Thank you all for coming out. What a Beautiful Day to make history again. Inthis very day 50 years ago this very spot, dr. Martin luther king jr. Came to king street to deliver his march on ballot boxes speech. 8, 1966,nday, may mothers day, just as it is today, and now we gather on these hallowed grounds, 50 years later, to remember that important day in the history of king street and williams gstree and williamsburg, South Carolina. Thank you for being here for this importance occasion. When dr. King spoke your on may a rainy afternoon as you will see it was his first major public appearance in South Carolina. Speeches in three the state of South Carolina and defined not mistaken, the other two locations were in charleston and orange. Ree firstme to kingst and he came here after the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965. He came as a result of mr. Virgil dimly of the funeral home who came to atlanta, camped out, took up residence outside dr. King pro office for three days, hounded his secretary until the acretary agreed to arrange meeting between the two and when he left, dr. King was making plans to come right here too little old kingstree. [applause] we want to let you know before we begin the program, we have members of the local media here today to record this important day in history. Also cspan is here. We are on the national news, yall [applause] cspan is recording this event. It will be broadcast at a later date. Water is available. We know it is hot. Here at the tent. Also volunteers are walking around. They are wearing navy shirts and they have on volunteer name tags, so if you need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask one of these ladies or men to assist her. To assist you. In june, the primary is coming up, so if you are not registered to vote, please, honor dr. Kings legacy by getting yourself registered and you can do that today. There is a table set up right here. It has the word williamsburg on it. The Voter Registration table is set up there. You can get information. You can register to vote today. And local author Catherine Bruce is here. Will be autographing copies of her book. If you would like to know more about the Civil Rights Movement from her point of view, you are than welcome to do so. Will everyone please rise for the presentation of the colors by the members of the United States of america honor guard . Set, forward. Forward, march. [indiscernible] thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for your service to our country. Our guest will come forward to seeing the national anthem. She will be escorted by joseph of theand teri james 24th massachusetts Reenactment Group out of charleston. The 54th regiment is one of the First Official africanamerican units fighting for the union against the confederacy and the slavery in the civil war. The story of these brave men was brought to life in the movie glory. If you would please come forward. O say can you see light dawns early what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars lists 5 para perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glare bursting in air gave proof through the night was still there say, does that starspangled banner yet wave of the freed brave home of the you may be seated. Im not sure how mrs. King may have felt about this day 50 years ago. It was mothers day. Dr. King could have been back and home cooking her breakfast in bed and treating her the queen she was, but in that he was here with us. We are here on a mothers day. Handing out carnations to the ladies, and we want to take this opportunity to say happy mothers day to all of the mamas, the big mamas, the nanas aunties andhe everyone who serves as a female role model to a younger generation. I would like to ask reverend cooper to give the indication. He is a native of kingstree. He is one of 13 children. His education in the public schools. He graduated from the great Tomlinson High School in 1962. He attended poplin university and received his masters degree from interdenominational heological center in atlanta served as a chaplain in 1990 six. He retired as a pastor in 2010 and presently serves as a retired pastor at faith United Methodist in the White Oak Community of Williamsburg County. Please join me in welcoming reverend samuel b. Cooper. [applause] rev. Cooper let us pray. Paternal god, our heavenly father, we thank you for this day and our lives. You, oh god, for the legacy of this community. We thank you for your grace, your mercy, your piece. We have the grace to ask dr. Ing to come to this community i think you, o god, because i was privileged to be here on that sunday afternoon as we celebrated in this county a you fory, and we thank the things you lead this community and the men and women to do. We ask, oh god, that you continue to give us hope and your steadfast presence. As we persevere toward a brighter future. Look upon us with grace and with us withread look upon mercy and direction, and give us your piece, dear lord. We thank you. We have great hope and where you will lead us in the future. We thank you this day. We honor those persons who have come to us to speak to us, to lift us up, tb merciful unto them. Use them in a mighty way that toy may speak wisdom to us give us the fortitude and the vision and the courage for all in the future to make this a betterd this world place. Lord, we give you thanks. Amen. I have to take a drink of water. It is hot out here. Whoo hmm. All see me sitting up under air conditioning, but im member the hot days in the tobacco field. The tobacco worms, the tobacco juice smacking you in the mouth as he rejoined to get that tobacco harvested so you could get the money so you could buy your school close for the next school year. I am not afraid of hard work. Trydo not try to work not to run to it. Now it is time to recognize our special guest here with us today. I will ask them to stand and remain standing, but i will ask you to hold your applause until the end. First of all, i would like to ask our guest of honor, the honorable United States clyburnsman james jim to stand. Beccaria sellers, our guest speaker. State representative steve mcknight. The county supervisor stanley paisley. Mayor parker. Lets give these gentlemen and round of applause. You may be seated. If there were any members of the Williamsburg County council, a ny members of the town council for Williamsburg County and any elected officials serving our country, state, or county, if you would please stand and be recognized at this time. [applause] we thank you for your service. This would not be possible without the vision, hard work, and the effort of the Planning Committee. It took a lot of people to list together. I would like members of the committee to please stand and i want to give special recognition to these four individuals, mr. Michael allen, mr. Billy jenkinson, mrs. Cassandra roche if you would please stand and be recognized as part of the Planning Committee today. Without financial support, this would not be possible. You can see the names of the sponsors flashed on the screen. They are in your program. Is very proud of my station a proud sponsor of this event, and i want to thank the staff and management and the owners of my station for seeing fit to be part of this affair today. We are all your today, but these folks were here 50 years ago 1966 on that8, rainy sunday afternoon. Everyone who was here on that day 50 years ago, if you can stand, we want you to stand. If you cant stand, then please raise your hand. Because we want to recognize you. [applause] thank you very much. On behalf of everyone here today, thank you for serving. You are a reminder that dr. King from message is alive and well. Now we will have the presentation of the essay award winners. I would like to ask reverend out for it are the and dr. Lynwood cooper to please come to the certificatesent the to the winners of the Williamsburg CountySchool District dr. Martin luther king dream 50 years in action contest. Good afternoon. We are here to honor these students. We express our congratulations. This will go down in history for our beloved Williamsburg County. We will also ask reverend hanrahan and members of the school board to come here as well. Chairman, bishop cooper, and the reverend will make the presentations. Will the following pursers please come forth will the following persons please come forth . [readign names] names] [reading names] let us give all of these young people at hand. [applause] for the work of dr. King is why we enjoyed many of the rights we have today. Thank you very much. Tolet me add, i had a chance shake dr. Kings hand standing right over there. [applause] i could Say Something i could Say Something. But we are on national tv. I will let that slide. It is my pleasure to introduce our featured speaker. Mr. Sellers was representative to the South Carolina house of representatives at 22. State one of the youngest representatives at the age of 22 and he was the youngest black official in the United States at the age of 22. He served the 90th district very well from 2006 until 2014, and he also ran for lieutenant governor. He is currently an analyst for cnn. His education and has always been top priority for him. And he attended and graduated from Morehouse College in atlanta. He was elected Student Association present president and served on the College Board of trustees. He earned a juris doctorate from my arm, the university of South Carolina school of law and soon entered politics working for congressman jim clyburn. He also worked with Shirley Franklin of atlanta and served with the southeastern regional director of the naacp. He has a very, very strong background and legacy to lead up to to live up to. His mother, gwendolyn sellers, worked in Higher Education for more than 20 years. His father, dr. Cleveland sellers, which i had the privilege of meeting has been a champion of civil rights for North Carolina and served as the director of africanamerican studies. He is the president of four he in denmark. Mr. Sellers returned to South Carolina and hoped to consider changeacy of creating for the greater good. Bio. An read his entire darn it, ladies, he is off the market. He got married last year. He is still a newlywed. We are so happy for him and we goodthat he has so many things to come. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Williamsburg County bakari sellers. [applause] mr. Sellers good afternoon. I was chuckling because when i today, they have a line that asked for your name and address. My mom and dad taught me that the most important words in the english language are thank you because they are not set enough. I see so many friends and family. I see a hero of mine behind me. Congressman James Clyburn and his beautiful bride emily who i love and adore and if i am on tv if i am not doing right, i know she will be the one to tell me. , cesare my senator mcknight, so many friends and family and from the bottom of my heart, i simply want to say thank you. I know it is pretty warm out here today. So, i am going to treat you a lot like Elizabeth Taylor treated all seven of her husbands. And that means im not going to keep you long. But i want to begin by saying whoseyou to all of those hard work and vision made this a historic occasion. I was thinking about the way i would feel, because when they invite you to speak somewhere, you oftentimes asked who was the last keynote speaker at the event. At this one, they said dr. King. At so, i was a little taken aback. But i come to you today very humble. I come to you today very hopeful, and i come to you today very hungry. I am humble in my company. I am hopeful in my hearts, and i am hungry for change. How else can i be . To stand here amongst so many giants, not just of my community, but if history, and pay homage to a man who through faith, example, and strength inspired us to stem the tide of bigotry and hate, to build a new world of opportunity together. How else can i be when he who gave the last full measure of devotion so weak, too, could rise to the mountaintop and find the Promised Land how else echoese when his voice in my years and i stand where he stood 50 years ago today. It is 50 years. That is 600 months. That is 18,263 days. That is 438,000 hours. 26 million to 98 rows and evan hundred 20 minutes. And as i think about it now, i believe dr. King would remind me he would remind all of us that viewed from the long line of history, that moment is only. Breath away forced upon you, you cannot refuse it. You did not seek it. To use it. You you will suffer if you lose it. Give account if you abuse it. Just a tiny little minute, but paternity is in it. Dr. King would remind me that these two moments lie only a breath away, and he is with us here and im humbled to be in his company. I am humble, but you all, i am hungry. I am hungry because we have come so far. We have not come far enough. To finish the job you started. I came across a photograph not too long ago dr. Donaldson i see you out there of my father before the gentleman sitting in the white house, having a conversation with president Lyndon Baines johnson. My father was young. Younger than i am now. Is can tell that he intimidated. His arms are long and skinny. It makes the seersucker jacket look a little long. Is a problem that we both share. But he is holding his own with the president of the United States of america. Taken july 2, was 1964. The president had just signed these silver will bash the civil right act into law. Conference ins mississippi. The jacket and tie were gone and my father is in a white tshirt, looking far older than he did just two years prior. He was serious, he was stern, even angry. This was days after the attempted murder of james meredith. The nonviolent cord knitting committee, the freedom democratic party, the congress for racial equality my father at the microphone, my father there and he was at the microphone but dr. Martin luther king himself. Ves onll put their li the lines of this day would come to pass. It is easy for us to go back through the fog of history with the bin to the benefit of hindsight and believe that somehow this was all inevitable, that somehow this was destined or preordained. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights act, briggs versus elliott, brown versus the board of education, edwards versus desegregation, integration, jim crow, its tempting to imagine history brought us here, that history stands still unless it is pushed. So when i look at that , i do not, dr. King see the tide of history, the inevitable march for its equality. I see struggle. I see a constant struggle, a constant, Relentless Movement of change. I see men in uniform. I see violence brought on by people in hatred, bigotry, and fear. You see, my friends, i was born in 1984. Allw so many of you standing up here at this moment 50 years ago. I was born after the storm that you all lived through. You talk about the blood, the sweat, and tears. In blood. Paid 21still struggle in the century. It is ours right now. Congress and client learn, back when they had a grandfather clause or a congressman leiber and, back when they had a grandfather clause or literary disenfranchisement, i see voter id. I see standard ground. The man with the megaphone has a Brooks Brothers suit and a cable news show. The ghost ofr saw emmitt smith, i am haunted by trayvon martin, michael brown, walter scott. Nine gunned down in mother emanuel i 2015. Right now, blacks in South Carolina make up less than 30 of our state population, but more than two thirds of the prison population and infant mortality is nearly twice as high for blacks than whites. A child is a better chance being born in sri lanka, lebanon, botswana, or q then being born black in South Carolina. Live in black children families were no parent has fulltime yearround appointment employment . How many black, hispanic children are living in or near poverty . 312,000. What is the leading cause of death of black males . Homicide. And imagine never going to see the dentist . Imagine taking the food of your lunch tray and stuffing it into your book bag because you have brothers and sisters that are not in school if you do not feed eat. They do not imagine growing up in areas of concentrated poverty, the kind of backbreaking poverty that teaches the will never be more than to her poor, so you might up now. Give imagine you had the chance to change that. In this last general election, 60 of the registered black voters in South Carolina did not vote. 532,000 black and brown voices were not heard. I want you to think about that. Governor, have a it have that number china, we would have a governor, two more members of congress, and lord know how many state legislatures working with the president of the United States instead of obstructing him. Imagine how different that South Carolina would be. A South Carolina committed to r