The Ripple Effect

Leaders in the South Carolina unity task force movement today trace its origins to the Los Angeles riots of 1992.

"The Rodney King incident really struck a chord," says Tod Ewing, whose daughter initiated the task force at Columbia's Dreher High that fall. "It resonated with tensions that we were experiencing here in South Carolina."

Across the state in Conway, teachers and students at an elementary school formed a harmony club for the same reason. Over the next several years, the Dreher and Conway examples fostered student organizations in other communities, and the ripples continue to spread.

"The biggest hurdle," notes Jesse Washington of the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council, "involves getting superintendents and principals to buy into the program, to get full support for teachers to the point that they are relieved from cafeteria duty or bus duty because they are working with this group. We need not just endorsement, not just cooperation, but a commitment."

The challenge of translating rhetoric into action echoed across the Palmetto State in the late 1990s, as positive race relations became a pervasive theme. On December 1, 1997, South Carolina's Republican and Democratic party chairpersons declared in writing that "during my candidacy or term as public official I will refrain from using race or color -- whether by words, action or implication -- either to enhance my candidacy or to demean the candidacy of my opponents." The leaders are asking all candidates of their parties to sign the remarkable, perhaps even historic, pledge.

The changing climate has fostered some unexpected alliances. Former segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond advocated removing the Confederate battle flag from atop the State Capitol, as did a large sector of the business community. A Black Democratic state legislator sought legislation protecting Confederate monuments and street names, in addition to those honoring civil rights leaders. A White Republican legislator and staunch rebel flag defender co-chaired the commission to erect an African American monument on the Capitol grounds.

After a slow start, the Governor's Commission on Racial Relations recommended a "Team South Carolina" in each county to foster racial harmony. Among the commission's other proposals: unity task forces in all public schools; race relations training for law enforcement officers; a study of minority employment in government; and judicial guidelines for reducing disparity in sentencing for Blacks and Whites.

On other fronts, the South Carolina Progressive Network links scores of Black, White and interracial community organizations through meetings, newsletters and retreats. Communities of Faith United, which strives for racial understanding among the state's religious bodies, organized a quiet, interracial demonstration against the Confederate flag.

One local agency that has been especially active is the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council (CRC). Formed in the 1960s, the CRC initiated the recent bipartisan pledge and coordinates the student unity task forces.

Columbia area task forces are the education component of the CRC's "Six-Point Plan to Improve Race Relations," designed in 1993 to help shape South Carolina into a "beloved community." Other efforts target religious groups, the business community, media, law enforcement and neighborhoods.

Although race unity activities statewide have forged a unique coalition, their success remains difficult to measure. The Governor's Commission, for example, did not report the harsh words on race relations spoken by many who testified at its hearings.

In a more sobering reminder of a painful past, an African American church brought suit in 1998 against the South Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the 1995 arson fire that destroyed its sanctuary.