As of Thursday afternoon, no Charleston-area mayors had committed to attend the Charleston Area Justice Ministry’s largest annual gathering.
This year’s Nehemiah Action will take place on Mon. May 6 at 7 p.m. at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston. The meeting is expected to draw 2,000 members of the social justice group, which is itself a consortium of multiple local interfaith organizations.
The annual assembly is where local leaders are asked to support CAJM’s goals and agree to a set of goalposts. This year’s meeting will focus on improving local transportation, an issue that the group voted for in November, along with affordable housing, which the group chose to tackle in 2017.
Mayors John Tecklenburg of Charleston, Keith Summey of North Charleston, and Will Haynie of Mt. Pleasant have not said whether they will attend so far, though invitations were sent out in December, according to organizer Treva Williams.
Charleston City Council members Keith Waring, James Lewis, Carol Jackson, and Gary White, who announced his run for mayor in March, have confirmed their attendance.
Councilman Mike Seekings, the chair of the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority, has not, but CARTA board membersย Ron Mitchum and Dwayne Green will be there, Williams said.
North Charleston councilman Mike Brown, Mt. Pleasant councilwoman Guang Ming Whitley, and Charleston County council members Henry Darby and Vic Rawl will also attend.
CAJM was instrumental in getting Charleston City Council to approve an independent racial bias audit of its police department after the group made racial bias in policing its lead issue for 2016 and 2017. CNA, a Virginia-based research firm, is expected to deliver a full racial bias report to Tecklenburg in the fall.
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