Prayer, portrait will honor slain SC Sen. Pinckney’s life

Slain S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney feared in 2000 that South Carolinians would be debating what to do about the Confederate flag at the State House for more than a decade.

“I’m afraid, as many in my generation are afraid, that five, 10, 15 years down the road, we will still be discussing this issue,” then-state Rep. Pinckney said, before lawmakers struck a compromise to remove the banner from the State House dome and fly it on the grounds.

Pinckney had no way of knowing that his death – he was slain last summer with eight other parishioners in a racially motivated shooting at the church where he was the pastor – would be the catalyst to furl the flag, ending that divisive debate.

On Wednesday, Pinckney’s legacy and his memory will be honored when the state Senate unveils his portrait.

The unveiling comes almost a year after the Jasper Democrat and eight other African Americans were shot and killed while studying the Bible at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.

The massacre led to the Confederate flag’s removal from the State House grounds after the public and lawmakers learned that Dylann Roof, the white Midlands man accused in the killings, had posed in pictures with the banner on a website with racist writings he allegedly wrote.

But the end of the flag fight is not the legacy Pinckney would have chosen, lawmakers who knew him well said Tuesday. Instead, they said, he would want to be remembered for fighting to expand South Carolinians’ access to health care.

“There were many things that he stood for here: health care, education – things we are hoping ... people know that he stood for,” said state Rep. Carl Anderson, D-Georgetown, chairman of the Black Legislative Caucus. “He was very vocal in what he believed in.”

Members of that caucus and others will gather in prayer at 2 p.m. Wednesday on the State House’s north steps as part of “A Day of Remembrance; A Day of Celebration.”

Health care a top priority

Without fail, lawmakers who knew Pinckney said Tuesday he fought to expand health care – despite knowing that Democrats, the Legislature’s minority party, had little say in the matter.

That fight is the legacy he would want to be remembered for, friends in the state Legislature said.

“He (Pinckney) would tell us all – I know he would – ‘Don’t miss this opportunity to remove the flag,’ ” said state Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, who got to know Pinckney after both were elected to the House in 1996. “But that’s not something that he would have wanted to define his service on. And I know he would see still a lot of unfinished business for South Carolina.”

At the top of that list of unfinished business, Smith and other lawmakers said, would be health care.

“All of us are so glad that the flag came down,” said state Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, who knew Pinckney first as a college student who was preparing to run for the S.C. House. “But of all the people that I talked to about the flag ... he was probably the one that would engage me the least.

“He would say to me, ‘Man, it should come down. It’s horrible. But, boy, we’ve got some other issues,’ ” recalled Jackson, who has kept a picture of Pinckney in his truck since the senator’s funeral.

Pinckney was passionate about expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act – a move the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature and GOP governor have rejected.

Jackson, also a pastor, said his message to the governor and lawmakers is simple: “You want to honor Clem’s legacy? You expand Medicaid. The flag is a great symbol, but when it came down, not one additional person got health care.”

Working behind the scenes

Lawmakers say they miss Pinckney’s deep voice – something he used more often in smaller circles than taking to the Senate podium.

“He was a really humble guy who worked a lot behind the scenes,” Jackson said. “He wasn’t a guy who was always shooting for the headlines or the highlight reels.”

Shortly before his death, Pinckney did take to the Senate floor to push for a bill that would pave the way for police statewide to be equipped with body cameras. While that proposal passed, legislators only partially funded it.

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, said Pinckney’s influence in pushing issues to the top of the Democratic agenda was missed this year.

Having sat next to or near Pinckney for more than a decade, Sheheen said he also misses Pinckney’s smile, calm demeanor and kindness.

“Clem’s legacy, really – both his life and his death – are being remembered because of what happened outside the chamber,” Sheheen said, referring to Pinckney’s ministry and his death.

“In a way, that’s an important reminder to those of us who do work here that what really matters is not just what we do here, but what our impact is outside.”

The day of Pinckney’s death, Sheheen remembers taking up money from senators for a gift for the State House’s custodians. Sheheen was asking for $15. Pinckney gave him $20 and said to keep the change.

“He wasn’t wealthy. He lived off of a preacher’s salary. But he was more than happy for that extra money to go to those custodians,” Sheheen said.

“I take a lot of grace from that moment, knowing what happened later that day.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 8:32 PM.