A Letter of Caution to Charleston and neighboring communities
By Mark A. Leon
This commentary is brushed with admiration and fueled by optimism, but must be posed with an air of caution, because with change comes adjustment; with adjustment, comes resistance. Given the rapidly changing landscape, education and acceptance are critical for ensuring a positive future for Charleston.
Last week, a story broke centering around an attack on a transgender female outside a downtown Charleston nightclub. This led to questions on whether this was a targeted attack. Yet, a hush remains over the community. As an active resident for many years, I have observed some clear cultural practices:
- This is a culture that bottles up emotion and works hard to “not” rock the boat
- There is limited government activism and strength in rallying over a cause
- There is deeply embedded resentment and separation between rich and poor; black and white
We hear that Charleston is the friendliest city in the country and one of the top destinations for new residents and career opportunities, but look at some other issues that will arise as we continue to become one of the fastest growing regions in the South and the country.
- If Charleston is one of the friendliest and most welcome cities in the country, why did the government feel the need to apologize for slavery, an act that was abolished over 150 years ago?
- If it is necessary to remove slavery from our historic story line, why are housing communities still called “plantations”, the term or location that many associate with slavery?
- The hottest area of economic growth in the Lowcountry is construction. With that, we are seeing more and more migrant and immigrant workers. Is this community comfortable with that?
- With the career opportunity growth and South Carolina ranked one of the lowest in the nation in academic standards, how we will fill those much-needed skilled roles to meet the demands of the area? This question becomes even more critical with the recent announcement of the new Google Data Center and the existence of over 250 active start-ups.
- In the latest census, Charleston County residency is 95.7% white and black. A demographic shift will change significantly in the next 10 plus years. How is the city going to adjust?
- We currently have a commuting traffic issue in the city metro. With Volvo, Nexton and the expansion West of Summerville, this will create a second bottleneck of traffic on 26. How is this being addressed?
- As traffic issues continue to mount, the infrastructure changes to more modern architectural design and the fight against unfair treatment of the carriage horses mount, will the historic Southern culture of Charleston soon be gone?
- Can the Lowcountry survive with the increased pressures of new development and resident growth, while we still cannot solve the issue of flooding and poor water quality?
These are questions that have run through the minds of many and unfortunately, we seem to be allowing our local governments free reign to capitalize on changes without taking steps to solidify the future. The future is being compromised and contrary to what government and media is saying, it I not for the better.
More tourists, more money, increased costs and more homes are not always the right direction of progress. In addition, progress does takes time. The rate we are progressing is not healthy.
I hope we start to organize and stand in numbers as one voice to either slow down change or prepare for the future. If not for us, for our children.
Charleston Daily
Charleston Daily is a concept in community. Its mission is to promote, assist, and celebrate in everything Charleston, South Carolina. By partnering with businesses, community leaders, volunteers and events, we are spreading the love that is Charleston. As this city continues to grow and prosper, we want to help spread the message to all about how wonderful this community is. Charleston is about the people, community, water, land, history, heritage and the true southern warmth it brings with each and every day.
Make the changes necessary to accommodate the growth. The end of growth would be depressing. Cities are supposed to grow.
As someone moving to the low country from an Asheville in economic ruin, know that tourist dollars are neither sustainable or create livable wages for most.
Beer City is a sucky place to live. We did not organize here well enough to divert sufficient funds to keep our communities safe, health or educated. Our children have been forced out by increasing competition for jobs and housing by people moving from L.A. and NYC.
Dont let just the greedy dictate change.
I hope my story will be the change concerning Domestic Violence in Charleston.
My children trafficked and extorted by the legal community, the political lawyers.The trust fund entitled abusers of women. If you are not a man, you are treated inhumane in Charleston.
The wealthier the women, the more abuse. Yes, thats the real discrimination of Charleston!
To see the world through such a depressing negative view must be very tough
I have lived in Charleston for many years but I have also lived elsewhere – Charleston has its quirks but has shown it has respect for all its citizens.
I agree with you.
I agree 100%! We moved here to Charleston last year from Los Angeles, California and it has been the most rewarding thing we ever did for our family! The schools are amazing! Way less traffic, LA is the worst! The people are amazing, some of the friendliest people you will ever meet! You couldn’t pay me to move back to California! Charleston is a blessing, quirks and all!
I FINALLY HIT THE SUPREME COURT IN WASHINGTON.
THANK YOU GOD!
then its not her money….this swap needs to be drained dry…protect it from illegals they will change it to dirty dirt in a blink of an eye
Shut up you dim fucking racist and continue to fuck your cousin.
People like you are illegals. You stole this land from natives and murdered everyone for prime real estate on the water. Go back to your meth trailer.
did you read the comments before displaying your lack of taste and general ignorance?
when someone resorts to personal attacks or cussing it clearly shows the lack of an argument
Natives aren’t illegals, they actually have a right to be here….bye bye illegals!
I do not understand how any town,city, or community can keep building BEFORE roads and basicinfrastructure issues are resolved. Someone is making a lot of money and it is not the people in the communities affected by growth. And no, Mr. Woolsey, growth unchecked leads to this hot mess.
Finish 526!!!
I moved here from NYC 11 years ago. I moved into a new subdivision back then and it did not have the word Plantation at the end of it. I recently bought a new home on Johns Island and that subdivision does not hv the word Plantation at the end of it.
The Civil War started here. People need to deal with that. This city has is rich in history, whether good or bad. Just like in Germany. The Concentration Camps , what is left of them still exist. Should they be destroyed? Of course not.
You go to stores and restaurants and they are employed by blacks. It’s ridiculous to say we have racism here because there was slavery here.
I do agree that with all the building that has gone on here, there has been no planning for infrastructure. It boggles my mind on that issue. This newly elected Governor better get his act together. And this Mayor.
The city has changed. But what city hasn’t??? Look at NYC! I grew up there. It’s not the same like it was. It lost its charm and character. Give me back the old raunchy 42nd St. The old Upper West Side. The West Village. Tribeca. Now!? Hi Rises everywhere you look. Chain stores. Gone are the small businessness. And the prices are ridiculous. A one bedroom is $4000 a month. A little one bedroom to buy will cost you $1.5 million.
So the person complaining about Charleston changing should take a trip to NYC. It’s true people from CA and NY and hi cost tax states are moving here. Some are moving to TX. Maybe if those states would get their act together, those people would stay where they are and not move here and ruin it for the rest of us.
The issue is that racists like you worship a symbol and time where slavery and indentured servitude were largely legal. You claim you’re not racist but state that if a black person works at a restaurant “how could anyone be racist”. Are you cognitively dissonant or is there some other issue here? You refer to a group of people by skin colour alone as if you’re not trailer trash that’s punching above their class.
Ashe – You are the only uneducated racist on here, so kindly go fuck yourself, with a loaded shotgun.
You made some excellent points there Lynn but you just called yourself out on your own post. I grew up in Mt P. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. I don’t live there now and I don’t plan on moving back for the reasons you mentioned. Local govts didn’t do anything when people like yourself started moving in heavily 10 to 15 years ago. Schools, tax rates, and infrastructure all stayed the same. Fields, marshes and forest, now gone or at the very least, compromised in order to sell, the “lowcountry lifestyle.” The Charleston that I will tell my kids about was mysterious, wild, and beautiful. It was accessible and friendly. This is not an issue of race, but class and greed. Prepackaged and bottled so that those who did move in from the outside could feel like they weren’t from the outside.
Charleston is EVIL. The state leads in human trafficking. Double the national average for deaths of women of domestic violence. If you try to leave the lawyers will stalk you, wiretap you and harm your family.
Anyone who says that racism, classism and misogyny are not an endemic problem in Charleston is gaslighting you.
You are disappointed sting and need to be ashamed of yourself. I am tired of transgender issues being used as nothing more than mere ammunition for whatever issue, paradigm, or agenda it is people like you want to push for the day.
Trans people have been around since humanity has been around and you’re probably only treating us like we’re new because of media circus that crops up every now and again. Sorry you think we only started existing around 2016 or at the earliest whenever hormone replacement therapy became available… Oh wait, that was some time in the late 1800s if memory serves correct… Or at least before the 1920s in any case.
You opened this article by mentioning the attack and then swerved hard – HARD – into tons of unrelated nonsense. You never came back to mentioning it again. Shame on you. Trans acceptance has come and gone repeatedly already before in the decades last century and has absolutely nothing to do with measuring out any changes other than changes that have been flip flopping for almost 100 years. Get bent!
I should say that first sentence should read “your article is disappointing”. I have no earthly clue what happened there.
If we don’t do something about the illegal immigrants pretty soon all gas station, restaurant and basic labor jobs will be stolen from local residents. This will also drive lower paying jobs to pay even less. It is currently happening/happened in sanctuary cities and states. Illegals can work for less because they do not pay income tax, live in extremely modest conditions, usually over occupied thus allowing for very low cost of living. This allows them to work for less money, live, and send a large precent of their income to their country of origin. The largest percentage of Mexico’s GDP is from money sent back by illegals in the USA. Governor McMaster is going to take active measures shortly after he gets elected. For now, what we can do is not hire them. Hire locals not illegals!
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AGREE 100% I LOVE CHARLESTON! This article is so negative.
Born, raised and educated in Charleston. African Americans have always been the victims of defacto racism and discrimination here. I am speaking from my personal experiences of living and working there all my life. I love my city and change is good and even necessary at times but this is a different animal. This is wrong. People live in their bubbles and believe that everything is good until it effects them personally. Other than that they really don’t give a damn about you or your economic, social or political conditions. It’s like an Ostrich with his head in a hole, if I can’t see it then it can’t see me. Ignore and marginalize racism it will go away. Ignore red-lining it’s not a common practice in our communities. Inner-city black schools aren’t educating our kids. hell close them down, rename em and relocate those people. They call it progress. I call it a shame. Charleston like other cities has its challenges. Nothing is perfect but we should strive to respect other opinions no matter how strongly we disagree. And that the truth is always the truth.
I agree black communities have had a hard time and have not advanced well over the years in some A.A. communities. However, we have a big current issue that threatens our community as a whole and specifically the rising black communities. Charleston has a 100% employment rate. Illegals are coming into our communities and beggining to take jobs and lower wages. We need to come together as black and white brothers and sisters and protect the jobs that this incredible booming economy has provided!
I grew up in Summerville and always loved Charles. The unchecked growth and influx of those from other parts of the country have diminished the way we lived. There is a southern lifestyle that is difficult to “learn.” You live it, you breathe it from childhood to adulthood. Yes, we had issues, but we worked on improvement. The outsiders move in and want to enjoy the lifestyle yet they also want to change things that were positive from their own culture from whence they came. The true southern culture is suppressed in this process. Traffic is horrendous, festivals and events have become so crowded that I find it’s not worth attending. Some neighborhoods have no privacy due to the constant gawking tourists driving or walking by our historic homes to see what they can see. Growth is not always good. There is a bottleneck beginning in Columbia all the way to the coast. No, Charleston and Summerville are no longer a monthly trip for me eve though I have family there. It’s disgusting to me to see some of the changes money yet touted as progress. How many more people can you pack in to the area? The history of Charleston is, in my humble opinion, so rich. We learn from our past and to try to erase all that it once was is ludicrous.
Charleston is one of the best places to live. My ancestors were some of the founding families and I can assure we were not brought up to hate anyone! It apologized for its PAST. It is no longer that place. We can all agree slavery was very wrong.
As far as the name plantation for neighborhoods, you must look at other places as well. The Charleston area is not the only ones.
Things are so hyper-sensitive today and we are all learning together.
And… If you hate Charleston as you seem to by this article then by all means move.
I have never had a bad experience with any race while living here or anywhere in SC. So, please don’t lump every person, town, city or state in one category.
Bless your heart.
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