The New York Times-20080126-Where Issues Carry Dollar Signs
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Where Issues Carry Dollar Signs
Officially, the state of South Carolina calls the fancy new building the Orangeburg Workforce Center. Around here, people know it as the unemployment office. And everyone in Orangeburg County, it seems, can tell you how to get there.
On Wednesday, Lashon Marshall, a home health care assistant with four children, was paying one of her regular visits to the center, scanning the computer for something that would bring more than the $8 an hour, with no benefits, that she makes after seven years on the job.
Ms. Marshall said she was glad to hear the candidates running in Saturday's Democratic presidential primary here talk about helping working people but skeptical that anything would come of it.
We need somebody in the chair who is going to really just stand up and do what they say they're going to do, she said. The war, I'm not thinking about too much now. But it seems like more and more people should step up and talk about this health care thing.
For years, job woes have plagued this blue-collar central South Carolina county, which, like much of the state, has lost its textile and manufacturing economy to cheap overseas labor and is still struggling to find a replacement. But the economic losses have not been equally distributed and have helped to divide the state along racial lines.
In Orangeburg, unemployment has disproportionately affected blacks, even though, at more than 60 percent of the population, they hold the balance of political power. In 2006, unemployment among blacks here was pushing 20 percent, while among whites it was 3.3 percent. Thirteen percent of white households were below the poverty level, compared with 38 percent of black households.
Such dismal statistics have encouraged some voters to listen closely to the candidates' proposals to give tax rebates, fix the trade imbalance and increase the minimum wage. But with the two Democratic front-runners, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, in general agreement on many of those issues, some say discontent over the persistent racial divide -- along with anger among some black voters over criticism of Mr. Obama by former President Bill Clinton -- will contribute to race-motivated voting on Saturday.
If so, Mr. Obama will have an edge in this primary, the first with a substantial number of African-American voters. Virtually all black voters here are Democrats, while a large majority of whites vote Republican.
On Thursday, on a dirt road near the small town of Bowman, Townsend Pelzer sat in his truck with his two lap dogs while his beagle chased rabbits in the woods. Mr. Pelzer, 83 and black, a retired maintenance worker for the state highway patrol, said he was going to vote for Mr. Obama.
Asked why, Mr. Pelzer shrugged, smiled and pointed to his face, saying, Color of my skin, I guess.
Scott Mattingly, 22, a white economics teacher at a virtually all-white private school in Bowman, said that many of his fellow volunteers at the Obama campaign office were ignorant of the issues and are far more excited about the concept of a black leader.
But Mr. Mattingly added that, in a county where the large businesses are run by white men and ancient parochial attitudes persist, voter enthusiasm for Mr. Obama had a logic that went beyond simple loyalty. Offering a sort of trickle-down theory of eradicating racism, he said an Obama victory would set a precedent that an African-American can lead.
Race is far from the only factor voters are considering, however. Bishop Michael C. Butler of Victory Tabernacle, a black Pentecostal church, said he had counseled his congregation to look beyond that issue in the voting booth. Mr. Butler, a Clinton supporter, said most of the members were professionals.
They're concerned about the stability of their jobs, whether they will be able to maintain the lifestyle that they currently have, he said.
George R. Dean, 66, who owns a men's clothing store in downtown Orangeburg where all the merchandise is now 50 percent off, said he had watched the battle for civil rights shift into the economic arena.
This is not the South I grew up in in the '50s and '60s, Mr. Dean said. The struggle has come, and the struggle has gone. And the struggle has returned.
Mr. Dean, who is black, added: This county grew politically very fast, but we did not grow economically. This has always been my pet peeve. This ain't about democracy, this is about what? Capitalism.
Mr. Dean is a board member of the Orangeburg County Development Commission, which has scored some major successes by attracting large businesses specializing in warehouse distribution. The long-term goals -- more jobs, higher pay and a bigger tax base -- will not materialize for three to five years, Mr. Dean said. But, he added emphatically, The growth in this area will be diverse.
A 2006 study conducted for the commission estimated that while there were about 28,000 people in the area actively looking for work, even more were underemployed. Among them is Ms. Marshall's husband, who works at a lawnmower plant, a seasonal business where production levels change frequently.
Last week they was off, this week they worked, and no telling about next week, she said. Health insurance, which her family buys on their own, has edged out salaries as an employment consideration, Ms. Marshall said.
My cousin works at McDonald's, she said. She said some people like working there because they get benefits. That's what they go for now.
Because Orangeburg is a blue county in a red state, it has been visited by all the Democratic candidates, some more than once. Health care, gasoline prices and trade imbalances are all pocketbook issues here.
I work at a paper mill, but I know a lot of people that have lost their jobs, said Larry Rivers, 46. I've heard Obama talk about the companies that have taken jobs overseas, saying he was going to stop giving them the tax breaks and start giving tax breaks to the companies that have stayed here.
Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a state legislator who represents part of Orangeburg County, said some of the unemployment among blacks stemmed from poor education by the state's money-starved rural schools. The school system was recently portrayed in a documentary about education along Interstate 95 called Corridor of Shame, a phrase Mr. Obama used in the debate in Myrtle Beach on Monday.
The issue is education and the effect of a lack of a quality education on the level playing field, Ms. Cobb-Hunter said.
At the Clinton campaign office in Orangeburg, Sade Willis and her friend Robyn Capers, both black, 21-year-old psychology students at nearby South Carolina State University, assembled lawn signs. She's about better pay and education for the kids, Ms. Willis said of Mrs. Clinton.
Ms. Capers added, And she has been for 35 years.
Ms. Willis, whose mother's job in one of the county's manufacturing plants is at risk of moving overseas, said, I know how it is to actually not be able to afford school.
Back at the job center, Wilmer Freeman, 59, continued a job search that has been going on for nearly two years, since his position as a purchasing agent was cut at Voorhees College, where he worked for 28 years. Mr. Freeman said he was leaning toward Mr. Obama, or at least his campaign message.
I don't care what it is, how it is, or how it looks, Mr. Freeman said. We do need a change.
[Illustration]PHOTOS: Robyn Capers, left, and Sade Willis are both supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton in the South Carolina primary. She's about better pay and education for the kids, Ms. Willis said.; George R. Dean, 66, a businessman and a board member of the Orangeburg County Development Commission, said he had watched the battle for civil rights shift into the economic arena.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES)CHART: Unemployment's Racial Gap: The highest unemployment rates in South Carolina are in its majority black counties; in Orangeburg, the disparity between blacks and whites is particularly high.(Sources: South Carolina Employment Security Commission; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Census Bureau) Charts detail two distinct issues: Unemployment rate, Dec. 2007 as seen in a region outline, and the Unemployment rates in 2006 as detailed in a bar graph.