DARLA MOORE

SPEECH AT THE BREAKFAST

HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Charleston, SC

January 17, 2006

Thank you, Mayor, for those kind remarks.  I especially appreciate them coming from an individual whose outstanding record of public service and work for social justice is unparallel in this state.  Joe, this is the first opportunity for me to publicly add my voice to the countless others who have rightly lauded you for making Charleston such a wonderful city.  Since I have purchased a home in Charleston, I have seen first-hand the difficult decisions you face daily in not only making Charleston a wonderful place to visit but also an even better place to live.  It is appropriate that you are one of the sponsors in the celebration of an individual who demonstrated a lifetime of selfless leadership. 

Today we celebrate a man whose eloquent oratory carried the power to unify, inspire and persuade – a man who demonstrated courage and calm in the face of brutality and vicious threats.

But, the most important point I would ask you to take away from today’s ceremony honoring Dr. King is that he was a leader.  At every moment in his life – he was a leader. From leading 50,000 in nonviolent protest at the tender age of 26 in Montgomery in December of 1955, to his wonderful, challenging words of hope and vision on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963, to the horrible moment of his death on April 4, 1968, -  Martin Luther King was a leader.  Through his leadership – his words – his passion – his dignity, he was able to transmit strength and courage to the thousands who followed him in the struggle for social justice.  He was able to convince policymakers at the highest level that allowing segregation was nothing more than promoting discrimination. It is this acceptance of the responsibility of leadership by Dr. King that I want to emphasize today. 

It is unchallenged that the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is rightfully secure as one of our great American heroes, regardless of the opposition of some die-hard racists.  His name will endure in our hearts and minds not only for his tireless struggle for equality and justice but also for the courageous and dignified manner in which he pursued these goals.  But, the question we have to address today is whether his vision will endure. 

As he stood before his people on the evening of December 5, 1955, he knew that this monumental effort was just beginning – he knew the dangers of leading this movement and he knew the consequences to so many if he failed. His words though were not about the difficulty or the dangers but what the achievement of the movement would bring; listen to his words:

“If you will protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written, the historians will say:

There lived a great people – a black people who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization.

This is our challenge and our overwhelming responsibility.”

I believe Dr. King was not only talking about overcoming social injustice but also, and just as important, economic inequality. Describing the economic status of African Americans, Dr. King would later say – “It was like African-Americans [were] living on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast area of material prosperity.”

That challenge is still before us today.  I commend to you a report entitled “The State of the South 2004” published by MDC, a North Carolina research foundation. The basic theme of this work was “Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, race still matters but poverty, regardless of race, matters more.”    In South Carolina, over 600,000 people -- both black and white -- do not have a high school diploma or lack the literacy and technical skills needed to locate and keep a good job -- that is one-third of our working population.  According to the 2004 Census estimated economic data for South Carolina, the per capita income of African-Americans is $13,360 while $25,264 for Caucasians.  We have 12 counties defined as persistently in poverty, which means they have a poverty rate of 20% or greater and have had for 4 consecutive decades.  These numbers simply are not acceptable.  They have to be addressed.  And, to address them, we must start with leadership.  If 20 years from today or even 10 years from today, we are standing here again simply celebrating the name of Martin Luther King, we have failed.  If we are not assembled, celebrating new leaders who have met the challenge of eliminating the economic disparities found in so many of our communities, we will have failed.  Celebrating Dr. King’s life without making every effort to implement his vision is not fulfilling his dream. 

Dr. King had heroes, people who inspired and influenced his thoughts – Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln come to mind immediately.  But, it was not Gandhi or Lincoln who provided the leadership to the thousands in Montgomery – it was not Gandhi or Lincoln who persevered in the face of overwhelming resistance and brutality -- it was Dr. King.  Sadly, he is gone.  And while you can be inspired and influenced by his words and his deeds, it is you who must provide the leadership to address the economic disparities we face in South Carolina today.

It is not an easy task.  The issues are not so plainly drawn.  We face a society where the role of government and business are changing dramatically.  Government is moving from an institution once relied on as a universal provider of resources to a collection of strategic agencies serving as a catalysts and enablers.  Businesses are facing global competition in a knowledge-based economy.  They are demanding higher levels of training and education from their employees.  They must find more innovative ways to compete.  At the community level, businesses want partnerships where both the community and the business gain benefits from mutual support.  This demands collaboration.  It demands leadership.  We are compelled to work together to find competitive advantages for our businesses and, at the same time, build wealth for our low-income people.  For us today, it means that the leadership of the business community must collaborate with the leaders of the African-American community to ensure hope, to provide guidance and, most important, to provide solutions. 

So today, in honor of Dr. King, I ask you to demand more of our leaders.  And, if they are not up to the task, then find new leaders.  No matter how strong our effort, no matter how great our cause, no matter how loud we shout about our inequities, we can never fulfill our dreams, we can never end the inequities that hold us back without leadership.  Martin Luther King provided it.  He took the challenge.  Now it is our time – it is our role – it is our calling. 

As I travel across the state working with the Palmetto Institute to find ways to increase the wealth of all South Carolinians, I can tell you that young people are hungry to be challenged for a greater purpose.  They simply need leadership.  We must show them the way to economic power.  We must have an economic foundation that provides a quality education for every student.  We must have an economy strong enough to offer every young person a job with good wages, the chance for advancement, and, most important, a chance to participate. 

I stand before you committed to the ideal that economic power through real leadership and collaboration can guarantee the poor and disadvantaged the opportunity to achieve.  There is no other message for me.  Mayor Riley put it so well in that heart rending piece, Corridor of Shame, when he said that the future of South Carolina is the future of our poor and our rural communities.  The state as a whole cannot succeed if they fail.

In the future, when we return to celebrate the wonderful life and vision of Dr. King, let us realize that the destiny of our state and of our community will be based on whether we can find ways to collaborate and to work together to solve our problems.  As Dr. King instructed us in his “I Have a Dream” speech, “We cannot walk alone.”

Today we honor a man who so richly deserves our praise.  No words can adequately give him the credit he deserves.  Not until we join hands to fulfill his dream will this honor be complete.  That is why we are here today and that is what will drive us to make South Carolina a better state in which to live and grow.

Thank you.