Only black person on Hilton Head Town Council: ‘More work that we can do’ | Opinion

(Following are remarks made by Marc Grant at the Rally for Justice and Change on Hilton Head Island Sunday, June 7.)

Thank you for coming out to show that Black Lives Matter on Hilton Head Island.

I want to thank the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Planning Committee for organizing this event.

The deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and many other black men have engaged people from all over the world to speak on the injustices of black Americans within this county, state and all over the world.

This is an opportunity for us to make meaningful changes to how we value the lives of all our citizens.

As a member of the Hilton Head Island Town Council, I can say that we have done a lot to create policy to improve the quality of life for all our citizens.

For instance, we have a budget with about $6 million to pave dirt roads.

The town has hired a community liaison to work with the Gullah-Geechee Land and Cultural Preservation Task Force to improve Land Management Ordinance conditions, property taxes, heirs property and, hopefully, work with law enforcement to address policies and procedures.

But I also want you to know we have more work that we can do.

I hope that we can take this moment to turn this into a movement.

Help me to make our government move to create laws for affordable housing.

Help me make our government to move in making safer streets for our underserved communities.

Help me to make our government move in providing adequate funding to assist our local agencies that impact the lives of our most vulnerable citizens, such as the Deep Well Project, Hilton Head Regional Habitat for Humanity, food banks, and our many childrens’ programs.

Also help us to engage our county and state officials to push for funding our law enforcement, schools, and universities – especially our historically black colleges and universities. Our HBCU’s are the makers of doctors, nurses, and our police officers.

But remember, this is our moment to make this into a movement.

Thank you and God bless.

Marc Grant has represented Ward 1 on Hilton Head Island Town Council since 2012. He is a descendant of James and Janie Grant, and son of Moses and Annie Grant.

This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 7:35 AM.