Just who is this Alvin Greene?

Konstantin Vengerowsky/Clarendon Citizen

In the last two weeks Alvin Michael Greene has become a national media sensation.

With much focus being devoted to his filing fee and his felony obscenity charges, we still don’t know his whole story or what he represents.

The Clarendon Citizensat down with Greene to attempt to get a better understanding of the first African-American nominated in South Carolina for the U.S. Senate, since the Reconstruction Era.

Throughout the one-hour interview with the Democratic nominee, the phone rang four times. One of these calls was from a New York City book-publishing agent, the other a French television station.

“This is quiet,” said Greene. “Sometimes when I answer the phone, I got someone else beeping on the other line. As soon as I hang up, it rings again. It is a constant.”

Greene said that since winning the primary on June 8, he’s received calls from state, national and international media, book publishers, screenwriters, etc.

“I get calls from media and the general public all across the world, just offering their help with my campaign,” he said.

Greene, 32, was born in Florence on August 30, 1977. The son of educators, his father James S. Greene was assistant principal of the Paxville Training School, and his mother, Claudette Lawson Greene a teacher at Manning Training School.

His father is an Air Force veteran who worked in supply and was also a soil conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Greene has one older brother, James Jr. who is a correctional officer in Sumter County and lives next door.

Greene has lived in Clarendon County most of his life, attending Manning Primary through Manning High School where he graduated in 1995.

At Manning High he was a very active student. His list of activities included Future Farmers of America (FFA), Mock Trial Club, Black Heritage Club, Library Club, Student Council, Big Brother and Prom Committee.

He was in the Air Force Junior ROTC program, and a member of the ROTC Colorguard, Drill Team, and Junior Civitan.

“He was very quiet and very reserved,” said Barry Brooke, assistant instructor of ROTC.

He played intramural basketball and was the only African-American on the 1992-93 Boys Tennis Team.

“The only reason I remembered him was he was the only black kid on the tennis team,” former MHS Principal John Bassard said. “He was a good kid, you seem to only remember the bad ones.”

“He was a very intelligent young man,” said Coach Kay Young, his tennis coach and third-grade teacher.

Greene said that Barbara W. King, a retired MHS teacher who taught him College Prep English in grade 12, was one of his most influential people at the school.

“He was a conscientious student, quiet natured, well-mannered and did not have any behavior problems whatsoever,” King said.

She also said that he was strong academically, and got along well with his classmates.
Greene said that ROTC, History and Government were some of his favorite subjects.

During his senior year, Greene joined the South Carolina Air National Guard. He went through basic training, and enrolled in South Carolina State University, in Orangeburg, a year after graduating high school.

He continued performing his duties for the Air National Guard on the weekends, and soon transferred to the University of South Carolina, majoring in political science.

“I’ve always had an interest in politics and I liked going to school at USC,” he said.
To this day, Greene has remained a Gamecock fan.

After graduating from USC in 2000, Greene did a tour-of-duty in England with the Air National Guard. He served with the Guard for a total of seven years, and after completing his enlistment, he joined the Air Force and was stationed at Shaw AFB, in Sumter.

Greene said he was an intelligence specialist at Shaw and had top-secret security clearance. He declined to talk about any specifics of his three-year job there.

After that Greene joined the S.C. Army National Guard. After seven-months he changed his uniform again, joining the U.S. Army. He was sent overseas to Korea for a year, and then was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.

He received numerous medals during his military career for honorable service.

He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army nine months ago. Greene said the discharge was involuntary, and refused to comment on the specifics.

He immediately moved back home, and has been unemployed ever since. He lives with his father and receives unemployment insurance benefits.

Greene said that he decided to run for office to make a positive difference. The major issues that are important to Greene are jobs, education and the justice system.

In terms of unemployment, Greene said that he wants to work with the South Carolina Department of Transportation to pick up road construction projects that he said were in progress before Sept. 11, 2001.

“That includes I-74 from Michigan to the South Carolina coast,” he said. “Also the widening of major highways across the state, especially evacuation routes leading from the coast.”

Greene said that new jobs can be created with alternative sources of energy.

“We’re going to implement alternative forms of energy, everything from solar, wind and methane to reduce the cost of natural gas and gasoline,” he said. “Those efforts are going to create green jobs.”

Greene said that it makes sense for him to run right now, as one of the thousands of unemployed South Carolinians.

“Right now we have more unemployed people in South Carolina than at any other time in the history of the state,” he said. “My campaign slogan is ‘Let’s Get South Carolina Back To Work,’ and my successful campaign would be getting me back to work as well.”

Greene said that he wants to get better education for students in the public school system.
“We have very low standardized test scores and our high school dropout rates are some of the highest in the nation,” he said.

Greene said that his motivation to do well in school were his parents, who were both educators.
“We need more parental involvement, that’s probably one of the best solutions,” he said.

The cost of public higher education is another problem.
“It’s expensive but we spend two times the amount of tax dollars on inmates than we do on our students,” he said.

In terms of the judicial system, Greene said that he wants to make sure the punishment fits the crime.
“We have non-violent first-time offenders who are spending time incarcerated, when they can get pre-trial intervention programs,” he said. “The fairness there will help us save money.”

In terms of healthcare reform law, Greene is for it. 
“It’s a step in the right direction because it gives everyone insurance coverage,” he said. “My opponent and the Republicans are in the process of repealing that healthcare reform law.”

Greene said that he wasn’t surprised that he won the primary, although he did not show any signs of campaigning. He does not have a plan as of yet on how he’s going to run his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat.
“I’m still organizing now for the general election,” Greene said. “I would like a September debate against my opponent that would be live on a major state or national network.”

Greene also said that he is working on creating a website for his campaign, but does not have any formal events planned.

“It’s not about campaign strategies, but about the issues,” he said.

Greene said that he is comfortable dealing with all the media attention, but is sometimes caught off-guard.

“Sometimes they just show up without any notice,” he said.

Greene will run against incumbent Republican Senator Jim DeMint in the November election.