TRIBUTE: Work together to bring change, senator says

Sept. 22, 2020

Sen. John W. Matthews Jr., D-Bowman, warned against political polarization as he was honored by his colleagues ahead of his retirement.

While the world has changed since he was first elected to the House in 1975, “the one thing that has always remained consistent throughout my time here is this: If you want to make real, meaningful change, you have to be willing to build coalitions,” he told the Senate on Sept. 22, 2020.

“You have to be willing to reach out to unlikely allies, make your case and compromise. That’s how you get things done here in Columbia. That’s how you make life better for folks back home.

“The polarization we see in today’s politics can be overcome not with divisive partisanship, but a commitment to understanding your neighbors who might not agree with you. Working together to find common solutions to the issues we all agree need solving. That’s where the real work gets done.”

Matthews announced in March that he would not seek re-election in 2020. He represents Senate District 39, which includes portions of Berkeley, Calhoun, Colleton, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties.

During Tuesday’s session, Matthews was presented with a Senate resolution, the Order of the Palmetto, as well as an official Congressional record from Congressman Jim Clyburn.

Matthews is the longest-serving African American legislator in the history of South Carolina’s General Assembly.

He has served in the South Carolina Senate since 1985, and prior to that served in the House from 1975 to 1984.

Matthews said politics was never his ambition.

“My mother graduated from college during the Great Depression and was a school teacher for 42 years, where she taught her students out of textbooks stamped ‘for colored use only.’ My father was an entrepreneur, a contractor and a United Methodist pastor. He owned a barber shop where members of our community would gather on the weekends to talk about issues in the community,” Matthews said.

“I shined shoes in the shop as a child, and I listened to what the men had to say about what was going on in the world. In those moments, I knew something was wrong, and I needed to make a change. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it.

“Your childhood and your family roots shape who you become. Watching my parents work hard and do their very best to make a great life for our family despite the circumstances of those times still drives the work I do to this very day. When you grow up knowing that something is fundamentally wrong and something needs to be done, you find a way to make it happen.”

Matthews is an alumnus of South Carolina State University, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a retired public school principal and businessman.

He currently serves as the assistant minority leader in the Senate, and is the first African American to have served in this role.

Matthews said it was an honor to serve District 39 and with his colleagues in the Senate.

“I have been amazed by your passion, talent and commitment to service. Thank you for being loyal friends and for standing with me in the toughest of fights and the greatest of moments. Our state is a better place because of the tremendous work you all are doing. I’m so very proud to have been a member of the South Carolina Senate,” he said.

“A valuable lesson I earned early in politics was that people will not remember what you say. People will not remember what you do. But people will always remember how you treated them. The best advice I can pass along is to respect your colleagues, serve your constituents intentionally, and never stop making a case for what you believe in.”

This article originally ran on thetandd.com.