Joseph P. Riley Jr.

South Carolina · born or raisedBorn 1943

American politician

Born in Charleston
Studied at The Citadel
Studied at Bishop England High School

Quotations with a citation

I think because of the bridges that have been built, and this clearly was someone from away, the reaction has not been, you know, a racially divisive kind of a reaction at all. Because a service I attended today was a racially-mixed service, with a white clergyman there and citizens and African-Americans. So I think the fact that bridges are built solidly - that this horrific event did not rip the city asunder, but rather, we had built a strong foundation that has enabled us to withstand this - in many ways makes the community even stronger.

[Y]ou deal with it honestly, not politically, just honestly.

What I knew was, for this to be a great city, it had to be a just city and that we had to begin with citizens who had not been a part of the governance before and had not felt like the government is for them.

We need to -- we have more work to do to understand each other, respect each other's differences, embrace each other. We have made -- we have made huge progress, when we consider where we were, in my lifetime, in the 72 years -- 72 years I have been alive. But it shows that this is a work in progress. And we need to put our shoulders to the wheel and keep moving it forward.