Dozens of people rallied Monday outside North Charleston City Hall, committing to stay there all day to get the ear of elected officials.
"It was really just to make sure Keith Summey couldn't get rid of us in two hours," said Sydney Clinton, a senior at Fort Dorchester High School and organizer of the protest.
The rally was called to continue conversations around racial injustice, allowing people to share their personal experiences with discrimination and what changes they'd like to see in the city.
Clinton said the group would like to see a racial bias audit of the Police Department, as well as the demilitarization of the city's law enforcement.
"We're not going away until we get what we want," Clinton said.
Clinton said she spoke in the morning with the Chief Reggie Burgess, who offered his support of the student-led demonstration. She didn’t reach out to the city before then because “a big part of these protests is being able to disrupt.”
Multiple phone calls and texts with the mayor's office did not yield an interview with Summey. And he didn't appear to pass by the protesters at the entrance all day. After the Burgess conversation, the city had no more contact with the group.
Preparing for a long day, the group had a table filled with bottled water and snacks. The group held signs reading "No justice no peace." They chanted "Black lives matter," backed by tunes from a trombone played by Marcus McDonald, who also played his instrument at Marion Square on May 31.
The group held a "die-in" every hour on the hour, lying on their stomachs for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, marking the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into George Floyd's neck. Floyd, a black man, died on Memorial Day.
At 10 a.m., the group moved from the parking lot to the outdoor space in front of the City Hall entrance. Lying flat on the ground with their hands behind their backs and saying, “I can’t breathe.”
Some people entering the city building stepped over the demonstrators.
The event included demonstrators who used their artistic talents to call for social change.
Fort Dorchester High School graduating senior Sydney Clinton (left) and senior Chidera Nkem-osai lead a protest in front of North Charleston City Hall Monday June 8, 2020. Gavin McIntyre/Staff
Chidera Nkem-osai, a Fort Dorchester senior, recited a poem that spoke of the inner strength of black people and their creative culture.
“You stole our culture and called it ghetto,” she said. “That’s OK, because our words will pierce your heart like a stiletto. ... You my black child are the epitome of grace.”
North Charleston resident Krisalyn Komakech, also part of the faith-based community organization Rebuilding Every Community Around Peace, said attending the event was personal for her. She’s white and married to a black man. The couple has faced discrimination from family members, she said.
Komakech said the Floyd incident is a tipping point toward addressing police brutality, noting the actions of Minnesota police have even been condemned by other law enforcement agencies across the nation.
“It’s refreshing because it shows they’re finally willing to take a stand against their own,” she said.
Just before noon, the group had grown to about 30 people. They read poems, told of their personal experiences with discrimination and engaged in conversations around policies that could bring about change.
They chanted “all hands on deck, knees off our neck” and “white silence is violence.”
Several community leaders stopped by to show support for the youth-led demonstration, including former mayoral candidate Pastor Thomas Dixon.
North Charleston resident Dexter White encouraged attendees to continue their activism after the protest. He highlighted the 2020 census forms, encouraging people to fill out the documents, which are used to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in resources to communities. White plans to promote the document in low-income neighborhoods.
“It’s you being counted so your voices can be heard,” he said.
By 3 p.m., the crowd swelled to about 80 people. Steady rain began to fall around 3:30, but demonstrators stayed outside, many without umbrellas.
The group left just before 4 p.m. amid heavy rainfall.
The event came on the heels of more than a week of protests across the Lowcountry demanding justice for Floyd. Demonstrations were held in North Charleston recently, including a protest hosted at City Hall by the family of Walter Scott, who was shot to death by a white police officer in North Charleston five years ago.
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June 09, 2020 at 03:44AM
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Student-run protest at North Charleston City Hall lasts nearly all day - Charleston Post Courier
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