Remarks By Governor
David M. Beasley

All the more reason to be here. Our purpose is not to change anybody's mind about politics, yours or mine.

Rather, I want to put a question before you tonight--one that transcends politics. The question is what kind of society do we choose to be?

David Hume wrote, "There is some benevolence, however small, infused into our bosom, some spark of friendship for human kind, some particle of dove kneaded into our frame, along with elements of the wolf and serpent."

It seems to me there are two kinds of voices out there vying for attention. One kind, the shrill voices of the wolves and serpents, demand allegiance to the "me" in all of us, as in "What's in it for me? How do I get mine?"

These voices deny community. They pit us against them. Black against white. Man against woman. Rich against poor. There's no objective truth in the tirades of the wolf and serpent, no right and wrong, no good and bad. No concept of neighbor or responsibility.

These voices dominate much of American life. So powerful are they that families crumble, the elderly are abandoned and children suffer.

But, I'm sorry to say, most of us heed these voices from time to time in more subtle ways.

I think David Hume was right: each of us has elements of the wolf and serpent. Who among us can't look back and wish we had done or said things differently, or with greater sensitivity or with more compassion?

But ladies and gentlemen, I'm here tonight as Governor of all the people to say that all of us--and I include myself--must reject the wolves and serpents and instead cultivate that particle of dove within our frame, for on that frame rests all that is good and decent.

That's what I want to discuss tonight.

For many years the Columbia Urban League has heeded the quieter voice of the dove. In recent months I've had good conversations with J. T., James Bennett, Ron Loewen, Gus Rogers and others of you here tonight.

We're all trying to paint the same big picture. While the hues may be a little different, while artistic perspectives may not be the same, it's still the same basic picture.

It's the picture of a state that lets parents raise their children in the way they should go. One that reinforces the family structure with its taxing and spending policies. It's a state that offers educational and economic opportunity and seeks to lift everybody up instead of tearing everybody down.

And the nexus of the picture, the very heart of it, is people of every color and culture who stand together despite their differences and declare that racism overt or covert cannot be and will not be tolerated on any level, at any place, in any circumstance, by anybody in South Carolina. Period.

To that end I have accepted a recommendation put forth by the Columbia Urban League. I will sign an executive order creating the South Carolina Commission on Racial Relations. It's time to get input from a cross-section of South Carolina--all regions, black and white, law enforcement, business, education, parents--to ask some basic questions. Where are we in racial relations? Why? And most importantly, what can we do to lessen racial tension and create a climate that fosters respect and dignity for every citizen?

This won't be easy and not without pain. There'll be the scoffers and critics. But I've made one commitment to the Urban League: the full weight of my office will be behind this effort to improve racial relations and expand opportunity for all our people.

But we don't have to wait on this Commission to know there's economic disparity. We adopted the largest tax cut in history to give working families more of their own money to make their own decisions. And even with the tax cut we added dollars to the budget.

But there's regional economic disparity, particularly in rural South Carolina--a fact documented by the Urban League's most recent analysis of black South Carolina as well as my own Commerce Department study.

The cornerstone of my economic development strategy is to continue this state's unprecedented economic growth, and to expand it to areas that need it most. We will not let county lines limit individual potential.

The Orangeburg Times and Democrat reported last week that County Council is using my Enterprise Zone Act to negotiate with two companies that could mean 200 new jobs and 35 million dollars in investment.

While many counties are using this new tool, it was specifically designed to give rural South Carolina the ability to compete for jobs. It encourages businesses to hire employees within the zone, and specifically provides incentives for hiring AFDC recipients and those living in poverty.

Let me tell you how well it's working. In less than a year 37 businesses have announced creation of 59 hundred jobs with capital investments of one-point-three billion dollars. Among the counties benefiting are Marlboro, Allendale, Darlington, Saluda, Chester, Cherokee and Orangeburg.

In addition I've created within the Department of Commerce a Community Development Division headed by Maceo Nance, whose sole focus is on rural development. We're going to be a resource center to jump-start local economies through leadership training, small business capitalization, work force training and education.

I don't claim to have found the magic cure for regional economic disparity because the problems are wide and deep. But we are trying because we know there is no freedom without economic freedom, and there is no justice without economic justice.

As we attempt to close the economic gap, we also recognize an education gap.

We've asked too much of some of our teachers and students, expecting them to perform in schools that are literally falling apart. Next year South Carolina will launch a statewide school building and renovation program to replace facilities that are a disgrace.

Also next year we will begin stopping the brain drain...losing our students to other states because they have scholarship opportunities that we don't.

It is my goal that every child capable of attending college will get that opportunity regardless of his or her station in life, and that we'll be able to keep our children at home.

And we need to use the technological revolution to our advantage. Some school districts just don't have access to the talent pool that others have. But it's possible to link every school up to the ETV system and with the push of a button make available superior teachers and curricula.

We haven't done that yet and that's penny wise and pound foolish. Next year I will ask the legislature to appropriate the money to get the technology to the classrooms.

In reviewing some of the Urban League's recommendations, I noticed you've spent a lot of time making the connection between college curriculum and jobs. Not everybody makes that connection.

We've lost jobs because employers couldn't find enough computer programmers and other high-tech employees. That's ridiculous, and it underscores the necessity of the higher education and business communities working together to make sure that we're teaching the skills that lead to jobs.

I've tried to share with you my vision for South Carolina in these few minutes--the big picture. But I want to leave you with a snapshot, and this one's not pretty.

If you go out as I did to the Department of Juvenile Justice, you'll see a snapshot of everything that should not be. I have tackled head-on the problems out there and they are imposing.

But it was their eyes that broke my heart, the sad, lifeless eyes. Victims of the wolves and serpents.

Societies are judged not on how the first and best were treated, but how the last and least were treated. These children, and those like them on the streets, need so much. We're trying to fit the system to those needs.

But more than anything they need somebody--just one person--to care.

At breakfast not long ago, Tony Grant suggested a statewide effort to recruit men and women who will be that somebody.

Regardless of whether you and I agree on anything else, I want us to agree tonight to hear that still, quiet voice of the dove within us for the sake of the children at D-J-J. We're going to be working with the Urban League staff to put this recruitment effort together, and I pray that, together, we will make a difference in those young lives.

God bless you.