Charleston unveiled its plan to address systemic racism. Will three words derail it?
Before he even mentioned the words, Charleston City Councilman Ross Appel warned that what he was about to say was political, even strategic and, most of all, not his personal opinion.
He still tried to soften the blow.
Sitting in his car, joining by video for a virtual public meeting Wednesday night, the councilman said he was “a big fan” of the newly released 545-page plan to address systemic racism in Charleston. He said he wanted the effort to be successful.
But after reviewing the draft report, Appel said he now worried that three words threatened to derail the commission’s stated goal of dismantling racism in Charleston through policy changes.
Appel named the “buzzwords,” as he called them, one by one: Reparations, critical race theory and the 1619 Project.
And so, in the Southern city where the Civil War began 160 years ago, a modern-day political fear emerged during the meeting: Could the inclusion of these three words lead to a culture war erupting inside City Hall?
“I’m concerned that those words could be a problem when this hits the floor of council, and I’m concerned that this could create a very charged, negative process,” Appel continued.
“I don’t want to see that happen,” said Appel, who represents parts of West Ashley and James Island. “I don’t want to see the wonderful work that this group has done get derailed because somebody on council says, ‘I can’t vote for a document that has critical race theory in it.’”
What’s in the report?
The draft document and its accompanying 125 recommendations, which was made public Wednesday evening, is the culmination of more than a year of work by the city’s Special Commission on Equity, Inclusion and Racial Conciliation.
The group was created in June 2020, shortly after protesters called on city leaders to address racial disparity and injustice in the Holy City. It also came two years after the city apologized for its role in the institution of slavery.
Dr. Kimberly Butler Willis, who served as chair of the commission’s health disparities and environmental justice subcommittee, told Appel she expects possible political pushback when some council members read those words in the report.
“But I thought when we joined this commission it was to trailblaze, and when we start to eliminate some of the words that are actually factual, like critical race theory, we are indeed whitewashing,” Willis said after thanking Appel for sharing his concerns.
Other members in the meeting nodded in agreement.
She continued, “This is a document that is not centered in the white experience, and it will make you feel uncomfortable, but it’s in that uncomfortableness that I hope we can move forward.”
Council will vote Aug. 17 on whether to advance the plan. A vote in support of it would not mean an immediate adoption the recommendations. Instead, it would send the report and its recommendations to corresponding city committees for further review and consideration.
Examples of the recommendations include reducing the Black poverty rate by 10% in 10 years, increasing assets in the Black community by 20% in 20 years, increasing the number of subsidized health care providers on the Charleston peninsula and reimagining policing as a service.
In an interview Thursday afternoon with The State newspaper, Appel said he was worried the three terms could be used as political ammunition against the city’s effort to make its 2018 apology for Charleston’s role in slavery a “living, breathing document.”
But the word “critical race theory” appears only once in the 545-page plan to address systemic racism in Charleston, a historic port city where an estimated 40% of enslaved Africans first arrived in America.
The same goes for the singular mention of the prize-winning “1619 Project” from the New York Times that sought to reframe American history through the lens of slavery. Reparations, meanwhile, appears four times in the document.
In an interview, Appel addressed why he raised the issue despite the small number of times these terms were mentioned in the report.
“If you’re someone looking to torpedo this thing, you will mine this document for the most inflammatory grenade you can find and try to make it the headline,” Appel said.
A political reality
The effort is also happening as the city barrels toward a municipal election in November.
The filing period for interested candidates opened Monday and will close at noon Aug. 16, the day before city council is set to vote on whether to advance the racial conciliation commission’s proposal for further discussion.
While municipal elections are nonpartisan in South Carolina, national polling shows Republicans are paying more attention to critical race theory than Democrats — and, according to findings from Morning Consult, they also view it more negatively.
Critical race theory, or CRT, is an academic framework that has been around since the 1970s. It is rooted in the idea that racism is systemic in institutions and public policies, like zoning, policing, banking, education, health care and more. Inequities, the theory contends, is not just demonstrated by individual people with prejudices.
Conservative critics of the policy, led by former President Donald Trump, say CRT paints an overly negative picture of America and makes white children feel guilty for actions they didn’t personally commit.
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and other leading GOP figures, have responded to the culture war over critical race theory with the assertion, “America is not a racist country.”
Six members of city council were part of the 13-member racial conciliation commission, along with nearly 50 volunteers from public and private sectors. The report will need the support of seven city council members to advance.
Charleston City Councilman William Dudley Gregorie, who co-chaired the special group alongside Councilman Jason Sakran, compared the upcoming vote to the city’s apology for slavery in 2018.
On the anniversary of Juneteenth in 2018, after hours of public comment, Charleston leaders voted 7-5 in favor of the resolution apologizing for the city’s role in slavery.
“When we did the apology, we went in knowing we weren’t going to get a unanimous vote. We knew it. We knew it. But we needed seven, that’s all we need is seven votes,” Gregorie said. “I don’t care about it being unanimous. I just want this document accepted.”
Gregorie said others may be “quite surprised” by the final vote for this document, but he said the responsibility now rests with the six council members who are on the commission. They must, he said, answer questions from other council members to get them to accept the report.
“If we don’t do our job ... then we fail,” Gregorie said.
Icebergs or mirages
Councilman Mike Seekings, who is not a member of the commission, told The State he would need to see the words in context. He also stressed that he had not yet read the report.
“I want to wait and see how it’s presented and how all the words and all the terms fit together, and what they say,” Seekings said, adding it would be premature to make a decision. “It’s how those words are woven into the rest of the verbiage. Until I see it, I have no idea.”
Councilman Harry Griffin, who has already drawn a political challenger for his council seat, did not immediately return requests for comment by phone and text.
Crystal Robinson Rouse, chair of the commission’s youth and education subcommittee, warned in the Wednesday meeting that a vote against the report and its recommendations would carry political ramifications.
“And I pray that anyone who does vote it down does not plan on running again for office,” Rouse said.
But already, political backlash is happening.
Within 48 hours, Appel’s comments drew criticism on social media from local activists, including the leader of Black Lives Matter Charleston who said it showed a “rise in anti-Black rhetoric.”
Appel, in both the interview Thursday and in his comments Wednesday night, said he wants the recommendations to be accepted by city council so that the work can continue. While Appel said he is personally comfortable with the trio of terms, he said they are often “elastic and capable of misuse.”
He also said he hoped his concerns about politics would be for naught.
“I just see these icebergs on the horizon, but maybe they are mirages,” Appel said. “But we just live in a world where critical race theory, reparations and the 1619 Project send half the country through the roof.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 12:39 PM.
