Columbia rally calls for equality, action from lawmakers
Columbia resident Erica Cokley took to the streets Friday demanding the end of systematic racist laws, police brutality and the mistreatment of Black people across the country.
The 39-year-old mother of two said she woke up angry at the end of what has been an exhaustive week following the shooting of another Black man. This time it was Jacob Blake, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was shot seven times in front of his three children by a white police officer called to the scene for a domestic disturbance.
Cokley, 39, was among the some 100 protesters who joined the National Action Network’s Friday demonstration to call for tangible solutions to ensure the safety of Black families around the nation.
“My sign says it all,” she said. It read: “You done made this mama angry.”
The event fell on the 65th anniversary of the lynching of 14-year-old Emmitt Till from Mississippi, whose murder shocked a generation of Black people into getting involved in civil rights. Friday also coincided with the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington, though some said Friday they feel as if Black Americans are worse off now than 60 years ago.
“I’m not even going to say it’s a dream. It’s a nightmare,” Pastor Thomas Dixon said.
The Rev. Nelson B. Rivers III, a vice president of the action network, started the event at Memorial Park on Hampton Street by speaking to a crowd about the importance of voting and how Black people in South Carolina may have faced more hurdles to vote compared to others.
“Nothing right has been done easy for us in South Carolina,” said Rivers, who added the state is one of the most racist places in the nation because of its deep Confederate ties.
Departing from Memorial Park, people soon lined up on the corner of Hampton and Gadsden streets to march toward U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s office in hopes of delivering a letter seeking his support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Organizers were cognizant of necessary safety measures amid the coronavirus pandemic, frequently asking attendees to stay about 6 feet apart and to keep their masks on.
Chants of “No justice, No peace” and “Black lives matter” could be heard by megaphone down the Columbia streets as law enforcement looked on. Signs reading “No mama should have to bury her son” waved in the air and protesters sported shirts with notable quotes like “Get in trouble. Good Trouble. Necessary Trouble. John Lewis”.
Among those marching was Darion McCloud and his daughter. McCloud said he wished he didn’t have to bring his daughter to such an event to call for equality, but said “the struggle is ever going.”
“I’m here for the same reason as everyone else: Exhaustion, trying to rekindle hope and for justice,” he said. “Simple justice.”
Longtime Columbia activist Frances Close also attended, holding a sign that said, “I can’t breathe.” Her son, Elliott, sported a mask that said, “This was preventable.”
George Floyd, a Black man who died in May in Minneapolis while in police custody, repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” while a police office held a knee against Floyd’s neck.
Once at Graham’s office, the crowd was met by a significantly smaller opposition group, which traveled from Charleston. The counter protesters held American flags, a “Don’t tread on me flag” and a flag with President Trump depicted as the fictional movie character Rambo. They shouted that Democrats wanted to tear families apart and kill babies.
Justin Hunt, president of the Charleston-based activist group “Stand As 1,” said it’s unfortunate the counter protest group continues to group to rallies around the state to push what Hunt called false narratives and hate, but said those messages are often drowned out by the vast calls for equality and justice.
“We’ve always been able to outnumber them by the unity of Black men and women and white allies,” Hunt said.
Though Graham was not at the building, a representative accepted the letter on his behalf so the crowd could head back to the park to hear more speakers. A copy of the letter, given to The State newspaper, addressed the killings of Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia, and the recent shooting of Blake, who is alive but paralyzed from the waist down.
“South Carolina has a long record of police abuse of the civil and human rights of Black people that dates back centuries,” the letter said. “The most egregious recent example was the murder of the unarmed Mr. Walter Scott Jr. by a white police officer in North Charleston, SC, (on) April 4, 2015. Since that horrific crime, there have been too many cases of police officers killing and abusing Black people across America.”
In 2015, the officer who killed Scott, Michael Slager, was indicted by a grand jury and charged with murder. In 2017, the officer pleaded guilty to federal charges for civil rights violations and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat and the highest-ranking Black leader in Congress, was among the guest speakers at Memorial Park.
He said everyone has their own role to play to ensure change happens, whether that be an elected official, a protester or someone to post bail. And though the event was not intended to be political, Cylburn urged people to vote throughout October and to elect former Vice President Joe Biden as president.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Clyburn also called for an end to police immunity that makes it difficult to prosecute officers accused of wrongdoing, adding he supports the job being done by Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook.
He said he once thought the killing of George Floyd was the worst thing he had ever seen. That was before he saw a police officer “holding onto Blake with one hand and pumping seven bullets into his back with the other hand.”
“That was much more egregious than the knee to the neck,” Clyburn said. “People are coming to grips with the fact that something needs to be done.”
Referencing the action network’s request that Graham support the two bills, Clyburn said he believes many Republicans support the legislation, but that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t put them on the floor for a vote without the president’s blessing.