Live from South Carolina

Right now, I'm typing this on my Blackberry as we drive down the Strom Thurmond Freeway (!!!) back toward Columbia, South Carolina.

We're coming from the city of Dylan, part of what's called the "Corridor of Shame." Poor schools whose students consistently fail Federal "Leave No Child Behind" tests are clustered along Interstate 95. That district is one of eight suing the state for better funding and support.

We sat down with a mother and an eighth grader; plus the superintendent and the principal at the middle school in Dylan. You can tune in tomorrow (Thursday) to hear our special report, plus a conversation with top state politicians.

I have been fortunate enough to have driven across this country twice, both times with my sister, Sekai. On our last trip we got to do some fun, some sad, and some moving pieces for News and Notes. We got to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, right across from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where a white supremacist set a bomb and killed four little girls. Yet the museum tells a story of triumph, the story of black Americans (and non-black, as well) living through a period of outright terrorism. Folks survived it and transcended it.

Yet the old South lies restless and uneasy under the "New South," as so many marketers put it. Here in South Carolina lawmakers are debating whether to take down — or at least add a contemporary commentary to — a statue of "Pitchfork Ben."

Ben Tillman was a South Carolina governor and U.S. Senator in the late 19th century. He supported lynching African Americans and said black people who wanted the same rights as whites should be killed.

Recently, a State Representative introduced a bill to have the statue removed. One of our guests on today's show, law professor Danielle Holley-Walker (who blogs SCBlack Press.com) is actually holding a forum on the issue this week.

One of my favorite quotes in the whole worrld is from novelist William Faulkner. He said, "The past is not dead. In fact it's not even past."

I love this part of the country. It looks like home to me. Maryland limns the Mason-Dixon line and some of the foliage is similar, especially in the summer. And, as we discussed on air last week, there's now a musem in Baltimore dedicated to Maryland's black history. In so many places in the South, and beyond, there's a sense that we are "remixing" history so we can acknowledge how America's story was written, add new elements of knowledge, and come up with a vibrant way to discuss the foundations of American life.

This has been a magnificent day. We had our first live show at South Carolina ETV, a public television station that has extended true hospitality to us and the other NPR shows.

This presidential election is history in the making. Everyone has a chance to participate, even if you're not of voting age or can't vote. I mean, we're all in conversation about the future of the country ... and the impact of the past. One day people will look back at THESE times and the ripples we left and say the past isn't even past.

By the way, it looks like we'll get Senator Obama on the show again this week. Stay tuned!