleston.

On Dec. 20, 1860 did South Carolina’s state government issue its Ordinance of Secession, making it not only the first state to secede from the United States prior to Civil War, but the only one to do so by unanimous vote. And while the South Carolina Secession Gala celebrated that 150th anniversary, over 120 gathered outside the auditorium to demonstrate.

“What would happen if Japanese-Americans had a ball to celebrate Pearl Harbor?” demonstrators asked.  “What if German-Americans had a party to celebrate the Holocaust?”

Organized by the Charleston chapter of the NAACP, the “Campaign for Dignity in South Carolina” participants later took an organized march, bearing candles and singing hymns, to the Morris Brown AME Church where they conducted a forum following clips of the film.

Moderated by state NAACP president Dr. Lonnie Randolph Jr., the guest panel consisted of Rev. Brenda Kneece of the South Carolina Christian Action Council, Trident Tech instructor Donald West and Phil Noble, president of the South Carolina New Democrats.

An event honoring the secession leans racist in its celebration, the panel agreed.

That opinion finds support just by presence of the Sons of Confederate Veterans at the sesquicentennial event.  Although originally created over a century ago to preserve and maintain Confederate military parks and cemeteries, some chapters of SCV are now classed as neo-Confederate, white supremacist groups.

West noted that in 1936 black voters stepped away from the party that helped them gain emancipation from slavery, marking the first time that a majority of African Americans voted for Democratic candidates, and because of a perceived air of racism in Republican platforms and candidates.

Noble agreed, stating the GOP continues to be “a party of policies that can only be received as racist,” offering the new state law that will require photo identification to vote as an example.

That aura is easily found in the South Carolina GOP which, as Randolph noted, continues to cut from the state’s education and social services budgets, but still finds funding for Confederate-themed projects and events that tell of secession in a positive tone.

These circumstances inspired Rev. Kneece to quote the Book of Proverbs, 18:5, “It is wrong to favor the guilty and keep the innocent from getting justice.”

The panel also agreed that state Republican support for the Secession Gala, as well as other factors, indicates its disregard and disrespect for the African-American community – perhaps with a tone of superiority, as well, if not continued discrimination.  

The Gala was attended by notable Republican officials in the state, including state Sen. Glenn McConnell, Charleston City Councilman Tim Mallard and state Rep. Chip Limehouse, all of whom performed in a play commemorating the state’s Ordinance of Secession.

McConnell in particular is known to promote Confederate ideologues in the State Assembly, such as by seeking state funding for a monument to honor signers of the Ordinance of Secession. McConnell is also a member of the SCV, and attended another Civil War-themed event earlier this year dressed in Confederate uniform.

This trend of neo-Confederacy is anticipated to continue in upcoming years, Randolph said, peaking in late 2015 on the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.

Celebrations of secession almost infer its recurrence, said Randolph.  Republicans in some states, particularly southern ones, are contesting recent federal laws with “states’ rights” and “Tenther” (or 10th Amendment) arguments, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has directly referred to secession, as well.

The Secession Gala joins these neo-Confederate movements and sentiments in a revelry that could almost be described as self-serving fascism. For example, McConnell sought and received $22 million in state and federal funds for the Hunley Museum, a Confederate memorial he himself chairs, but argued against state funding of Medicaid, claiming “the insurance program for the poor must simply stop providing services."  

“The Birth of a Nation” shows South Carolina’s General Assembly in the Reconstruction Era, the only time in the history of our state when a majority of its representatives were black. In the film, those officials are depicted in a falsely degrading image, drinking liquor during sessions and taking off their shoes to rest bare feet atop their desks.

What South Carolina’s black state congress actually did, though, was set dynamic precedents that ensured equal representation of all citizens regardless of ethnicity. That same State Assembly was the first to propose funding for public education in the state, too (in 1868).

The degenerate depiction cast in the film, however, is more similar to the setting of today’s dominantly Republican state government, Randolph said – a principally self-serving assembly with a majority membership that continues to let the rebel flag be displayed on state property. In doing so, South Carolina is denied not just respect, but business opportunities such as conventions and collegiate bowl games, as well.

Randolph recalled when over 10 years ago the NAACP made direct contact with the two other states that still displayed the Confederate flag. Florida’s Gov. Jeb Bush ordered the flag to be removed, as did Texas’ Gov. George W. Bush, Randolph said.

If those two prominent, conservative Republicans would so willingly respond, if only to open their states to the business withheld because of that display of the stars and bars, then why is South Carolina so determined to be the one uncooperative state remaining?  

Why is South Carolina still letting itself be denied not just respect, but actual business and state income in this defiance?

Why is South Carolina still denying respect not just for others, but for itself, such as in this secession memorial event that, despite its organizers’ claims to only be historic remembrance, is still named and celebrated as a “gala”?

And why do South Carolina voters continue to re-elect officials who seek funding for discriminatory projects, from which they themselves profit, while overlooking public needs for common benefits?

The meeting didn’t close with any answers to those questions, just a commitment to continue challenging them.  And challenging this rebirth of racism in government is a commitment that all should honor.

Without doing so, Randolph offered, South Carolina will only be left on an ICU of sorts, “a social ICU, at that.”