Protesters marched to North Charleston City Hall this morning to demonstrate over police brutality across the nation.
More than 100 protesters convened after the short march, and a troupe of seven drummers with RBM School of the Arts played and sang traditional songs.
Anthony Scott, the older brother of Walter Scott, and other family members attended.
“That’s a lynching” he said of what happened to George Floyd while the man was in police custody in Minneapolis. Scott said it was the same fate for his late brother in North Charleston.
When asked if the protests and the energy across the nation felt different, he said, “The energy was always there. People have just come out and support.”
Feidin Santana, who filmed the police shooting of Scott, also spoke. He said after witnessing the death of Scott, he couldn’t be silent.
“Because silence is violence. Silence is complicity,” he said. “We are here to stop police brutality, we’re here to protect our future generation.”
Matthew Neal, a statistics teacher at Fort Dorchester High School, said he has incorporated facts about racial inequities into his lessons. Still, he said he could be doing more.
“I wanted to show I care about my students, and their lives matter to me,” he said. “It breaks my heart that we even have to debate that.”
Danielle Richardson, a Charleston resident, came with her 11-year-old son, Damario Hopkins. She said he has participated in rallies and marches since he was a toddler. She hopes he sees “that people of all races and nationalities can come together.”
“The racism is a taught thing," she said. “We just have to love each other.” She also hopes the energy from protests continue to the poll.
Wanda Staley of Orangeburg uses her mask to send a message during the rally in North Charleston on Saturday, June 6, 2020. Lauren Petracca/Staff
Groups met at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of Mall Drive and Rivers Avenue. All wore masks, and many carried “Black Lives Matter” signs. North Charleston police Chief Reggie Burgess marched with the group to city hall.
“He believes black lives matter, too,” said Thomas Dixon, the event organizer. The community activist ran for mayor last year against longtime incumbent Keith Summey.
“First of all I’m a community police officer,” Burgess said. “Being here is natural for me.”
He doesn’t condone the actions of officers in Floyd's death. “This is a part of being about the community business.”
Gus Robinson, a city resident, said he was heartened to see the solidarity expressed by Burgess. But he wondered where the rest of the police force was; just a handful of officers were present at the rally.
Protesters should keep up the demonstrations, he said, in order to put pressure on officials.
“I would like to see transparency,” he said “We don’t want no slap on the wrist.”
Dixon said Scott’s family asked him to organize the rally. He said for a moment after Scott’s death, “there was unity.” But life went back to business as usual soon after, he said. “Now here we are again.”
He then read the names of black people who had been killed in incidents of racial violence, along with a short description of what had been happened to each.
“We can’t play cops and robbers,” Dixon said. “Tamir Rice.” And the crowd repeated the 12-year-old’s name.
Today's protest follows several this week in South Carolina's third-largest city.
On Thursday, nearly 100 people gathered in the city's Park Circle neighborhood in another march and continued down East Montague Avenue.
The North Charleston Police Department escorted protesters throughout their route, only interrupting to ask that the group stay on the sidewalk. Attendees were met with residents honking their horns in support and local business owners screaming "black lives matter" from their front entrances.
That rally was in stark contrast to one on Monday where seven people were arrested after around 200 protesters marched. The demonstration started peacefully but ended in a tense standoff between law enforcement and protesters.
The group began the protest at North Charleston City Hall, then walked about a mile on East Montague Avenue before spreading out near the overpass to Interstate 26 and locking arms.
The tri-county protests against George Floyd's death in Minneapolis in police custody as a symbol for an enduring problem of police brutality across the country began May 30 in Charleston. A large, peaceful demonstration that began in the afternoon downtown later led to damage and vandalism on portions of King Street.
A small group of protesters marched on Wednesday from Tanger Outlets to North Charleston City Hall. The 2-mile trek was organized to bring awareness to criminal justice issues and to demand a conversation with elected officials.
In North Charleston, memories linger of Walter Scott, a black man shot as he ran away from a struggle with city police officer Michael Slager a little more than five years ago.
Slager pleaded guilty to violating Scott's civil rights, and is now in prison. A law requiring all South Carolina police to wear body cameras soon followed, but a recent review by The Post and Courier found it has lacked adequate funding.
In the years since, activists have pushed North Charleston to allow an independent racial bias audit of its police department. Leadership has so far declined to do so.
Scott hopes that more policies and laws will be passed to protect black lives and that events like this will help end the myth that racism doesn’t exist.
“We see it every day," he said. “Our goal is to be heard.”
Santana told The Post and Courier after the event that the rallies are important.
“It’s a need especially now in society to talk about the good things that we can achieve if we come together.”
It’s hard to come out and confront the problems that we're facing, he said, but we have to to effect change.
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Protesters gather Saturday in North Charleston for the second weekend of demonstrations - Charleston Post Courier
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