The Hollings Society, because we need more men like Fritz Hollings in government (Charleston: home, schools)

[Charlestondata]

“A decade after he left public office, Hollings asked to take his name off Charleston’s federal courthouse in order to give that honor to the late U.S. District Judge J. Waties Waring — who orchestrated the beginnings of desegregation on that very site.”

https://www.postandcourier.com/opini...fc89ef424.html

[Vaccinated Masker]

I can't access the article but I assume the article does not mention Hollings was a segregationist. The premise of the article appears to be current leaders and residents don't measure up to a man who was a segregationist.

The MUSC cancer center is named after Hollings and so is a terminal in the Charleston airport. He now has a statue in front of that courthouse. I think the statue overshadows the name of the building. The whole story ends up being about Hollings being 'heroic' rather than Judge Waring.

[Charlestondata]

The excerpt in quotes reveals that he changed. It says ten years after he left public office he had officials remove his name and replace it with the name of a leader of desegregation. Not to mention that he changed his views long before he left office.

[Vaccinated Masker]

There's no way to know for sure if he sincerely changed. I don't recall him supporting the John C Calhoun statue coming down in downtown Charleston. If he did change, he still wasn't 'woke'. If he wanted it gone, there's no reason to believe it would have stayed up given the rock star treatment he receives to this day.

Setting aside Mr. Hollings segregationist past, why has there been a consistent push in our newspapers to assert we need people like Fritiz Hollings and to present him as a Great Man? The small portion of the column that I could see briefly presents him as being above tribalism but he was a standard Democratic politician. He was known for being rude to people as well.

I've yet to see these newspapers run any commentary about Mr. Hollings that isn't gushing in nature. Where's the journalism?

I can't see any young person agreeing with you Mr. Hollings is an impressive person if they watch the 1960 video of Mr. Hollings and JFK giving a speech in SC. It is available on Youtube. They gushed about John C Calhoun in that speech. I was shocked the progressives at SC educational tv posted that on the internet.
John C has been the no. 1 target of the monument removal and building renaming movement.

It seems like most of the people touting Mr. Hollings are white men in their 60's and older. I have been thinking about organizing a protest against the Hollings statue and building names in Charleston.

[Charlestondata]

I knew both eras of Fritz Hollings. I’m not stuck on the era of segregation in my view of him. It’s that simple.

In the post-segregation era, when he spoke, I listened, and I was hard-pressed to ever disagree with him. He was special.

[Vaccinated Masker]

I'm sure there are some 60 plus white males in SC who think Strom Thurmond was special but we don't see them randomly and frequently gushing about Strom on this forum. I don't recall reading gushing articles about Strom Thurmond in our newspapers.

I can't think of one thing that would be different today if Fritz Hollings was still in office. I would argue that we do have people like Fritz in our state and federal government right now. Some of them were at his funeral and his statue ceremony including one big name on the national level.

For me, the word special should be reserved for men and women like George Washington Carver who invent stuff. Not a run of the mill politician.

[Charlestondata]

Special to SC. You see it the way you see it and that’s not going to change. That’s fine. Whatever. But Fritz Hollings’s political career lasted long after the civil rights era was over. He had lots of time to make amends and did so. Same for Strom Thurmond. They both worked hard to bring home federal dollars to federal-dollar-needy SC, and that federal money helped all.

[Vaccinated Masker]

I can't understand why a self described progressive has touted two former segregationists numerous times, especially during black history month. I don't mean this as a criticism. It is interesting to me given the accusations that we hear on a regular basis. My theory is that people with my views have an increased awareness of the optics of gushing over a former segregationist due to these accusations than somebody with your views. In other words, we are actually more woke. The falsely accused become more woke than the accusers.

I think there is some truth to the wokeness stuff but the woke people don't use the right examples or they cherrypick in a hypocritical way.

It sounds like you are saying a former segregationist, Fritz Hollings, is more special than our black Senator, Tim Scott. That's not good optics given the history of our state. Given SC is a popular destination for relocation and economic development, it doesn't seem we have missed Mr. Hollings.

The policies he would likely be supporting if he was still in office have been implemented at the national level in the past year. In my view, our president is Fritz Hollings without the southern accent.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Vaccinated Masker

Given SC is a popular destination for relocation and economic development, it doesn't seem we have missed Mr. Hollings.

SC wouldn't even be a hotspot for economic development if it weren't for the leadership of Fritz Hollings.

https://www.scchamber.net/media-cent...after-50-years

[Vaccinated Masker]

That's a weird premise given SC shifted to the GOP as it industrialized. I think most people would associate vocational schools with the right. I don't mean this as a criticism, but I don't think most people can envision an AOC doing a welding program at Greenville Tech. It seems like a lot of people on the left, especially the liberal arts people, look down on vocational schools today and say SC is too manufacturing oriented.

It doesn't make sense to believe vocational schools were the unique idea of Ernest Hollings or would not be here without him.

Given Hollings put the Confederate flag on the State House, a case could be made he did more than any one person to hurt the image of the state in the modern era. The newspapers never mention it. There's an infamous picture of Hollings giving a baby Confederate flag to JFK with a big grin on his face.

Hollings was a big tax guy. I don't think high taxes are what entice companies to locate in SC. I can't recall if he was for or against right to work but he was in the party generally opposed to it. Generally all of the corporations cite fiscal conservatism as a reason they locate in SC. They use the euphemism 'business friendly' but they mean fiscal conservatism. Hollings endorsed John Kerry in 2004 so it is hard to make a case he was a fiscally conservative person.

Every state has vocational schools so having those is not a competitive advantage. People on the left say our schools are underfunded but you are saying corporations locate here because of ostensibly underfunded vocational schools. They must be funded well enough if that is why corporations locate here.