The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP held the 25th King Day at the Dome on Jan. 20, featuring Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, as the keynote speaker.
After a prayer service at Zion Baptist Church, the event moved to the Statehouse with a march led by the Allendale-Fairfax High School JROTC Color Guard. King Day at the Dome began in 2000 to protest the Confederate flag which flew over the Statehouse. After the flag was removed in 2015, the annual march continued.
As the event was taking place, President Donald Trump prepared to take the oath of office during his inauguration day. Several speakers referenced the coinciding events.
“Right now at this very moment, there are people in Washington D.C. and around the country saying that our movement is over and that we lost,” Harrison said in his speech. “They’re bragging about how they’re going to take us back.”
The theme for this year's march was “There Is No Winning in Giving Up,” a motto relevant to Black South Carolinians, said Harrison, who was born in Orangeburg, SC.
“There are road bumps in life, and lord knows Black folks in South Carolina have seen many of them,” Harrison said. “But we don’t give up. We keep fighting. We keep pushing. We keep moving forward. And so that’s what Dr. King represents.”
Harrison encouraged an increase in Black voter registration during his speech. If there were enough Black voters, electoral outcomes in South Carolina and in the country could look different, he said.
“There are hundreds of thousands of unregistered Black voters right here in South Carolina,” Harrison said. “If they were registered, Kamala Harris would be inaugurated in the White House right now, today. If they were registered, we would have a different governor in this governor’s mansion.”
Voters should get to know their representatives and download the SC Legislature app, Annie McDaniel, chair of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, said. The app shows users legislative activity such as votes and committee meetings, she said.
“You don’t have to call me and ask me how your senator voted or how your representative voted,” McDaniel said. “You have it at your fingertips.”
Speaking to reporters before the event, Harrison said that Joe Biden’s cabinet looked like America, while Trump’s contained billionaires. Martin Luther King Jr.'s economic message is often overshadowed, he said.
“We need some economic justice as well,” Harrison said. “There’s still a lot of people who are struggling and who need a hand up. Not a hand out, a hand up. And so that’s what Dr. King preached about.”
Other government officials discussed their roles in relation to King's mission.
U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina Adair Ford Boroughs spoke on her office’s actions in the past two years. While South Carolina does not have a state hate crime law, her office oversaw five convictions in the state under federal hate crime legislation, she said.
Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann was scheduled to speak, but City Councilman Tyler Bailey took his place. The City of Columbia continues to fight for the values of King through the activities of the Office for Business Opportunities, the Office of Neighborhood Safety and the police department, Bailey said.
While King's work took place decades ago, President Amani Williams of the South Carolina NAACP’s Youth and College Division connected the civil rights movement of the past to his life today.
“If we were truly free, I wouldn’t need to turn down my radio when I pull up next to a cop at a traffic light,” Williams said. “Because my music I listen to or the color of my skin makes me seem like probable cause.”
The question remains whether the new president will live up to King’s message, Harrison said.
“This is Dr. King’s day,” he said. “This is a day of service. This is a day of unity. Will Donald Trump step up to the task and unite this country?"