A Quick Guide To Orangeburg, SC--Home To Tonight's Democratic Debate

Tonight's Democratic Presidential candidate debate, the first of the season, takes place on the campus of South Carolina State University, a historically black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

In the wake of last week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, it would pay for the candidates to know their Orangeburg history, especially if they want to appeal to South Carolina's large contingent of African-American Democratic primary voters.

You see, Orangeburg had its own campus massacre, on the night of February 8, 1968, when at least 30 students at SC State were shot--three of them killed--by state Highway Patrol officers during a civil rights protest that started over the refusal of a local bowling alley to admit blacks. (Only three died because the Highway Patrol was armed with shotguns using buckshot, instead of 9 mm hollow point rounds).

Ask any African-American in the state over the age of 40 and they will recall the Orangeburg Massacre like it was yesterday. The Curmudgeon remembers, too, even though he was only 10 years old at the time.

That's because the Curmudgeon's father was, at the time, the Columbia, SC bureau chief for the Charlotte Observer. He was down in Orangeburg--about 50 miles from Columbia--when the violent outbreak occurred, and he later co-authored a book ("The Orangeburg Massacre"), with the L.A. Times' Jack Nelson, telling the story.

Unlike the Virginia Tech rampage, or for that matter countless sad school campus tragedies going all the way back to at least Kent State, the national media virtually ignored Orangeburg, while the state engaged in a cover-up without any FBI or Justice Dept. scrutiny.

Most of the injured protesters were shot in the back, or the back of their arms and legs, as they ran from the initial volley of gunfire. They had been hanging around a bonfire on the campus, built on the third night of protests over the bowling alley, while law the law enforcement presence grew. It was, of course, a time of bitter division in the South, a time of frequent violence. It seemed the rest of the country just didn't care if three black kids were killed in yet another violent confrontation in the Old South.

People haven't forgotten the Orangeburg Massacre. Quite the contrary: the state legislative black caucus has introduced a resolution calling for a new state investigation into the events of that chilly night nearly 40 years ago. A prominent law firm has volunteered to staff the investigation with its lawyers on a pro bono basis. And one of the measure's sponsors is young Bakari Sellers (pictured here), a freshman state legislator who happens to be the son of Cleveland Sellers, a student leader who infamously was prosecuted and jailed--most would say made a scapegoat--for allegedly inciting the "riot" that led to the shootings. (No one else was ever prosecuted; Cleveland was later pardoned; now he is the head of the African-American Studies program at the University of South Carolina. Times do change.)

The state should re-open the matter, for a full accounting was never made. Let's hope the issue comes up tonight--and let's see if any of the candidates know their SC history.