SC Rep. Jermaine Johnson’s message for his colleagues got 1 million views. Here’s why | Opinion

It’s something almost every Black person of a certain age in South Carolina understands even if we can neither perfectly describe nor fully define it.

It’s what state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, was discussing at the South Carolina Statehouse the other day, when his speech garnered national attention and more than 1 million views on YouTube.

Johnson was opposing an extreme anti-diversity, equity and inclusion provision in the state budget that was eventually removed on technical legislative grounds. Republicans are still pushing a bill targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, but they eliminated a provision last week to ban government contracts with private companies that have such programs after hearing criticism it might cost the state a lot of money and open it up to lawsuits.

That’s not the heart of what Johnson was fighting, though. Not really. He was fighting something deeper. He was expressing his frustration with what I call the state’s bless-your-heart bigotry. It’s deployed by some white South Carolinians who are adamant about rolling back racial and civil rights progress but don’t want anyone to notice them doing so. They hide behind the disarming catchphrase “Bless your heart” to advance their dirty deeds.

“You don’t like being called racist in here,” Johnson told his colleagues. “You hate when we use the word racist… You hate being attacked. You hate when we bring up race and everything. But then, when we have an opportunity to show that we’re not racist, you let me down every time.”

He noted that his white Republican counterparts are personally cordial, particularly when they are in one-on-one situations, like over a meal, when “we talk about our families. We talk about our kids. We go on trips together. And then we talk about not using our state dollars to go to white supremacy programs, and then we table it.”

Despite that cordiality, funding has been stripped from college programs designed to help Black kids, and African-American Studies has been banned, unlike other Advanced Placement courses.

“Every single time we give you an opportunity to show us something different, you show us who you are,” Johnson said.

I don’t know about Johnson, but I’ve lost faith that his words, or mine, will cause anyone to rethink things.

No matter how many times GOP state lawmakers take positions that harm or demean Black people, no matter how many times Black people plead with them not to, no matter how many times we are cordial in return, they keep doing the same thing. They seem more concerned with the preservation of statues and monuments honoring racist traitors than they are about Black kids suffering along the rural region along Interstate 95 known as the “Corridor of Shame,” or being robbed of an education that can inspire them to persevere through challenges as their ancestors did. They are convinced that because they extend invitations to visit their church on Sunday morning, nothing they do with the power granted them can be racist.

We are supposed to believe the consistent racial harm they cause is accidental. Or that it’s for our own good. Or that it’s necessary to preserve their image of a state that was the first to pick up arms against the U.S. to make the institution of slavery permanent.

The white South Carolina legislators who came before them spent the century after the Civil War enforcing “Black codes,” allowing (or participating in) public lynchings, fighting to keep Jim Crow in place, and defying court rulings designed to end segregation.

But according to their logic, it would be un-Christian to point this out. Because it would hurt their feelings. Because being rightly called out for the racism they still support is worse than the racism they perpetuate.

Because in their eyes, the preservation of the image of the innocent white person will always be more important than racial progress.

Johnson knows that. He’s seen it up close for far too long and could no longer remain silent. It’s time for the rest of us to start shouting, too, no matter who it makes uncomfortable.

This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM.