Retired SC chief justice tells Black teens diverse perspectives matter: ‘Never be intimidated’

Retired South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Don Beatty spoke at a question-and-answer session Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, at Tri-County Technical College in the Upstate, put on by the college's Men of Color student group. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)

PENDLETON — South Carolina's most recently retired chief justice told a room full of Black teenagers there will be times when they're the only person of color at the table. In moments like that, he said, their voices matter that much more.

"Never be intimidated by being the only person of color in the room," former Chief Justice Don Beatty told about 300 students. "Trust me, your presence there is absolutely necessary."

Beatty's comments came as part of a question-and-answer session Thursday at Tri-County Technical College in the Upstate, put on by the college's Men of Color student group.

For the past six years, the group dedicated to peer support and mentorship of Black male students and young professionals has put on speaker events for Black male teens from area high schools.

Beatty was asked to share his experiences from nearly 30 years on the bench and five years representing Spartanburg in the state House before that.

Before retiring July 31 , Beatty was the only Black justice on the state Supreme Court for 17 years.

He was only the second Black justice on the state's highest court since Reconstruction. Before Beatty was Ernest Finney, also a former legislator, who the Legislature elected to the Supreme Court in 1985 and made chief justice in 1994. Finney retired in 2000, seven before Beatty's election to the high court.

And the state only recently elected its third ever female justice, Beatty noted.

One student wanted to know when they might see the next justice of color.

"Not for a while," Beatty responded.

After all, there are only five seats and hundreds of lower court judges hoping they might one day reach the state's highest bench. And the next seat isn't likely to come available for more than four years, when Chief Justice John Kittredge turns 72, the state's mandatory retirement age for judges.

"It's unfortunate that we are in a situation like that," said Beatty, who has preached the importance of diversity in the judiciary.

"All of us have different lived experiences. We see things differently," Beatty told the students.

That becomes important when cases that come before the court involve a diverse population.

What's reasonable?

The court has to weigh what a "reasonable person" would do under certain circumstances, he said, but what's considered reasonable has historically been from a white, male perspective. A Black person might think differently in that same situation, he said.

"That is never a consideration. But it should be," Beatty said.

As an example, Beatty referred to cases involving search and seizure.

He specifically referred to his dissent in the state Supreme Court's 2020 split ruling in the case of State v. Spears, which upheld a 30-year sentence for trafficking crack cocaine.

Before trial, the attorney for Eric Terrell Spears, a Black man, sought to suppress evidence of the drugs seized by police, arguing the search had violated Spears' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. The trial judge dismissed the motion, and Spears was convicted and sentenced. The state Court of Appeals reversed the conviction. But that decision was reversed by the state Supreme Court.

Justices agreed with the state's attorneys that Spears' encounter with police was consensual, and his fiddling with his waistband gave police reasonable suspicion that he had a gun, justifying the frisking that found the drugs in Spears' pants.

In his dissent, Beatty argued the evidence should have been suppressed because Spears, due to his race, didn't feel that he was free to simply walk away from the encounter.

"Scholars have examined ad nauseam the dynamics between marginalized groups— particularly African-Americans — and law enforcement. African-Americans generally experience police misconduct and brutality at higher levels than other demographics," Beatty wrote.

"I shudder to think about the probable result had the defendant continued to walk and ignore the police," he wrote in conclusion. "An objective eye would acknowledge the fact that African-Americans are being reasonable when they respond in accordance with their collective experiences gained over two hundred years."

In a separate opinion, then-Justice Kaye Hearn wrote that she shared Beatty's concerns but voted to uphold the conviction anyway.

Beatty told the students that it's important for them to share their perspective regardless.

"If you don't contribute your thoughts, other people in the room will have no idea of whether or not they're making the right decision," he said.

'An investment in yourself'

Students also wanted to know if he had ever experienced racism in his career.

"You do know I'm a Black man?" Beatty responded. "That's a reality. Racism is something that I grew up with, and it's something that I will die with."

Beatty grew up in Spartanburg, one of seven children in a poor, working-class family, at a time when the school system was still segregated.

"But that does not mean that every person is a racist and that every situation you encounter is going to be a race-based situation," he stressed.

Beatty's advice to students was to let others get to know them as a way to break down racial barriers.

"If they know you, they'll talk about racism but they won't talk about you in that context," he said. "They'll see you ... not just your skin color."

Beatty also tried to leave the students with a message of encouragement.

"Don't let your current circumstances control what the future is going to look like," he said. "You can go anywhere from here. ... The biggest challenge is recognizing you can do it."

"All you need to do is prepare yourself, and preparation means education," Beatty added. "Education is an investment in yourself. You should get up every day and say, 'What can I do today that's going to invest in me, that's going to assist me in becoming the person I'm going to be later in life?"

Beatty described himself as his mother's most "mischievous" child. When he would get in trouble, his mother's answer was to require him to read.

Then, as a senior in high school, Beatty took classes at a technical school in the Spartanburg area to learn a trade. For a year, he studied electronics thinking he might become a lineman for Duke Power.

After high school graduation, he was set to join the U.S. Air Force but again his mother had other plans. She packed him up to attend South Carolina State University, the state's only public historically Black university.

Beatty would serve in the military — the Army for two years — between getting his bachelor's degree and enrolling in law school.

He called his time at S.C. State "the best thing that could have happened to me."

"I was in an environment where the professors cared about you," Beatty said. "The whole focus was education. You were nurtured ... I think it actually formed the basis for the person I am now."

Beatty told the students that preparation and education will put them in a position to take advantage of opportunities that come their way.