Black to Black

By Barney Blakeney I got the phone message from a lady at William Enston Homes in downtown Charleston a couple of weeks ago. She was expressing frustration at the Charleston Housing authority’s announcement that some residents would be moved out of their apartments as they are renovated. She felt the Charleston Housing Authority, which owns…

By Barney Blakeney I first met with some folks about Holy Spokes Bike Share a year ago. Speedwell Foundation’s Mike Messner wanted some help in making more people aware of the initiative that allows riders to rent a bike to get around the peninsula. Messner wanted more low income residents to access the option. It’s…

By Barney Blakeney With all the hullabaloo about the Palmetto Rose Kids, ignored in the discussion is workforce training for grown folks. While the issues of Black kids selling Palmetto Roses is important and speaks to a lot of pivotal issues in our society, focusing on kids selling handcraft is like treating a festering sore…

By Barney Blakeney For years I’ve done an annual story about the Kids Count report. The report is compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national organization that since 1948 monitors and reports on the well-being of children. My former editor, Jim French used to provide me a hard copy of the report each…

By Barney Blakeney With the November 6 general elections looming, a couple of items that came across my desk in the past week seem more important – a request by the S.C. National Action Network for investigations into the former Charleston Naval Hospital property sale and redevelopment and rate reductions for SCE&G customers. Voters should…

By Barney Blakeney They say there aren’t enough hours in the day. For years, I thought my lack of sufficient time to get stuff done was due to my time management – setting priorities and scheduling accordingly. I’ve come to think no matter how well you do those things, when you’ve got a lot of…

By Barney Blakeney I try to stay away from ‘hot topics’ when writing this column. I figure if everybody else is talking about a subject, how much more can I add? But a friend and regular reader of this diatribe said she is interested to see what I have to say on the subject of…

By Barney Blakeney   The fallout’s still raining down from the June 12 primary elections. I started Father’s Day with the receipt of a telephone text about some crap about a story I wrote and Black folks being bought off as I prepared to hear Summerville Apostle Christopher Coleman tell the congregation at Wesley UMC…

By Barney Blakeney By the time this is published, the primary elections will be over. I usually vote early. For years, Tuesdays have been my most demanding workdays. Nowadays, I vote early every election. My parents were responsible citizens. I never heard them talk politics much. They were Black folks in the segregated south who…

By Barney Blakeney   The ink wasn’t dried on the column I’d just filed last week when I got the North Charleston police report of another shooting homicide. My column, in part, was about the city ranked among the nation’s most dangerous also being ranked fifth most prosperous. Talk about contrasts! Police spokesman Spencer Pryor…