Remarks By Governor
David M. Beasley

Kid's Day Kick-Off
June 12, 1997

Before we get started, I'd first like to thank Richland Memorial for letting us set up shop here this morning.

There's no better place I can think of for kicking off this day than right here. This is where life begins and this is where it sometimes ends.

And that's what we're here to talk about today...just what kind of start our children are getting in this life and how we can do better by them in the future.

What the studies keep showing us...and we're seeing it in every category from infant mortality and accidental deaths to literacy and juvenile delinquency...is that far too many children in South Carolina are coming into harm's way.

Of course, most families in South Carolina are doing an outstanding job raising their children. They're passing on lots of love and discipline and guidance...because they understand that the family is truly the launching pad for life. And their children are doing just fine.

But too many children start this life in the wrong direction, coming from homes that aren't filled with that love and attention. They're the ones we'll focus on today.

These are the ones going without good nutrition or medical care. Too many of them start school behind and they never catch up. Too many wind up pregnant or behind the prison fences. Too many are raised without a strong sense of right and wrong.

The status of these children is unacceptable. It's time to take responsibility as parents, as people of faith and as elected leaders and finally say, "No more."

We're going to show you in pretty graphic terms today what children are being faced with...at this hospital, at school, in juvenile prison.

We'll show what good people all over the state are doing to ease the load.

Most of all, we will show that the wounds go far deeper than government band-aids can cure. The problems don't fall into nice, neat categories. They're messy and ugly...and it's hard to know where one ends and the next begins.

We do know that those wounds come when families break down, when communities stop caring, and when values crumble.

Let me give you just a hypothetical, but familiar, scenario.

Consider a young couple that starts having trouble in their marriage, so they decide to have a baby. But the problems don't go away once the baby comes, and eventually they split up.

The child is raised without a father, by a mother who has to work all the time. When she's not working, she's bringing home a steady stream of boyfriends.

Instead of spending his afternoons studying, this little boy is watching TV, he's falling in with a bad crowd. He starts drinking and trying drugs. Pretty soon, he starts selling drugs to support his habit. And that's what lands him in DJJ.

That by itself is a tough path to follow. But think of the road facing kids not born in a middle class home like this one. What about the babies born in the projects of South Carolina?

200,000 South Carolina children are growing up in single parent homes right now. And most of those parents are giving everything they've got to do right by their children. I know, because my mom was one of them.

But too many times, when families fall apart, unhealthy patterns like I described become cycles of destruction.

Breaking those cycles will take more than gentle prodding. It will take heavy lifting by the hands who can do the work best...and that's family, community and people of faith.

We're beginning to see that the more we've asked government to take care of us...to essentially become our nanny...the more willing we are to be baby-sat.

But this nanny's not qualified to do all the work we've given her...she can't truly care or feel or change a life.

So I say it's time to give the government nanny her walking papers...and time we tended our own house for a change!

Government of course has a hand in making life better for its citizens. And I'll be proposing steps throughout the day that we as civic leaders must take to help families.

But the key to this whole crusade has nothing to do with taking on more programs. And it has everything to do with taking back responsibility...and taking back our culture.

That's no small task, because I'm sure you've noticed that the forces working against our children are more powerful and pervasive than ever. Those forces are literally stealing the hearts and minds of our children right out from under us.

This change will have to come like a tidal wave...in a swell of activity that starts from the depths of this society...in every home and neighborhood and classroom. As it starts to churn and change us from within, eventually it will overtake us with a whole new way of thinking and living.

If you think that kind of turn-around is impossible, take a quick look back. Consider the 180 our society has taken just within our lifetime.

Society has turned the tide before, and we can do it again. I'm sure going to beat on this bully pulpit until I see it happen!

But if we're to change course midstream, each and every one of us has to throw our weight behind it.

It will take mothers and fathers committing to the bonds of marriage...to take responsibility for their children...to love and instruct and nurture from the moment of conception.

Educators, we need you to be vanguards of innovation...to look at ways we can teach the basics and prepare them for the future. We need you to transform the status quo with us...both at your school and through new ideas like charter schools.

Folks in the media, we need you to take note here. Because when your messages grow louder than our voices at home and in school...when they undermine us instead of backing us up...all we try to do and say gets drowned out.

We need the media to help us change the messages. You can start by showing some backbone and refusing to saturate our airwaves with sex and violence.

You can also do a great service today by telling South Carolina about the good things folks are doing...and showing your audiences how they can be a part of it.

And last of all, we need the faith community to actively march in this crusade as the true reformer of hearts.

Study after study show us that faith-based programs are the most effective in helping people overcome behavioral problems. And giving hope and guidance has been the church's mission throughout the life of our nation.

Even the inmates at DJJ you'll hear from later will tell you: it's not just the prison experience or the people they've met that changed their ways. It's faith in God that's changed their hearts.

So I challenge the faith community to find new ways to reach out. If your building is vacant in the week, why not open your doors after school and give children a place to go?

There's transforming potential within your congregations, so what can you do to throw open your hearts and your doors to neighbors in need?

No matter who touches a child's life along the way...a pastor, a teacher, a neighbor...the best place to shape this reformation is in the home. That's where the crusade for the hearts and minds of South Carolina's children must be fought and won.

Today you'll follow us down the path many South Carolina children are traveling.

First, wešll talk to doctors from this hospital to talk about what happens when children have children, when mothers don't take care of themselves, and how we can combat teen pregnancy. We'll go to the pediatric emergency room and hear from doctors about accidents that never should have happened...and what parents can do to keep children safer.

We'll go to the morgue. And the coroner will tell us what it's like to tell a parent their child just died. Chief Austin will talk about the tragic combination of alcohol and violence in the home. We'll unveil the new Highways or Dieways ad campaign.

Then we'll go to an elementary school, where teachers and parents will remind us how important it is to read to children early and to make learning a priority at home.

And we will end the day hearing from some teenagers at DJJ who will tell us how the forces all worked together...lack of a strong family structure, cultural pressures, a slow start in school...to get them where they are today.

It's going to be a long day. But at the end, you should see a big picture of all we're up against...all the good that's being done...and all we can accomplish together.

You are the first witnesses of a cultural reformation in the making. Because today marks the start of an all-out crusade for the hearts and minds of South Carolina's families and children. My challenge is that you'll join this crusade not just today, but for the long haul...as turners of the tide and co-partners in the crusade.

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