July 28, 2016
SCDP CHAIR SPEECH TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
To watch SCDP Chair Jaime Harrison’s speech to the Democratic National Convention, click here. Below is the text, as prepared for delivery:
“Good evening, I am Jaime Harrison, Chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.
“As a demagogue preaches nostalgia for the past, it’s worth remembering our past.
“In 1948, a 10-year-old girl in Orangeburg dragged bags of cotton under a searing SC sun. That girl was my grandmother. Millions of other Americans lived separate, unequal lives.
“In 1960, a college student was arrested in Orangeburg for protesting that unjust system—and in jail, met his future wife. That student was Jim Clyburn.
“Thanks to him and countless other marchers, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Johnson correctly predicted Democrats would lose the South for a generation as a result.
“But to paraphrase JFK, now the torch has been passed to a new generation of southerners—diverse, progressive, and fed up with Republicans’ failed governance and dangerous divisiveness.
“When this generation hears Donald Trump claim that America was only great in some bygone era, we know painfully well we can’t go back to the Old America and the Old South.
“Democrats believe in a New South because no matter your race, immigration status, income, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, we all have the same aspirations for high quality education, good jobs, safe neighborhoods, health care, and retirement.
“These aspirations were my grandmother’s, who now sees her grandson as the first black party chair in South Carolina.
“These aspirations were Jim Clyburn’s, who became Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Only Democrats can help all Americans fulfill these aspirations.
“After the horrific massacre at Emanuel AME Church, South Carolinians united to take down the Confederate flag.
“But we can’t pat ourselves on the back for taking down the flag until we take down the barriers to education and health care. We can’t pat ourselves on the back for being polite until we do what is right.
“Secretary Clinton—who followed her heart to Arkansas—understands that the American Dream extends beyond the Mason-Dixon Line and that South Carolina’s motto—while I breathe, I hope—applies to all. She is strongly supporting all of our state parties with a 50-state strategy because we are stronger together, and only together will we more truly become one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
