SC’s 2022 King Day at the Dome event to go virtual again out of COVID concerns
The South Carolina NAACP’s annual King Day at the Dome event, which has played host to candidates for governor and president who have used the platform to speak directly to Black voters ahead of the state’s pivotal primary, will go virtual in 2022 out of COVID-19 concerns.
It’s the second time the Columbia-based event marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day has had to shift to online because of COVID-19.
State NAACP Conference President Brenda Murphy confirmed the move to The State.
A flyer provided to The State said the event will start at 10 a.m. Jan. 17. Leon Russell, chairman of the NAACP’s National Board of Directors, will be the keynote speaker. More details about the event will be released closer to the date.
The annual event traditionally kicks off with a church service at Zion Baptist Church on Washington Street. Afterward, churchgoers walk down Main Street toward the State House, with King’s “I Have a Dream” speech playing over loudspeakers on the Capitol grounds.
King Day at the Dome is popular for political candidates who flock to the event in large part to woo Black voters, who make up roughly two-thirds of the Democratic voting bloc in South Carolina.
In 2020, eight Democratic presidential hopefuls spoke to attendees at the 20th anniversary. They included then-candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who walked down Main Street with voters.
“I think we’re at the second inflection point of the civil rights movement in America,” Biden said at the event in 2020. “We have to work twice as hard together to get out of the situation that we find ourselves in.”
King Day at the Dome was started by protesters more than two decades ago, when they stood outside the State House demanding that the Legislature take down the Confederate flag from atop the dome. Through a legislative deal that helped to create what’s known as the Heritage Act, the flag was eventually moved to a more prominent spot on the grounds next to the Confederate Soldier Monument that faces the busy intersection of Gervais and Main streets.
The flag was completely removed in 2015 after a self-professed white supremacist murdered nine Black churchgoers, including state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
This past January was the first cancellation since the event was first held in 2000 because of COVID-19.
Though most events in South Carolina returned to in person this year, the last few months have been marked by the appearance of the highly contagious omicron coronavirus variant. Omicron has caused a rise of cases and hospitalizations, though health officials say people who are fully vaccinated and have their booster vaccines tend to have milder symptoms than those without.
Ahead of the New Year, state health officials warned of a likely surge in new cases, particularly after South Carolina hit a new all-time high for daily cases of nearly 9,000 Friday.
The previous high was set a year ago Jan. 6.
