Get Serious about the Plight of Black People

— by Sen. Robert Ford

As Chairman of the Affirmative Action & Civil Rights Committee of the S. C. Legislative Black Caucus since 2004, I have gathered 9,000 plus names on my email list. This list includes 550 Black ministers and 257 Black elected officials that represent every county in South Carolina. I also have a database of Black Masonic, fraternal, civic, civil rights related and social organizations for all 46 counties. On the social media side, I have 4,900 people on Facebook. The Black news organizations and the media personnel who work for the various outlets which include print of all genre, radio and television. On a weekly basis since 2004, as Chairman and jointly with other members of the committee, we have sent out information to the African American public about issues, problems and concerns that affect the Black community in South Carolina.

When you consider the fact that every media outlet in the state is on my social contact list and the African Americans that work in them have received this information also. My direct emails, have addressed all types of issues and there is absolutely no way for African Americans in South Carolina not be informed about issues of importance to Black people in this state.

For example, in the past two weeks information was sent out on the newly created governing board of the former S. C. Retirement System now known as the Public Employees Benefits Authority (PEBA). This was a result of the 11 member board, which as of that date, had no African American representation. During the floor debate of this House Bill, I made a plea to House and Senate members that it was imperative that there be an equitable representation of African Americans on the board.

To date, one African American was appointed to the PEBA board by Rep. Brian White. The sister board to PEBA is the Retirement System Investment Commission that handles the investing of all SC Retirement System funds (PEBA), which is in excess of 26 Billion dollars, currently there is no Black representation on that board. Do you believe, not one Black person in the media has called about this important issue after receiving information from me or bothered to seek more information about the issue? The decisions this board will make affect approximately 550,000 people, it’s estimated that 200,000 plus are African Americans. Not only has there been no inquiry from any Blacks in the media nor has Black media person/outlet said one word about the board composition. It is sad to say; only two Black Elected Officials who were not a part of the Affirmative Action & Civil Rights Committee have shown any interest.

In the past two weeks, we have started a massive voter education project. This project is not just to educate Blacks in every county in South Carolina about this election and the power of the vote, but to also prepare Black voters about a possible negative decision from the Three Judge Panel of the United States Justice Department concerning the Voter ID decision for South Carolina.

As it pertains to the 550 Black preachers who receive information, if they would share the information sent to them on a weekly basis, at least 50% of the Blacks in the state would know what is really going on regarding their lives. Even more so, if our Black media representatives had some get up and go and willingness to really inform and report important issues that concern our lives, this would be a better South Carolina.

If the other organizations that receive our correspondence on a regular basis would share the information and inform others by forwarding and discussing the issues, then two-thirds of South Carolina Black community would also be informed. The non-sharing of information, unawareness, being uniformed and nonchalant are the worst kind of ignorance.

I hope you see my point. We as a people have to get involved with some of these issues or we as a race of people are doomed.

Blacks in the media please get off your haunches and stop being lazy; help those of us who are making an effort to help our people take it to the next level. The onus is on us, if we don’t help ourselves – nobody else will.

Please everybody this is not a matter to play with!