Community Op-Eds

As states reopen their economies during the Coronavirus pandemic, opportunities abound to make African American businesses sustainable. To keep your doors, open right now do not disregard the importance of ensuring customers have a safe, healthy shopping experience. Don’t become a statistic because you failed to take measures to assure your customers you care about…

Once the panic subsides, if the panic subsides, we would be mistaken to not pause long enough to think about the future of our city, region, and country with a new lens. Charleston’s real estate boom has been like a Girls Gone Wild video of investors clamoring to own a piece of the Holy City.…

By Dr. William Small, Jr. Old sayings often get to be old because they are most often true. One such saying that comes immediately to mind, suggests that when America gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia. The current Covid-19 crisis illustrates that in spite of all of the political, social and economic progress that…

There is a clear racial disparity in how the coronavirus is impacting South Carolina communities. Throughout the United States and right here in Palmetto State, African-Americans are being disproportionately harmed by COVID-19. While African-Americans make up 27 percent of the state’s population, 57 percent of reported deaths and 36 percent of confirmed cases have been…

By Jason Sakran As the newly elected Charleston City Council Member representing District 3, the past four months have been exciting, eye-opening, reaffirming and somewhat disappointing. A recent example that embodies these emotions can best be illustrated by my recent attempt to help small business owners here in Charleston in the wake of the COVID-19…

With our network of community partners, the Lowcountry Food Bank has a proud history of responding to crises and supporting our neighbors who struggle with hunger – every day of the year. For our neighbors, who are already facing food insecurity, being quarantined to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 means the very real danger of…

By Dot Scott Today I’m writing not as the President of the Charleston Branch NAACP, but instead, as a citizen of the City of North Charleston, and a former member of the North Charleston’s Citizen’s Advisory Commission on Police-Community Relations. I join in the Charleston Area Justice Ministry’s call for an independent audit of the…

By Dr. William Small, Jr. The 21st century and the years escorting us into the present place in history flashed a lot of warning signs that our egos and our mythologies made it very easy to ignore. America has been blessed since its inception with geographical and technical arrows in it’s national quiver, that reinforced a…