What does it mean to be progressive in Spartanburg? I wrestle with that question more often than anybody ever should. I wrestle with it because first you’d have to describe what a progressive in Spartanburg actually looks like, and there’s not really a clear answer for that. Reading over previous things I’ve written on the subject, it’s pretty clear that I’m far better at describing what is not progressive in Spartanburg than I am at describing what is. That’s troubling to me in a certain way.
I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to pin down what progressivism is in Spartanburg. Obviously, one reason for it would be that the people themselves don’t really agree on what the term means. Still, I don’t think that accounts for all of what I’m sensing. Anytime I’ve been drawn into a political discussion with other self-described progressives in Spartanburg, there’s always a wide swath of shared vision. Even when I’ve disagreed with some progressive people in the community—strongly enough at times to cause hurt feelings and cold shoulders—there’s still a shared vision that vastly overshadows that disagreement.
The problem with that shared vision, is that to my knowledge, nobody has ever attempted to articulate it properly.
This is where I’m actually a little bit critical of local progressives, myself included. We’ve done very little to let the community know what we actually want to see change in Spartanburg. There’s plenty of talk out there about a “vibrant cultural scene,” a more “sustainable urban environment,” and the importance of being “community-minded,” but nobody out there so far has bothered to tell me what any of that means from a practical standpoint. Do we even know?
Rather than just point out this problem and hope that someone agrees with me enough to actually want to do something about it, I thought I’d use the rest of this column to put my money where my mouth is by sharing a little of what local progressivism means to me.
I am a progressive because I believe that all of Spartanburg’s people deserve a seat at the decision-making table. I believe that the collective power of an organized group of ordinary citizens is the most powerful tool for change in our nation’s history. I believe that Spartanburg’s elites have, for decades, organized themselves around the idea of control, a sort of paternalism that still exists in much of our community’s social structure. I believe that the only way to combat that plutocracy is through organized citizen involvement, particularly involvement from those in Spartanburg’s poorer communities.
I am a progressive because I believe that the people living in the trailer parks and housing projects around Spartanburg have an untapped power to affect change, but that nobody has ever cared to help them learn that fact for themselves. I believe that helping people in underprivileged communities to understand their power and their potential is the most important work local progressives can do. The traditional sense of noblesse oblige coming from our better-intentioned elites isn’t the answer. Lifting up the poorest of our communities must start with empowering the citizens in those communities.
I am a progressive because I believe that a person’s family background should not be the arbiter of whether or not that person is influential in the community. Far too many of the same family names are behind practically everything that happens in our community, good or bad. Too many good ideas are ignored because they come from the wrong quarters, from those who lack the all important “family connection.”
I know a fair number of people from prominent family backgrounds who are doing incredible work to make Spartanburg thrive, and I’d hate to think what would become of our community if those people were to decide to pack it all in and move someplace else. Still, even many of them would admit that the road from “good idea” to “implementation” is much smoother for those who came from the right part of town than it is for others.
I am a progressive because I believe there’s more to public education than just asking questions about taxes and spending. A lot of people were riled over School District 7′s proposed deal with the Country Club of Spartanburg earlier this year, but very few people that I’ve ever spoke with seem nearly as concerned about the blatant inequality in District 7′s schools.
What outrages me far more than a school board’s back room dealings with a local country club is that in a district with a majority-minority population, the best elementary school is 70% white, with 27% of its students receiving free lunches, while less than a mile and a half away, there’s an elementary school that’s 94.6% black, with 89% of its students receiving free lunches. Statistics like that don’t lie. There is a de facto form of class and racial segregation at work in District 7 schools, and progressives should be shouting from the rooftops about it.
I am a progressive because I believe in a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Anyone in our community who works a full-time job should receive a livable wage for it. The “market” shouldn’t be the sole judge of a person’s worth. Nobody who works a full time job should ever have to go without housing, food, or other essentials in our community.
I am a progressive because I believe that all of our citizens have a right to healthy, sustainable food choices. Our community’s poorest residents often suffer much higher rates of diseases traditionally associated with an unhealthy diet. High fat, high sodium processed foods are cheaper and more convenient than more healthy foods like fresh vegetables. As progressives, we should be pushing our city and county to build community gardens in our poorer areas, and to educate the people in those areas about the importance of a healthy diet.
Obviously, that list isn’t the last word in local progressivism. There are many other local issues that I care about a great deal, and like everybody else, I have my own set of blinders keeping me from seeing some issues as clearly as others may. I tend to come at things from a class perspective, and while I do feel that addressing class issues means addressing the core of a lot of what’s wrong with Spartanburg, I know that others would have different concerns.
That’s where you, the reader, come in. That comment section is down there for a reason. I want to know what being a progressive in Spartanburg means to you. What issues do you feel are most important for moving us in the right direction as a community? There aren’t any right or wrong answers on this one, just different people voicing their concerns and sharing their ideas. Step one towards creating a cohesive progressive community in Spartanburg is to articulate what that means to each of us, to start a conversation about what the community we’d like to see should look like.
The community we all want to live in is there if we want it. A vision of what can be is a powerful motivator for positive change. I’ve nudged the snowball down that hill a little bit, and now I’m waiting on you to give it the next push.
Christopher George
Chris, as a fellow local columnist I too have spent plenty of time (and column space) considering this topic. It would be interesting (and in my mind important) to look at the use of the word “progressive” over the last 75 years or so, ie look into the way our local progressiveness fits or doesn’t fit into the history of the Progressive movement of the early 20th century. In my mind (and I think in yours) they have to be connected. (For an interesting post about “progressive” go to: http://blog.commonwealinstitute.org/2007/01/progressive_etymology.html?q=CIBlog/2007/01/progressive_etymology.html) As you can see, I tend to always return to language and deep etymology in the end. That’s one thing I’d call attention to here. “Progressive” for me means believing that “action” is often about speaking and writing, not only “doing” in a more traditional sense. You know, the old “speak truth to power” thing. Someone once asked me why I don’t “do something” about land use issues instead of simply writing about them. They wanted to know why I didn’t simply call up a particular county council member I disagree with, go to lunch with him, and “work on the issues” rather than write about them. I was offended and responded that for me writing IS action. Not everyone sees it that way. For me, Thoreau’s Walden is one of the great “activist” books of all time. It doesn’t matter to me that HDT walked home along the railroad tracks from the pond to have lunch every day. What he wrote formulated an activist vision of the world. He prompted a great deal of constructive reflection AND action, and alot more writing, my own included. I would tend to agree with your points about what it means to be a progressive. I would would point out that in an odd way right now “progressive” communities are now often of mixed political leaning. Someone pointed out to me that in Charlotte right now the real important “green” activism often crosses political lines. It’s not a liberal/conservative thing as it often still is in Spartanburg. Here there are some organizations I’d call “progressive” that are not purely ideological in their political leanings. I’d list the Kudzu Coalition on any list of “progressive” organizations I’d make, but I’d bet that a number of their central figures are quite “conservative” politically, and I’d doubt that all of their members would call themselves “progressives.” I admire their organization’s work deeply, as I show in my column coming out this week. As a last thought I’d have to say what makes me most uncomfortable about “progressive” is when people use it as a new term to replace “liberal” just because liberal carries so much baggage today. JLane
Thanks for the comment John.
I first adopted the term progressive to describe myself partly because I see my own views on issues of class as being a natural extension of the views of that great Progressive Movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. I don’t mind the term liberal, but it’s become a loaded word, creating a caricature in the average person’s mind of a political creature that exists only in the rants of the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the world and has no basis in reality.
The term progressive also has the advantage of being far more descriptive of my own personal beliefs. I’ve always had a soft spot for the economic populism of people like William Jennings Bryan. In fact, I consider his “Cross of Gold” speech to be the greatest speech on economic populism in American history. Bryan’s social policy…not so much.
In a local context, I like the term progressive because it doesn’t carry the party baggage of a term like liberal. Frankly, I don’t think progressivism need necessarily be all that political, at least not in the partisan sense of the word. For me, it means moving forward in an active way to correct some of the mistakes of the past and to move towards a more just and equitable community. That’s a pretty broad definition, and I think it needs to be.
The sort of movement that makes a community better doesn’t happen within the context of one political group or another. It’s understandable that a great many people who involve themselves in such a movement would share many political views, but local progressivism should never be limited by the sort of artificially created, dualistic political thinking that turns everything into a horse race. Politically conservative people who share our vision for what Spartanburg should be are local progressives in my book, and I hope that those opposed to what we’re trying to accomplish never manage to corrupt the meaning the word progressive the same way they have the word liberal.
As far as writing, I get some of the same things that you’ve experienced. The idea that writing is somehow not an action offends me a great deal. All of the great movements of our time were inspired by things that people wrote or said. Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” was the driving force behind our first food inspection laws.
Martin Luther King Jr. was able to move millions precisely because of his ability to use words to inspire. “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” I would argue that the writing of that phrase, and others like it, was as important as any other action during the Civil Rights movement. The ability to move people to action with words is an action itself.
Chris, thanks for taking on this task in a public forum. Local progressives need some internal organization for sure, and in addition to some self-reflection, there needs to be some open discussion.
There’s one point of potential miscommunication that I think should be addressed. My sense is that a lot of political conservatives out there believe in many of the same progressive agenda points, but believe that those issues are best addressed through non-profits. I don’t think that getting local government to help address some of these issues (especially when the cost is relatively low or in a single dispursement) is too hard of a battle if the argument is well-articulated.
About the decision-making process in Spartanburg: I think that wealthy donors (often blue-blooded east siders) fund the projects they like and don’t fund the ones they don’t like, mostly through non-profits. Non-profits and other issue-based advocates, empowered by this wealthy donor base, then get local government to cooperate on specific projects. That’s certainly understandable. But I think that local government can be just as open to citizens who show up and demonstrate that they care. I just think that wide-spread apathy and misunderstanding all but silences other voices. I think that’s what is generally the case.
There are other times, though, when either through calculation or misjudgment, local officials shut out or weaken certain sides. Like when county council appointed only one conservation advocate amidst a room full of developers during design standards discussions.
Or when developers get a free pass to tinker with the Urban Code of the Downtown Master Plan, in violation of the democratic process by which it was created.
Anyway, thanks for getting this conversation going!
I agree with you Brad that many conservatives believe in addressing those issues, but favor doing it privately through non-profits. The problem with that as I see it, is that most of these problems are too large to be addressed that way.
I’ll give an example. A local non-profit can start a community garden in one of our poorer neighborhoods and work with the people in that community to make it work. That’s certainly a wonderful thing, and would go a long way towards helping that neighborhood.
Government can do the same thing–even working with the non-profit group that already has experience in building community gardens. The difference is, that government can do it on a much larger scale. If the city partnered with the county, we could build community gardens in every poor neighborhood in the greater Spartanburg area. Imagine the impact something like that could have on the quality of life in those areas if it was done correctly. I think that’s the argument progressives have to successfully make. Private philanthropy is great, but it’s not enough to bring the sort of paradigm-shifting change we need in Spartanburg.
I agree with you on your points about apathy. A big part of the problem is that people don’t believe that their voices matter. Sadly, taking a quick glance at Spartanburg’s political history shows plenty of reason for why that sentiment is so prevalent. I believe we have some responsive people in our local government now, but the community remains unconvinced. That’s another job for the local progressive movement in my opinion.
Chris pretty much said anything I’d have to say about the meaning of “progressive.”
One thing he said did strike a chord with me, though, which is the whole “noblesse oblige” thing. While there are plenty of people in the community who have stepped up with big cash injections for various programs, and those folks definitely deserve kudos for putting their money where their mouths are, I don’t see this as being more impactful than people with no money donating their time and energy to a cause they believe in. Money isn’t a universal salve for Spartanburg’s problems, and money alone can’t empower a community. It’s a tool, not a solution.
Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who reads the Spark, since we’ve never had any significant amount of money to make this project happen. I hope that people can look at our humble gains here and see that money isn’t everything. Time, effort and passion have funded this project far better than cash ever has. While it’d be nice to be able to pay people what they’re worth to contribute, I’d much rather do it without it being funded by some patron who exercises control over the project via their purse strings.
And having come from a poor background (trailer parks, terrible public schools, government aid for college and all that stuff), I’ve seen far more lasting change come from people trying to improve their own lives through the tools of democracy and collective action than I ever have from someone being handed a check.
I totally agree with that Steve.
Progressive is defined in the online dictionary I pulled up as
1.favoring or promoting progress; “progressive schools”
2.favoring or promoting reform (often by government action)
(of taxes) adjusted so that the rate increases as the amount of income increases
3.gradually advancing in extent
4. tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
(of a card game or a dance) involving a series of sections for which the participants successively change place or relative position; “progressive euchre”; “progressive tournaments”
5.liberal: a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
6.advancing in severity; “progressive paralysis”
find it interesting that the common theme in all these definitions define forward movement. Forward movement in a community’s growth is essential for healthy vibrancy. The danger one finds in keeping a status quo is to invite stagnate decay. If we don’t recognize and implement the fresh flow of resources and ideas then we risk becoming like a pond that doesn’t have water flowing in or out. Before long, nothing but weeds lives there. I wonder, do we see any “stagnant ponds” around here?
One can take traditional ideals, and innovative ideas, and use them both for everyone’s benefit. There are things that fiscal conservatives, and liberal minded socialist can bring to the table and find common ground.
That to me is more of what being progressive means. Finding and using that common ground so that our community can grow and thrive. We can cherish our rich history, culture and the buildings and people from which we can remember such, and we can also look to the future and plan and put into practice things that will set us on the path to meeting our untapped potential.
I agree: Forward movement is the basic idea. It’s not even specifically partisan so much as it is an idea that things need to keep getting better, and progressing towards a situation that benefits all of us, rather than those of us with the loudest voices, deepest pockets or most powerful friends.
“Progress… Forward Movement… Things getting better.” Being a Progressive myself, I’m all for it. But I would be amiss if I did not at least stir the pot a little by mentioning “the bias of progress,” and posting this complex but interesting quotation from one of my favorite science writers, the late Stephen Jay Gould:
The bias of progress expresses itself in various ways,
from naive versions of pop culture to sophisticated
accounts in the most technical publications. I do not, of
course, claim that all, or even many, people accept the
maximally simplistic account of a single ladder, with
humans on top — although this imagery remains
widespread, even in professional journals.
Most writers who have studied some evolutionary biology
understand that evolution is a copiously branching bush
with innumerable present outcomes, not a highway or a
ladder with one summit. They therefore recognize that
progress must be construed as a broad, overall, average
tendency (with many stable lineages “failing” to get the
“message” and retaining fairly simple form through the
ages).
Nonetheless, however presented, and however much the
sillier versions may be satirized and ridiculed, claims
and metaphors about evolution as progress continue to
dominate all our literatures — a testimony to the
strength of this primary bias.
(Full House, Stephen Jay Gould, 1996, p.21)
Interesting point. Human ideas on progress, regardless of what point of view they come from, are always subjective. The whole concept is pretty foreign in nature, at least in the way we usually mean it.
Not so much subjective, as simply not directed or directional. I’ve always liked thinking about how something–such as an idea like progress–as it moves through time could be like Gould’s “copiously branching bush with innumerable present outcomes, not a highway or a ladder with one summit.” It’s dangerous to take something from scinece like evolution and make a metaphor out of it (some bad people tried that with Social Darwinism) or suggest that human society functions and changes according to natural laws, but it’s still fun to think about– What if the whole political/cultural show isn’t moving toward anything, what if it isn’t getting better or worse? What if “progress” is simply a “bias” we carry with us as humans. What if it’s all just “copiously branching,” and there is no progress. None. Nada. Wow. This is way too deep. I’m backing out before I get the truck stuck! JL
Chris — What would be a progressive solution to the issues you point to in District 7?
Thanks for the comment, Baker.
I think that before you can discuss any type of solution to the equality problem I pointed out in D7′s schools, you’d first have to get people to agree that it actually is a problem. I’m not so sure that most people think it is.
Leaving that aside though, I don’t think I’m qualified to hand down a progressive solution to a district problem all by myself. I doubt that any one person has such a solution, and when you get right to it, I’m not much of a fan of “top-down” solutions anyway.
Progressive solutions come from engaged communities working towards a common goal, not from individuals. Again assuming that people in D7 agreed that this was a problem, the solution would come from active community participation within D7 and a commitment to equal access to a quality education within the district. The first step towards that end would be to get a conversation going on what we’d like our schools to look like. Then we can talk about what we think it’ll take to make it happen.
I doubt it’d be fast, and it’d likely be pretty messy. There’s nothing odd about that though. Try as I might, I cant find an instance of meaningful progressive change that wasn’t slow and messy.
I think there have been a lot more discussions had about District 7 and efforts to grapple with problems that some people realize or appreciate. This isn’t to say all efforts have yet worked — they obviously have not worked to anyone’s satisfaction — and it’s also not to say that every member of the community or political class is as passionate about the “achievement gap” or issues as poverty as some others might be.
But District 7 has done quite a few innovative things over the years, as well putting a whole ton of money toward good school facilities, teacher pay, and programs for its poorest students.
Fact is, the challenges are very significant. It’s not going to be easy. But I do believe the district and community deserve some credit for looking at these challenges in some serious and innovative ways.
To effectively change the dynamic of things — at least the demographic disparities between certain schools — it would require some sort of consolidation….for example, District 6 or District 2 or some other neighboring district taking on a large portion of District 7′s poorest students. But no one is really pushing for that, at least in terms “progressive politics” (though consolidation as a way to theoretically save money is popular with a number of folks, regardless of politics). Instead, there continues to be blame directed at just District 7. I understand that….but, again, the demographic situation is very difficult and a more radical solution would have to include involvement from neighboring school districts. Or….District 7 can continue to have neighborhood schools that have their challenges, but that do receive pretty good funding and support. Bussing or some major redistribution of students would be extremely dicey and likely not lead to happy results for anyone.
If you were only here to bait me, you could have just voiced your disagreement in the first comment, but I guess that’s just not your style.
You’re certainly free to call D7′s approach to things “innovative” if you choose, and I’m free to disagree with that. Facts are facts whether you admit them or not though, and D7 has a tremendous gap between its best schools and its worst ones.
Despite your crack about “some people” not appreciating what’s already been implemented, I’ve kept up with things there pretty well and the conversation almost never gets steered towards the direction of school parity. Do with that what you will.
If throwing money at the problem was the solution, I think D7 would be doing fine. What’s needed are innovative ideas from the community. If consolidation fits into that equation somehow, then we should push for that. Personally, I’m open to suggestions, but as I said before, in order for that to happen people would have to give a damn about the problem. Maybe I’m just not “keeping up,” but I don’t see that from where I’m standing.
Didn’t mean to come across as “baiting.” I do think there are reasons for progressives-minded people to upset about the many concerns in the realm of public education. I’m just interested in hearing specific ideas. In other words, I wasn’t disagreeing with your general concern, but I was indeed asking for something more direct. Because, really, there are people who care, and there are people who have talked about and written about these issues for a long time (and, yes, there may be some people who are relatively indifferent). And the solutions haven’t yet been found, and everyone knows there remains a major achievement gap between top schools and struggling schools, between affluent students and poor students.
One of my points, Chris, about a multi-district solution (some form of consolidation) is that people in OTHER districts would have to care and be willing to commit resources to the challenges, too. Do you see that happening? Are progressives pushing other districts in the county to pitch in and help solve the challenges associated with inner city poverty? Maybe they are — and, of course, I’m not saying consolidation is necessarily the solution, either. I really don’t know.
But if one is to look totally within District 7 for the solutions, the deal is that deeply concerned people can talk about and work on these issues and still not have an easy time solving the achievement gap, demographic imbalances, or other challenges linked to inner city poverty. And, yes, I do think some people in Spartanburg aren’t aware of or don’t appreciate some of the efforts that have been made in District 7. (You may not be among those people…..it wasn’t a “crack” — but a serious comment about how informed, or uninformed, some in town are about things…)
Anyway, sorry if I came across in a way you didn’t like. It’s an interesting and important discussion — and I’m always interested in hearing (and sometimes debating) people’s ideas…..that’s why I asked for your specific ideas. Is that cool?
“But if one is to look totally within District 7 for the solutions, the deal is that deeply concerned people can talk about and work on these issues and still not have an easy time solving the achievement gap, demographic imbalances, or other challenges linked to inner city poverty.”
I agree completely. The problems of the achievement gap are enormous and would be incredibly difficult to solve at the district level. Where I think we’re disagreeing, is that I don’t really see that much effort being put into it other than just throwing money at the poor schools and hoping for the best.
I’ll say it one more time, I’m open to suggestions as to what we should do about the sorry state of certain D7 schools. In fact, I’d take it as a good sign if anybody actually bothered to make some suggestions. I’m not seeing any innovative ideas from district leadership, and I’m not seeing a willingness to engage the community in order to gain an outside perspective either.
I’m not chalking this up to incompetence. I’m saying that for the most part, the people in D7 who don’t have to worry about sending their kids to failing schools don’t care about fixing those failing schools, and that the district leadership is perfectly content to throw money at the schools and then wash their hands of the problem. For their part, the people of D7 seem to care more about the “golf scandal” and the amount of money being spent on the athletic complex than they do about those poor black kids on the south and north sides of town.
That was really the whole point why I even included it in my column. It’s one of several examples of how I think progressivism in Spartanburg isn’t really living up to its name. I don’t see outrage in the progressive community over this situation, and that bothers me. That’s why it found its way into the column to begin with. My point was that there aren’t enough people who care about this problem, simple as that.
Sorry for accusing you of baiting me earlier. It’s hard to read someone’s intentions through plain text, and I’ve gotten so used to being attacked since I’ve been writing this column that I may be a little too quick on the defensive at times. No hard feelings I hope.
I hear you, Chris.
It’s interesting and very, very important stuff. We need to bring a lot of people into the process. But I guess I do believe District 7 has done some positive and innovative things over the years. They haven’t “fixed” everything, but in some areas progress has been made. More innovation is needed. And more involvement on the part of the community is needed.
But it’s tricky, because I think we’ll find that parents are going to put the needs and interests (sometimes perceived interests) of their own kids first. It’s just the way it is. This can be true of people who send their kids to Pine Street in District 7 — but ALSO true of people who move to a near-lily-white area of District 6 or District 2. Getting affluent folks to commit to solving the problems of inner city poverty is no easy deal — whether we want to put the spotlight on people on the east side of Spartanburg or anywhere else in Spartanburg County or anywhere else in the USA.
But even with that said, I do believe District 7 deserves more overall credit — or maybe understanding is the word — than it has received from some corners. Either way, there are two new school board members and new things happening at the administrative level….I’m hoping that positive results will occur. Along the way, I agree that it’s vitally important for people to care and discuss and get involved in productive ways.