The Opinion Blog

Bennie Swans on Ronnie Burgess: "Education is the starting point. Everything bubbles up from it."

Local activist Bennie Swans met with The Sun News editorial board Tuesday to discuss the Ronnie Burgess case, which for months now has been a major concern within the black community.

Burgess is a veteran educator in Horry County, most recently as principal of the Academy for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. In May, Burgess was reassigned to be assistant principal at Carolina Forest High School, a move that Swans and many others have decried as an unfair demotion.

(For background, here's an article from May, and a more recent piece from last week. Issac Bailey has also written two columns on the topic, one about the struggle against stereotyping and another about the lack of information surrounding the demotion.)

In the video below, Swans describes a meeting he and NAACP President Mickey James had with Schools Superintendent Cindy Elsberry and board member Joe DeFeo. While Swans consigns the Burgess issue to the court system, he is more "cautiously optimistic" about the potential for progress in recruiting black educators into Horry County schools, and says he is working with Elsberry on a number of ideas.

I've edited the video down from its original length of more than hour. Swans is a very broad thinker and our discussion was wide-ranging, veering into topics such as the effect of incarceration on families, teen violence, the startling poverty in Horry County's rural areas, voter turnout, the Confederate flag, discretionary spending by black tourists and the potential for the Martin Luther King Day celebration. 

Important topics in their own right, these were actually digressions from the fundamental point of view undergirding Swans' concern about the Burgess case: He deeply believes that the education system is the primary access point to address the social problems borne out of poverty. Demographically, those problems often manifest in the black community, and cultural and racial misunderstandings and tensions can easily exacerbate them. 

A Big Blanking Deal

By Richard L. Wolfe

With the election of Tim Scott to represent the first district and Nikki Haley as the state’s first female governor, South Carolina has signaled the beginning of the end for the good ole boys club and business as usual in the nation’s premier state. I can hear my liberal friends crying foul and reminding me that the election is not until November. Well that is just a formality ladies and gentlemen, just a formality. Think of it this way; everything is faster these days and I am determined to get the jump on the networks. Speaking of the networks, I will have to watch the returns on MSNBC. It will be great theater to watch them go through the political equivalent of a root canal as they are forced to watch and call race after race for the Republicans. It will be similar to Bobby Thompson’s “shot heard around the world”, only in reverse, when the 39^th seat in the House is won by a Republican and it becomes reality that the House of Representatives is now in Republican control. But instead of shamelessly savoring the moment that Chris Matthews loses the tingle in his leg, I should get on with the point and purpose of this column.

Nonprofits Seek New Funding

Wednesday’s editorial notes the continual shifting of the financial burden for social services from local government onto area nonprofits.

As financially tight times grind on, nonprofits throughout the area continue to feel the squeeze as they struggle to provide vital services. Even as they lose funding, organizations such as food pantries have increased numbers of people needing help. Many organizations thus are caught in the cruel paradox of having more clients and fewer dollars. In such a situation, venerable fundraisers are even more important and new sources of revenue must be found.

WEDNESDAY OPEN FORUM

Be civil and enjoy.

Listed High in Nation

Tuesday’s second editorial praises Socastee for its recent ranking in ‘Best High Schools.’

For the fifth year, Socastee High School is ranked among the nation’s top six percent of public high schools on Newsweek magazine’s list of America’s Best High Schools. Socastee ranks 1,379 of nearly 1,700 schools. More than 27,000 public high schools were surveyed. Only 16 of 220 S.C. public high schools are on the list this year; Charleston County’s Academic Magnet High is No. 12. The state had 22 ranked in 2009.

Facelift Boost for Port City

Tuesday’s editorial praises the Georgetown city council’s Harborwalk renovations.

There seems to be agreement in the city of Georgetown that the Harborwalk is in serious need of upgrading. The decision to replace the decking, lighting and railing is a positive move that could help the old port city’s downtown. The City Council approved a plan to replace the splintered pine decking with a hardwood and therein lies a rub for some. The $600,000 plan approved by the council calls for using ipe, (pronounced EE pay) a hardwood from Brazil. Environmentalists claim that importing ipe is contributing to deforestation of the rain forests.

Tuesday's cartoon extra

 

By Rick McKee, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle

The world changes

By Jacob Fry

(Mom note: Soliciting help from my 17 year old son to find a topic to write about, I discovered he had his own well-considered opinion.  He said, “I wish I could write an article,” to which I responded, “The computer is yours.”)

The world changes. People change, society changes, the line between wrong and right changes, people's values change. In today's society, people dwell on what they don't have, rather than what they do. People gripe about everything that is beyond their reach, rather than fixing the little world around them. I am a teenager living in this society, and I see it every day. I see it at work. Being that I work in a restaurant every day, I see and hear people talk. People gripe about global warming, politics, the hardships of life. Little do I see people talk about what they actually have in a positive manner. Everything's so negative. Where is the appreciation? Where is the positive force that used to exist in this country?

TUESDAY OPEN FORUM

Be civil and enjoy.

The Right Direction

Sunday’s editorial suggests that the S.C. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a helmet requirement in Myrtle Beach, while not exactly the editorial board’s first preference, may ultimately be a good fit for the city.

Over the past two years, the Grand Strand has witnessed the transformation of May from a month dominated by motorcycles into one in which motorcycles and other tourism are beginning to coexist.

Now, the S.C. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down the city’s experimental law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets may be another step in that direction - and, if so, we would guardedly welcome the ruling.