Labor Day a Time for Long-Overdue Action for Workers' Rights

Ralph Nader/Huffington Post

Here’s an experiment to try this holiday weekend. Quiz your friends, family and acquaintances on the meaning of Labor Day. You might be surprised by the answers you hear. To many, the true meaning of Labor Day has been lost―it’s merely a three-day vacation weekend, unless you work in retail, in which case it is, ironically, a day of work and “special” sales.

Commercialists have transformed Labor Day into a reason for shopping. The fact that Labor Day was conceived as an occasion dedicated to America’s workers and what they have endured is sadly under-acknowledged and unappreciated. (In many other countries, the event is known as “International Workers’ Day” and is celebrated on May 1st.)

Labor Day is a time to celebrate America’s tradespeople―the plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, tailors, retail clerks and home health assistants. Celebrate the meat and poultry inspectors, building code inspectors, OSHA and Customs inspectors, sanitation inspectors of supermarkets and restaurants, nuclear, chemical and aircraft inspectors, inspectors of laboratories, hospitals and clinics. Celebrate the bus drivers, miners, and nurses. Celebrate the janitors who often thanklessly clean our office buildings, schools, airports, and more. The list goes on.

In addition, Labor Day should be used to reflect on the historic victories of American workers such as establishing the minimum wage and overtime pay, the five-day work week and banning of the use of child labor. Many in the U.S. would find it difficult to imagine living in a country where these things weren’t a given.

Labor Day is also a time to promote the future of labor and push our elected officials on the critical needs of workers, such as improved health and safety measures and increased economic benefits for tens of millions in need. It is a time to discuss repealing The Taft Hartley Act of 1947―one of the great blows to American democracy―which makes it exceptionally difficult for employees to organize unions. Taft-Hartley impeded employees’ right to join together in labor unions, undermined the power of unions to represent workers’ interests effectively, and authorized many anti-union activities by employers. Unions should no longer concede this usurpation of worker rights. Workers should use Labor Day as a yearly opportunity to push the repeal of Taft-Hartley.

Labor Day is a time to acknowledge how big U.S. corporations have shown a lack of patriotism by abandoning American workers and shipping jobs to communist and fascist regimes abroad. These countries often pay serf-level salaries and abuse their workers with dangerous working conditions―these are the conditions that the labor movement in the United States fought against and made substantial gains.

Perhaps the best example of how apathy has affected the hard fought victories of the labor movement is how the federal minimum wage has languished. The gap between worker and CEO compensation ever widens, even as worker productivity rises. According to the Economic Policy Institute: “The CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 29.9-to-1 in 1978, grew to 122.6-to-1 in 1995, peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000, and was 295.9-to-1 in 2013...”

Since 1968, the minimum wage has lost over one-third of its purchasing power. If it had kept up with inflation, it would be $10.93 an hour today. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would give a pay raise to over fifty-one million Americans.

Where are the presidential candidates on this vital matter? Democrats Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have come out in favor of a $15 minimum wage, with Sanders introducing the Pay Workers a Living Wage Act last July, which would raise the wage to $15 an hour by 2020. Hillary Clinton belatedly supports raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour and gave a tepid endorsement to fast food workers fighting for $15.

On the Republican side, only Rick Santorum, Ben Carson and John Kasich have come out in favor of raising the minimum wage, but none favor raising it to a livable amount.

What many fail to understand is that the minimum wage has served as a way to improve the lives of many and their families. A 2013 study by the Center for American Progress showed that even raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would reduce the number of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollees by 6 percent, saving taxpayers $46 billion over the next decade.

Where is the passion for elevating the wellbeing of American workers? Where are the advocates for American workers? Advocates and prominent labor leaders should be front and center on the Sunday political shows just before Labor Day discussing matters like the minimum wage, income equality, job safety, pull-down trade treaties and more. Labor unions such as the AFL-CIO should host events around the country to highlight worker issues like the oppressive Taft-Hartley Act and boost the morale of hard-working people who are unrecognized and hastily slipping behind in a casino capitalism culture.

Labor Day is the time to speak out, march in Labor Day parades, and push for long-overdue action. It’s a moment for the nation to shine a light upon the rights and plights of the nation’s workers and recognize the need to strengthen labor laws. Let us gather, contemplate and celebrate a more just treatment of all those who toil.

Appreciation: Chad Boseman's Passing a Real Loss

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

We lost a gifted native son yesterday.

Chad Boseman’s has rippled across the entire planet, and brought both grief and fond memories to those who knew him when he was growing up in Anderson. 

It is without dispute he is the finest actor our town ever produced, and of little disagreement that he was one of the most gifted and accomplished actors working today.

If you are only familiar with his performance in “The Black Panther” (a role he infused in full with far more than typical superhero fare), find some time over the next week or so to watch his stellar work in his trio of biopics, where he managed to capture the very essence of Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall, each of which marked an era of struggles and triumphs battling racism in America.  Each was worthy of the Oscar he never got.

Boseman was the rare combination of artist and movie star, and his accomplishments are perhaps deserving of a biopic of his life, one which he lived with dedication and amazing excellence.

It’s crushing to think about the roles he did not live to show his great and growing talent.

And now he’s gone, another victim of cancer.

As we remember his talent, his legacy and many accomplishments, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to offer a reminder that one way to honor his life and struggle with the disease is to help those who are fighting daily to help other patients fight and manage their cancer. 

To make a gift in memory of Chad Boseman, contact the Cancer Association of Anderson.

I also hope there are those in our community who will rally to find a way to honor Boseman here in Anderson as a permanent monument to the idea that nothing is out of reach for those who work hard to reach their dream.

Opinion: County Council Quick Rejection of Mask Ordinance Shortsighted

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County Council, which has generally exhibited strong leadership over the past decade, missed an opportunity on Tuesday when they voted 4-2 against a countywide ordinance requiring masks in unincorporated areas of the county. 

Our county has lagged the rest of the state in COVID-19 testing, yet remains a hot spot for both positive cases and virus-related deaths in South Carolina. 

County leadership, including both the administrator and assistant administrator, have suffered through serious cases of the virus, exhibiting how serious the current situation is here.

To date, Anderson County has reported 2,852 positive cases and 90 deaths from COVID-19, and most of these numbers were posted since July. 

Councilwoman Gracie Floyd introduced the resolution, calling for “all persons entering any Commercial or Public building open within the unincorporated areas of Anderson County with the exceptions noted … must wear a face covering and maintain social distancing where possible while inside the building,”  

“I don’t want you to take chances with your life,” Floyd said. “We have nothing to lose. Not wearing one puts us all in danger.” 

She’s right. 

Councilman Craig Wooten, who also supported the resolution added that it’s unclear why the issue seems to have been politicized given that local and national leaders in both parties have advocated masks ordinances. 

“I represent the area that covers AnMed, and our medical professors they said we’d be better off if we would wear a mask,” said Wooten. “I think we should listen to them.” 

Talk to doctors and nurses working in our local hospitals and health care facilities and listen to their stories. 

The four other council members, Ray Graham was absent Tuesday, voted down the resolution, with only Councilwoman Cindy Wilson offering comments on why she chose to vote not. 

Wilson suggested that the proposed regulation was extreme and would require masks in all situations, which it did not. She also suggested that research was mixed on the efficacy of masks, which runs counter to the latest scientific data on the issue. 

The proposed resolution offered a number of exemptions, including child care facilities; schools; and churches or gymnasiums where social distancing policies are in place; patrons that are actively consuming food and beverages inside a restaurant and/or bar; persons receiving medical treatment; persons actively swimming in an indoor swimming pool. 

The quick dismissal of such requirements indicates either a lack of thorough understanding of the issue or is rooted in the political polarization surrounding face coverings. 

Or perhaps they are listening to those who have suggested such  requirements infringe upon their personal freedom, a defense that rings hollow. 

Where is the outcry over seatbelt laws? Speed limits on roads? Weight limits for vehicles on some bridges? Laws which prohibit smoking?

Greenville and Spartanburg have passed similar ordinances in place, making arguments about enforcement a little disingenuous.  

The reason for such laws is that people don’t always behave in a way that is in their best interest and the best interest of others.

To suggest otherwise, that our individual opinions and options carry more weight that scientific study, is shorted sighted.

The City of Anderson initially declined to join most of the state’s other sizable cities in implementing a requirement to wear a protective mask in at lease some public locations, only to return two weeks later to pass a citywide ordinance which is almost identical to the one council was presented on Tuesday.

Seventeen of South Carolina’s 20 largest cities now require masks in many public places. Many other small towns also have approved similar laws, with most issuing a $25 civil fine for non-compliance. (the county resolution called for escalating fees for multiple infractions, starting at $25 for first offense, $50 for second offense, and $100 for third offense.)

Why is most of the rest of the state passing such laws? It’s because iur friends and neighbors, especially senior citizens and those with health issues are in danger.

There are two main reasons to wear masks. While there is evidence of protection for the wearer, the stronger evidence is that masks protect others from catching an infection from the person wearing the mask.  

Infected people can spread the virus just by talking, and those who are in places where singing is part of the meeting, especially churches and other places with choirs, spread the virus in even more profound ways. 

The longer the exposure the more likely the virus will spread. 

Countries and states which have presented the strictest mask laws have more quickly reduced positive cases of the virus and the resulting deaths.

In China, which already had a culture accustomed to wearing masks, the  study found that in households where all wore face masks indoors as a precaution before they knew anyone who lived there was sick, the risk of transmission was cut by 79 percent. 

Scotland, which has a slightly larger population than South Carolina and is bordered by England, one of the hottest virus spots in the world, with mask requirements and a strong public leadership by First Minister Nicola Spurgeon, who has consistently reminded citizens of the efficacy of social distancing and masks, has reduced positive cases to single digits per day and reported no deaths in almost six weeks. 

The Center for Disease Control has strongly recommended the wearing of masks since the beginning of the pandemic.   

The rhetoric on masks and temperature checks have featured accusations of "trampling constitutional rights" and mask burnings in protest. Some question the science, often referencing some individual doctor, nurse or other “expert” who challenges the bulk of scientific evidence. Others have even suggested masks are dangerous to one's health, a conclusion not supported by research. 

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams suggested recently the wearing of masks is akin to the effectiveness of any vaccine.  

“Ultimately it is a choice we make, and I hope it’s made based on the best available/current science, and a desire to do all we can to help others and ourselves/our communities,” Adams wrote. “Like vaccines, the more who participate, the greater the impact.”

He’s right, and it would be in the best interest of everyone in Anderson County for local governments to work together on a comprehensive ordinance requiring masks, at least in critical places such as grocery stores and pharmacies across the county.  

Anderson County Council was wrong to outright dismiss such a resolution, especially so quickly and without any suggestion of further consideration (something which has been a hallmark of this council). 

Let’s hope they reconsider joining the rest of the state in efforts to keep our citizens safe and protect the safety of the citizens across Anderson County.

Opinion: Teachers Need Our Kindness More than Ever

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.’ –Jacques Barzun

Growing up, the waning days of Summer meant one thing: time to go back to school.

It was an unofficial holiday season, complete with shopping. I liked school, and even though it meant returning to often brutally hot classrooms (I never attended a school with air conditioning), it also signaled a new beginning, a new year.

The smell of a fresh Blue Horse notebook, a freshly sharpened pencil mixed with the dust of blackboard chalk was intoxicating.

Most of my teachers seemed equally pleased to be back on their stage for another year, grateful for the challenge of shaping ideas and sometimes changing the lives.  

Even in those days, when there was strong parental support in small neighborhood schools, preparing to teach a room full of kids could be a bit like trying to fill a bucket with holes in it.  

Some kids picked things up quickly, while others did not. But in the days before standardized tests, teachers had more time and authority to figure out what each class needed and work toward meeting those needs. Teachers were trusted.

The decades that followed brought more administrative tasks and pressure to prepare students for state/national testing, the scores of which often were used to evaluate the profession. 

So the workload and hours increased alongside students who are increasingly unprepared for classroom.  

And as teacher authority slowly eroded, disruptive student behavior and violence increased. 

Little surprise that one study found that between 40-50 percent of teachers burnout within the first five years in the classroom.

Salaries have improved, some, but still lag far behind other professional positions with similar hours and benefits. 

Now a new set of challenges has been added to the plate of all educational professionals this year.  

Finding relatively safe ways to return to students safely to the classroom during the COVIC-19 pandemic is both difficult and politically charged. 

Schools in some states, such as Georgia have quickly discovered that sending students back to classrooms without requiring masks or appropriate distancing, is not going well, with many schools closing or being forced to make sweeping changes within the first few days of reopening.

Schools in Anderson County school districts are taking a variety of approaches which hope to keep students, teachers and staff as safe as possible this school year.

But keep in mind none of the decisions made here or elsewhere in the country on if/how/when it’s safe to return to any form of in-person classroom were made by teachers. Some were made through cooperative efforts of superintendents and school boards. Others were dictated by school boards without adequate information.  

So teachers are being asked to add to their already long hours of work the added responsibility of doing these things while hopefully slowing the spread of the virus.  

Some will teach remotely, and those I have talked to who are taking this route will miss the students and interaction of the classroom. 

Many of those going back into traditional in-person classroom are terrified by the prospect of being the teacher they want to be while avoiding contracting the virus and taking it home to family and friends (many of whom are in the high-risk category for the virus.) 

Not a single teacher knew when they chose the profession that one day they would be labeled essential front-line workers in a pandemic. 

Facing the prospect of nervous parents, students and the community adds another layer of worry and concern. 

As a community we can all make the best of a difficult situation. 

As students begin returning to school this year, please dig deep for extra measures of compassion, patience and grace for our teachers. 

In the best of times, most teachers don’t see a lot of  expressions of kindness for what they do. 

Like it or not, we are all in this together. How we weather this storm will both reveal our character and either build or tear down the education process which is likely to be forever changed by the pandemic. 

Now would be a good time to start a new back-to-school tradition. Send thank you notes (include gift cards if you can) to let teachers know you appreciate their efforts - especially now (If you don’t have kids in schools, surely you know a teacher that could use such encouragement). 

Such expressions might ease (at least a little) their unprecedented uphill challenge of the new school. 

It never hurts to try a little kindness.

Opinion: Anderson Should Reconsider Rejecting Mask Ordinance

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Last week the City of Anderson declined to join most of the state’s other sizable cities in implementing a requirement to wear a protective mask in at lease some public locations. 

Fifteen of South Carolina’s 20 largest cities (the City of Anderson ranks seventeenth) now require masks in many public places. Many other small towns also have approved similar laws, with most issuing a $25 civil fine for non-compliance. 

In the Upstate, Greenville and Spartanburg now require some form of face covering in grocery stores and pharmacies. Central and Clemson require a mask in all public locations.

The reason? Our friends and neighbors, especially senior citizens and those with health issues are in danger.

South Carolina is among the fastest growing states for COVID-19, with an average of more than 1.200 new confirmed positive cases per day over the past month. With 70 percent of the hospital beds in now occupied, health officials are taking notice and making arrangements to implement their surge plan to add an additional 3,000 beds in hotels, closed hospitals and gymnasiums if the current trend continues.

So why the reluctance by local officials to do their part in slowing the pandemic?

One reason the city gave for not implementing mandatory masks requirements is that they would be difficult to enforce. Our neighboring towns and cities don’t seem to agree, and with good reason: it would not be that difficult to enforce. 

The City of Anderson just this year implemented a new law banning all forms of smoking downtown, including vaping. A mask ordinance would be no more difficult to enforce that this new law.

Smoking is a hazard both to the smoker and those around them, and this is a clear parallel to wearing masks.  

City officials seemed to echo the remarks of S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster who has insisted that he “trusts the citizens in this state know what to and to do it.” 

Then why are their seatbelt laws? Speed limits on roads? Weight limits for vehicles on some bridges? (this list could go on and on) 

The reason for such laws is that people don’t always behave in a way that is in their best interest and the best interest of others.

To suggest otherwise, that our individual opinions and options carry more weight that scientific study, is shorted sighted.

There are two main reasons to wear masks. While there is evidence of protection for the wearer, the stronger evidence is that masks protect others from catching an infection from the person wearing the mask. Infected people can spread the virus just by talking, and those who are in places where singing is part of the meeting, especially churches and other places with choirs, spread the virus in even more profound ways.

Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies the airborne transmission of viruses, recently told NPR: “You're talking, when things are coming out of your mouth, they're coming out fast. They're going to slam into the cloth mask. I think even a low-quality mask can block a lot of those droplets.”

There is also evidence that universal mask use, even if worn by people who are feeling healthy, according to another study by BML Global Health, which examined those in Beijing with COVID-19. In China, which already had a culture accustomed to wearing masks, the  study found that in households where all wore face masks indoors as a precaution before they knew anyone who lived there was sick, the risk of transmission was cut by 79 percent. 

The Center for Disease Control has strongly recommended the wearing of masks since the beginning of the pandemic.  

From the CDC website:

“Cloth face coverings are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the cloth face covering coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice…this recommendation is based on what we know about the role respiratory droplets play in the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, paired with emerging evidence from clinical and laboratory studies that shows cloth face coverings reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth.” 

The website references 19 recent scientific studies which conclude masks can help at least slow the pandemic.

Sadly, the wearing some form of masks in public has shifted from a safety debate to a political statement over the past two months. This despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of scientific studies on masks, including current and past studies on their efficacy, conclude that masks at the very least can slow the spread of virus germs.

What started as largely maskless protests against shutdown orders has spiraled into far wider anti-mask sentiment. As states have began to reopen their economies, many national chains and local businesses are requiring customers to wear face masks when in stores leaving the businesses and their employees on the frontlines of the debate. 

Stores with strict about masks have reported angry customers (search YouTube for examples) who grow aggressive when attempts are made to turn them away for not wearing masks. These confrontations have led to violence and even one shooting across the country. 

The rhetoric on masks and temperature checks have featured accusations of "trampling constitutional rights" and mask burnings in protest. Some question the science, often referencing some individual doctor, nurse or other “expert” who challenges the bulk of scientific evidence. Others have even suggested masks are dangerous to one's health, a conclusion not supported by research. 

Still others express another viewpoint, one which does not outright deny the evidence that masks slow the spread of the virus, suggests that it’s all up to God and his will concerning whether they die or not. (Little is said about the decision leading to the spreading the virus to those around them who may not share their theological convictions). 

Then there are also those who follow the leader, President Trump, who has through word and deed made it clear he is not going to wear a mask even around those who have tested positive. His recent rallies in Oklahoma and Arizona found few supporters not following the president’s lead to go militantly mask-free. But the good news is even the Trump campaign is now encouraging masks at the upcoming rally in New Hampshire this weekend where masks will also be made available. 

And while masks are certainly not a cure-all for COVID-19, areas both at home and abroad which have required masks as part of a comprehensive health response have managed to get the pandemic under control. The scientific community around the world is accelerating work on a potential vaccine, which will be most effective in areas not still spiking virus numbers. 

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams suggested recently the wearing of masks is akin to the effectiveness of any vaccine.

“Ultimately it is a choice we make, and I hope it’s made based on the best available/current science, and a desire to do all we can to help others and ourselves/our communities,” Adams wrote. “Like vaccines, the more who participate, the greater the impact.”

He’s right, and it would be in the best interest of everyone in Anderson County for local governments to work together on a comprehensive ordinance requiring masks, at least in critical places such as grocery stores and pharmacies across the county. 

The City of Anderson should reconsider their recent decision and take the lead in this movement to require masks in some public places, creating a template for other towns in the county to follow.

Opinion: Anderson's Confederate Memorial Belongs in Museum

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Statues have largely lost their place as a public tribute, but the practice is not gone entirely. 

In Anderson the two statues were erected in recent years, both to honor African Americans: one for “Radio” Kennedy at T.L. Hanna High School following the movie about his life and one of our county’s greatest war heroes, Freddy Stowers at Anderson University. Stowers was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first African-American to receive the award, for his bravery during World War One, fighting under French command because the United States still did not allow African American combat soldiers.Worker install the Confederate memorial in downtown Anderson in 1902.

But it is the Confederate monument in downtown Anderson is getting all the statue attention this week.

Tuesday night, Anderson County Democratic Party Chair Tonya Winbush asked county council to move the statue to a museum. Winbush started a petition for the move, and now has more than 22,000 signatures supporting the effort.

On Wednesday, vandals sprayed paint parts of the base of the monument. Security video is a bit fuzzy, but at least two individuals are in the photos causing the damage. 

It’s unlikely the issue of a monument to the lost cause of the Confederacy in the middle of downtown Anderson is going away quietly. 

We are hardly the only community in the state (and nation) facing the challenge of what to do about such statues or other elements bearing the name of those who fought against the United States in the Civil War, or those who were adamantly pro-slaverly.  

South Carolina law complicates the issue. Twenty years ago lawmakers made compromises to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse in Columbia by passing the Heritage Act of 2000 which forbids the moving, renaming or modification of any “monument, marker, memorial, school, or street erected or named in honor of the Confederacy” without the support of two-thirds of both the house and senate.

This complicates matters significantly for local authorities seeking to make changes. There are few loopholes in the act if public property is involved. 

Charleston removed a statue of John C. Calhoun this week, a move made possible only because the statue is on private property.

Earlier, Clemson University moved drop Calhoun’s name from the school’s honor college, which was allowed because it was the name of a department. But the university’s board of trustees also approved changing the name of Tillman Hall, named after the notorious Sen. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, back to “Old Main,” the name the building was previously know as until 1948. But the legislature will have to approve this move due to the Heritage Act. 

Anderson’s Confederate monument hasn’t moved in 118 years, but the message it conveys, truth of history has moved beyond Southern provential sentimentalization of the War Between the States.

What began as an idea on Declaration Day in 1886, eventually led to a group which raised the funds for the statue which was dedicated in January 1902 in a ceremony that featured the Clemson College band playing “Taps” as the statue was unveiled. A series of speeches and a parade of Confederate veterans were also part of the event. 

At the top of the monument stands Anderson native Major William Wirt Humphreys, who despite being injured in several battles, served throughout almost the entire Civil War, returning to Anderson where he served in a number of prominent positions. Humphreys is buried in Old Silverbrook  Cemetery. 

The monument also includes two inscriptions which may have resonated with Confederate veterans in 1902, but which today are both offensive and baffling to the modern mind.

The first, ironically on the monument’s South side, reads: 

"The world shall yet decide,

in truth's clear, far-off light,

that the soldiers who wore the

gray, and died

with Lee, were in the right." 

The truth, examined in any light of enlightenment, clearly cannot possibly conclude the cause of the Confederacy was in any fashion as “right?”  

The longer inscription on the monument’s East side extolls the chivalry of the South’s cause, a myth largely put forth in later years by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Some continue to insist the War Between the States was fought over states’ rights and other economic issues. But any issue of economics is tied to the South’s refusal to end the practice of slavery, which allowed the ownership of other human beings.

And while there were certainly foot soldiers who may have never owned slaves, those who sent them to war certainly did it to protect their right to own slaves. 

Most other civilized nations had long abandoned the practice, even though indenturement had continued for some groups, such as the Irish. 

But support for slavery as an economic engine and philosophical justification was deeply embedded in the minds of Southern leaders.  

Slavery was about the economy and maintaining the lifestyles of wealth plantation owners and others, making it a central part of the formation of the Confederacy.

Add to the argument, praising the heroes of a group which waged war against the United States of America less than 100 years after the nation waged war for the concept “That all men are created equal,” should serve as an affront to true patriots.

There have been no public monuments or statues praising England’s King George III or any of his generals anywhere in this country. Likewise there should be no monuments or statues of Jefferson Davis or any of his generals memorializing their efforts on town squares. 

It’s long past time to move these monuments and statues to places where they can be properly preserved and used to teach the full measure of history, not seek to errantly glamorize localized versions which are steeped in nostalgia and racism. 

These tributes to the past belong in museums, and Anderson’s monument would be well served by moving it a few blocks over to the grounds of the Anderson County Museum. The museum is one of the best in the country for its size, and would be the perfect spot since inside there is already a substantial exhibit on the Civil War. 

Such a move is not, as some cry, an attempt to destroy history. Instead it enhances history by preserving such artifacts and putting them in context in a place where learning about the past is part of a sacred mission. 

History is preserved in great details in books in every library in the country, as well as in various art forms. Moving the statues and monuments to places where they will be seen in context and the full light of history for generations to come. 

In spite of the clear evidence, there remains division among locals about the monument. One local group has started a petition asking Anderson County to begin the process of this move. To date more than 22,000 have signed. Another group with a counter-petition to keep the monument downtown has more than 8,000 signatures. 

The debate is far from over, and will likely be discussed during citizens’ comments at county county meetings for the foreseeable future.

But to paraphrase the words on the monument, it’s clear: 

"The world has decided

in truth's clear light,

that the soldiers who wore the

gray, and died

with Lee, were never in the right.”

Wearing Masks in Public a Gesture of Concern for Community

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County Council meets tonight, the third in-person meeting since the beginning of the revised schedules caused by COVID-19 and a good time to take stock of how seriously citizens are taking the virus.

In the first two meetings, the county has done a good job of setting the stage for the public to attend these meetings while maintaining healthy precautions.

All in attendance have their temperatures checked at the door, chairs are spaced well over six feet apart, and masks are offered at the door to those who don’t have one. 

But masks are not mandatory, and at Thursday night’s meeting fewer than half in attendance chose to wear them.

It was a relatively long meeting, and afterward many of those not wearing masks huddled in shoulder-to-shoulder groups to discuss the business of the evening. 

Meanwhile on Thursday South Carolina posted a then record 987 new cases of the virus. On Saturday that number rose to 1,187 statewide, while Anderson County has seen it’s largest weekly increase since the beginning of the virus with 48 cases in two days going into the weekend. 

Our state is one of the fasting growing areas for COVID-19, and hospitals are beginning to reflect the rise in cases with an uptick in admissions, although thankfully not in proportion to the large increase in positive cases.  

AnMed has bee requiring masks of all patients and visitors for weeks. 

The City of Greenville just indicated it’s taking the rise seriously by requiring masks be worn in grocery stores and pharmacies. Auburn University announced this week all students, staff and faculty will be required to wear masks when returinng in the fall.

Current evidence clearly suggests wearing a mask slows the spread of the disease. The European Union, where masks are more widely used, has seen a dramatic drop in cases of the virus. So why the resistance here? 

While there is still much to be learned about COVID-19, it’s clear that wearing masks could play a major role in slowing its spread. 

Sadly, it’s reached the point that many here either don’t believe the virus is a serious threat, or believe wearing/not wearing a mask is a political statement or some expression of freedom. Some even taunt those in public wearing masks, which is immature at best.

Interesting that many of these same people have little issue with laws requiring the wearing of a seatbelt, or other everyday limits such as elevator occupancy or speed limits.  

Such rules/requirements are widely considered for the good of all, and obeyed with little griping.

It’s time wearing masks in public places joins those regulations, at least for now. Putting those required to work regularly with the public, and others who are out and about at risk for little reason is foolhardy. High-risk groups who have largely stayed at home should not have their health threatened because the friend or family member who buys their groceries was exposed by those not wearing masks. 

Tonight’s county council meeting, which looks to be a short one, would be a good place all citizens to begin to recognize that wearing a mask is a simple courtesy. Free masks will be available. Once again it’s optional, but as virus numbers climb perhaps it should be required next time the council meets. 

Wearing masks in public places is an easy, simple step we can all practice to exhibit our concern for the well being of our community. Why wait for new laws to start?

Time to Talk about Values and Attitudes is Now

Terence Roberts, Mayor City of Anderson

I was born in 1959 and was the oldest son of William and Linda Roberts. They were black educators at Westside High school in Anderson. As a little black boy growing up in the segregated south, I have vague memories of watching on television the civil rights protests, Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and John F. Kennedy. So for me there were moments that I could sense my parents’ uncertainty about the future.

Although we have come so far in the last sixty years, our country continues to struggle with the issue of safety.  We all want to live in communities that are safe and vibrant.  We still have many neighborhoods in the Upstate in which this is not the case. Over the last few months I have often wondered what will be the vague memories of my grandchildren.

I believe it is time to speak up. If deeply cherished values are not to degenerate beyond all recall, apathy must cease. People are aware, of course, that harmful changes are taking place in our society both in attitudes and values. But nobody wants to talk about it. We see the greed and materialism going on in so many aspects of our daily lives and we say nothing. We hear about and see on television the extreme violence and protests that are taking place in large cities and in our small towns. The public outcry in the Upstate will continue unless we take immediate action.

It is time for us to stand up for what we believe in. This is a local issue. I have proposed that Ten at the Top should convene a regional exploratory committee consisting of local government leaders, law enforcement officials, community & business leaders as well as members of our faith community to discuss opportunities to create a united Upstate region where all stakeholders work collaboratively to ensure that we foster a culture that respects and values the lives of our law enforcement officers and all residents. This committee will ask questions, look at best practices and seek guidance. Then my hope is that we form core beliefs and stick to them. Of course, we all must be open for compromise, but remember the old saying, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

There is an anonymous folk saying which goes, “We ain’t what we want to be, we ain’t what we’re gonna be, but thank God we ain’t what we was.” None of us can have the luxury of stopping and sitting down where we are as if our work on this earth is done. We must learn from our past mistakes and press on to greater achievements. In these uncertain times, we must strive to be able to move through pain, anger, doubt, and fear without missing a step!

This originally appeared in Greenville CEO is a daily publication that focuses exclusively on business issues in Greenville, SC. To learn more about how to expose your business to others in the community Contact us today to receive more information about editorial, video and promotional exposure at Greenville CEO.

Honoring Those Who Sacrificed All for Freedom

By THE L0s Angeles TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

Sixty years ago this past February, a U.S. Navy plane on a routine flight out of Saigon slammed into a low mountain as it neared Hue, killing all three men aboard, including co-pilot Lt. Cmdr. George Wood Alexander, a career Navy man from Glendale. They were among five U.S. military deaths in 1960 tied to the U.S. presence in Vietnam, then numbering 900 troops as growing tensions soon led to open warand mass American deployments. The other two deaths came from an accident and an illness, so none of the five died in combat, yet they still perished as a direct result of their military service. Such is the nature of war — the risks soldiers face aren’t limited to the battlefield.

The practice of formally recognizing those killed in war arose in scattered placesaround the South at the end of the Civil War, with several of the earliest organized by former slaves and black freedmen recognizing the sacrifice of Union soldiers in ending slavery. In 1868, the grassroots events jelled into Decoration Day, which during World War I expanded from remembering the dead of one war to remembering the dead of all wars (though Congress didn’t recognize Memorial Day as a federal holiday until 1938).

About 9 million soldiers died in World War I, nearly 117,000 of them Americans, whose arrival in 1918 tipped the balance and led to the defeat of Germany and its allies. Half of the American deaths weren’t from bullets or bombs or fire but from illness. That was a much lower total than during the Civil War, when two-thirds of soldier deaths were a result of illness. In fact, World War II was the first war in which more U.S. troops died in battle than from disease and other causes, a testimony to advances in medical treatment.

And here in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, service members continue to be at risk, particularly those living on Navy ships and other assignments that bring soldiers together in close quarters, including the crew of the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, whose captain was relieved of his command after he put the health of the men and women under him ahead of Pentagon protocol. So even in relative peacetime, the non-combat threats remain.

When it comes to war, we have been lucky as a nation. For the most part during our history, we fought them elsewhere. We mounted a War of Independence around 1776, fought the British again in the War of 1812 (which led to the torching of the White House), fomented countless battles with North America’s native nations in our quest for more territory, wrested 525,000 square miles from Mexico, and survived the fratricide of the Civil War, a hellacious endeavor that involved 3.2 million soldiers on both sides (at least 620,000 died) in a nation that then only numbered 22 million people. Yet during the 20th century, perhaps the most violent century in human existence, the U.S. faced no serious threat of invasion. 

So the pain of those wars fell on people in the countries where they took place and on the Americans who fought them, and on their families. We observe Veterans Day in November to honor all those who served, preserving Memorial Day to remember those who died. Having two national holidays devoted to those who fought reflects how much war has come to dominate our culture (we have no national holiday celebrating peace). Over the past few weeks, military jets have done fly-bys in different spots around the nation, including here in Southern California, to recognize front-line professionals working to stifle the pandemic. 

It’s an odd linkage, a display of military might to honor civilian health and emergency workers. But maybe such homages are a logical extension for a society that describes a medical campaign against disease as a war — much as we have declared wars on drugs and poverty. Everything is a war these days, it seems. The war on immigrants. The war on women’s reproductive rights. The war on Christmas. The war on science.

Those political metaphors aren’t wars, of course. Wars are the bloody next step after failed diplomacy, the final resort in imposing the will of one government on another or, conversely, of overthrowing oppression and birthing a nation. Sometimes they are necessary, sometimes they are the result of blundering national leaders, sometimes they are pure folly, But in all, soldiers do what is asked of them, and our cemeteries are filled with the human cost. Today we again recognize that collective debt.