Two leaders with differing worldviews offered a similar conclusion in Jan. 8 speeches just minutes and 1,400 yards apart. Charleston, agreed President Joe Biden and new Mayor William Cogswell, is a special place.
Biden, in town to kick off the state’s first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary, gave an emotional barnburner of a speech saying the poison of the white supremacy that fueled the murders of nine worshipers at Emanuel AME Church in 2015 needed to stop haunting the nation.
“Throughout our history, it has ripped this nation apart,” he said. “This has no place in America. Not today.
Not tomorrow or ever.”
The president’s powerful speech implored Americans to promote democracy and decency, both of which are absent in the campaign of the GOP 2024 frontrunner, former President Donald Trump. Biden urged striking back at hatred and division through the power of unity and truth.
These words had particular meaning for Charleston when the president focused on the Lowcountry values of Emanuel’s worshippers. He highlighted how they didn’t devolve into
the very kind of animosity that grips too much of this nation when nine of their own were slaughtered by a racist.
Rather, they forgave, setting an example for the world.
“This nation saw this congregation, this community, demonstrate one of the greatest acts of strength I have ever seen — I mean it sincerely — the act of forgiveness. The act of grace,” Biden said from the pulpit. “It was as President Obama sang from here, ‘Amazing Grace.’ It changed hearts.”
Biden’s words then became more emotional as he recalled worshiping in the church in 2015 just days after burying a son. He recalled how the people of this city gave him strength.
“We were in more pain than we knew,” Biden reflected. “We came here to offer comfort and received comfort from you. As I listened in the pews and spent time with the families and visited Reverend [Clementa] Pinckney’s office, visited the memorial of the victims outside, I grew stronger. My family grew stronger. We prayed together. We grieved together. We found hope together for real, for real. It reminds me that each of us must find purpose throughout the pain.”
Charleston’s new mayor also remarked about how Charleston is special in his inaugural address.
“Charleston is more than a city,” the 48-year-old Cogswell said. “It is a beautifully complex place comprised of a unique DNA, a helix of sweetgrass, faded accents, cobblestones, containerships and 747s [sic].”
Cogswell, like Biden, emphasized how Charleston is special.
“It is a community in the truest sense of the word, ironically forged in a tradition of fierce independence and individual expression from the Revolution to the civil rights movement,” he said. “It represents both raw and refined American Exceptionalism.
“We must think a century ahead and not succumb to generic trends, commoditized products and populist whims. We must be better than that because we are better than that.”
Yes, Charleston is a special place. We need to keep this in mind and use it to power progress.
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