Civil Rights Activist

Why I became an Activist? By Marjorie A. Gordon-DeLee; August 29, 2018

I was in the third grade when I heard this speech and from that day forth I believed in that “DREAM”. I worked hard to develop my mind by every means and character to fulfill my “DREAM”. But, after many years (over 58 years) of education, gaining employment at the highest profile state agency in South Carolina, at the SC State Ethics Commission, I still could not fulfill that “DREAM” of a nine-year old little girl. Still, in the year of 2000, I was still being judged by the ‘COLOR OF MY SKIN”. Being considered as a black woman who was to be a maid only in a White person’s household. I am still being judged by the color of my skin and enduring discrimination, oppression, and hatred from the world of White Supremacy. As recent as yesterday (August 28th, 2018) a White man asked me if I worked at the apartment complex where he stated that he needed directions to the office. Clearly, the mindset of many Whites still believes Blacks are not on their level. But I am here to say that it is not their decision to make as to who have rights and who does not have rights. We are all individuals on this earth and we take and have control of our own lives. We are no longer SLAVES. That is why I have no other alternative but to be that voice, an Activist to continue to fulfill the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. until the day that I die. I have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren coming behind me whom I want their days to be lived on this earth with the freedom that they are rightfully to have. They may not understand, why I do the things that I do, but it is for the love of my children and the love for all of humanity. It is not right to step on people out of pure hatred.

During the period I was employed at the South Carolina State Ethics Commission I heard and observed the type of mean-spirited remarks launched about the African Americans who held positions in public offices. If they were found in any type of violation at all, the SC Ethics Commission went after them at full force, levying fines that reached levels that were unreasonably over the limit to be paid. There was one Lobbyist whom they came after who became very ill and had to go to the nursing home facility to recover. An officer of the SC State Ethics Commission located him there and I do believe that he was served papers during that period, in his illness and time of recovery which I do not believe he ever recovered during that period of stay. The SC Ethics Commission is responsible for enforcement of the state's ethics laws. And what does the word “Ethics” mean? Merriam Webster defines ethics as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.” Merriam Webster defines moral as “expressing or teaching a conception of right behavior”. Therefore, the SC State Ethics Commission is established to be the model of right behavior which was not being administered during my period as I experienced and observed as an employee who discriminated against and damaged due to my employment. Notwithstanding my experience, all Black people who became under attack as a result of being a public official, lobbyist, etc. South Carolina was not and is not promoting equality and fairness for all the Black community, nor for any other people of color.

Black people in South Carolina are becoming poorer and poorer and we all must put an end to this injustice once and for all!!

Sources: Ethics. August 29, 2018. In Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Moral. August 29, 2018. In Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic