This Spring tensions boiled over nationwide in a way they haven't in years.

Following the video released in early May of the death of Ahmaud Arbury, a black Georgia man who was hunted down and killed by three white men.

And weeks later, the video showing the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed while handcuffed in police custody by an officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Protests erupted in streets across the world and in South Carolina, with people of all races, many protesting for the first time, sickened by seeing such racial injustice happening over and over, something that without the video evidence wouldn't garner much attention at all.

Talking to my friends in the majority community who have called me and texted me saying what can I do?

What they keep telling me is that the image, the video of George Floyd really asking for his mother at the end, was hard to watch.

And for the first time, they saw something they had never seen before.

And they wanted to do something.

And my short answer is, silence is not an answer.

It's not an approach and I'm thankful that they are calling and asking for ways to make a difference.

It's recognizing that you have the power to be intentional about the change that is necessary.

And if you use that power for change, it will happen.

Thousands turned out across South Carolina on May 30th, just days after Floyd's death.

Despite pockets of unrest that day they have remained peaceful and ongoing as people marched on the statehouse calling for policy action.

People marched in Charleston, leading to the removal of the statue of a racist forefather, John C. Calhoun.

Thousands rallied in Clemson, leading the university's Board to rename it Honors College and push to remove the name of Ben Tillman from a building.

An action that the Heritage Act is prohibiting many communities across the state from doing.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, which by itself has highlighted the glaring inequalities of our society, the movement has galvanized a nation and a state to continue pushing for change, equality and equity, as more and more people realize and learn of the problems people of color face every day, in a country founded on the principle that all are created equal.

Welcome to Palmetto Perspectives and this very important conversation on racial injustices.

I'm Thelisha Eaddy.

In light of the killings of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor and other unarmed Black Americans, we've assembled a panel of leaders from the African American community to discuss these killings.

the subsequent protests and pathways to overcoming these tragedies and creating real change in our society.

Now we recognize that tonight's conversation is just a part of a much larger and difficult one but we want to do our part and start by asking questions and listening.

We want to invite you, our viewers and listeners to join us in this conversation.

And you can do that by commenting by way of our Facebook page at South Carolina ETV or South Carolina Public Radio.

Adrienne Farewell is our Assistant General Manager, she will be taking your comments live on air.

We've also assembled a panel of stakeholders by way of ZOOM to join in this conversation as well.

We thank you for your part in tonight's discussion.

And joining us in studio, social distanced, of course, are State Representative, Marvin Pendarvis.

He represents district 113, including Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Recently elected to his third term, representative Pendarvis worked to improve public health care, child care, education among many others.

Lyric Swinton is a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina and an Associate at CityBright L.L.C.

in Columbia.

We have artist and musician, Benny Starr.

He's known for infusing political and social consciousness in his work.

He made history not that long ago 2019 as the first rapper to perform at the Spoleto Festival USA Finale.

Chanda Jefferson is at 2020 South Carolina teacher of the year.

She focused her career on seeking innovative ideas and strategies to positively impact the lives of students.

And Dr Roslyn Clark Artis is President of Benedict College, one of our state's eight HBCUs historically black college or universities.

She is Benedict's first female president.

Thank you all very much for being here.

We appreciate your time and your insights this evening.

But first, I want to start tonight's conversation with a simple question.

How are you doing?

If you are on social media, you know that you probably scrolled past that question several times since May 25th.

How did those 8 minutes 46 seconds impact you?

And tonight how are you doing?

We'll start with you a representative.

Well, one, thank you for or assembling this panel and the opportunity to sit here with many people who are doing some things in our state.

If you would ask me that question three weeks ago, maybe even two and a half weeks ago, I would have said not well, because I wasn't well.

As a black man, a black husband, a black father, a black son as someone who has seen the injustices waged on our people for some time and have that done a bit of studying, I was frustrated because I felt helpless, in many sense because as a an elected official I try to really wrestle with how I can come up with creative solutions to try to address these issues.

And then a lot of it is we continue to see this time and time again and it's falling on deaf ears.

We seem to not be able to break through for society to understand that there is a real issue that's plaguing our country.

And we have to dig at the root of it.

But I'm better now.

I'm better because I've seen that this moment has turned into a movement.

And I you know - that obviously there's a lot to be seen but if we continue to sustain the energy that we have and use it in a way where people are recognizing that there is an issue and are working towards dismantling the institutions of racism and injustice and inequity that exists, then we'll get to where we need to be.

And so I'm better I'm not, you know, 100% just because there's a lot that has to be done.

And I know I have a role in that process, but it's certainly just dealing with the emotions from a personal level and then also professionally.

Because I know that I feel a special sense of obligation but to be at the forefront and trying to do something about this.

Lyric, you just graduated from university.

Congratulations!

Thank you.

The whole world is at your fingertips.

You're just starting your adult life kind of sort of.

How are you?

I'll say when I first saw the video, when it first came out, I obviously felt nothing.

I think we've become so desensitized.

I'm 22 years old.

And so, I look back.

I was in middle school.

I think just starting middle school when Trayvon Martin got killed.

So for people who are my age and are my demographic, violence towards black people is literally all we know.

We've been watching black bodies die on camera since we got social media at our fingertips.

I'm in generation Z. So we are the generation that knows social media like the back of our hands.

And so all we know is these videos.

I watched Eric Garner say I can't breathe.

So, we've become so desensitized to it all.

And it's a very numbing feeling.

As for how I'm doing, I would say that it gets very overwhelming because you want to do something.

You always want to something and even, you're doing a lot and you still feel like you're doing enough.

And it also comes to a point to where you wonder does any of the things that you're doing matter.

Does your degree actually matter?

Does being in elected office, does it matter?

All the accolades and awards and things that you can accumulate.

Because, at the end of the day, you're still Black.

You'll still be judged by the color of your skin, rather than the content of your character.

And being black is something you can't talented 10th your way out of.

So, a lot of times, I feel very defeated.

And that's how I felt initially, when a lot of these things started happening but like Representative Pendarvis said, I feel better now.

I feel inspired by I will say people in my community.

The marches in Columbia where I grew up and where I live now.

I feel inspired by the people who are actively making the change.

I feel inspired by the young people I see on social media making a difference and I feel inspired in the work that I do every day going towards equity for all.

So, in the midst of all this chaos, as disappointed as I may be that we haven't made all the strides I would like, I'm very encouraged by the amount of people who are diligent in making sure that one day that equity true in a true and inclusive society will one day be possible.

Benny, what about you?

To be very honest It's in flux.

One day, things might be pretty good.

And the next day not so good.

It's - I remember when Instagram, I remember seeing Michael Brown on Instagram back when Instagram could only do 15 second videos.

And I remember me and my two of my closest friends, three Michael's friends we were all at a house for a cook out.

We were having a cookout.

And you start seeing the hashtag Ferguson, Ferguson.

And back then it was only 15 second videos on Instagram.

So we were watching the reporter from St Louis cover the story watching people tweet live trying to track the hashtag.

And I I've seen so many different videos over the years and to be honest with you, I haven't watched the complete video.

I can't really watch.

I can't really watch it.

In the midst of COVID-19 and so much of the uncertainty and the what we do know about it and how disproportionately impacted black communities.

And you're worried about your family.

You're worried about essential workers, who are in your family.

You're worried about people you know.

You're worried about the elders.

I'm worried about myself.

You know.

How do I stay safe as safe as possible, With life seemingly coming to a halt in a lot of ways?

And then the uprising happens at this time right now, which is partially up I believe.

It's one of the reasons why a lot of people were tuned in like they've been tuned in, because a lot of things that stopped for a while.

But seeing the uprising and seeing the people, seeing black women's voices get lifted up, seeing activists out there pushing the issues not letting things slide, being very unrelenting, it is inspiring.

So trying to find that balance from day to day and tap into some form of joy, stay grounded.

Do the things that you can do.

Learning for me to control the things that I control and be on call whenever I'm needed.

It's a day to day process for me now.

A day to day process.

Chanda, what about you?

Well, when I heard about it the video, I felt like I was just recovering from Ahmaud Arbury and what happened with him.

And that was a very emotional time for me.

I even, you know utilized my platform to voice, you know, to voice that this is wrong on so many levels.

So I couldn't even watch the video of George Floyd because I know it just triggers so many emotions and trauma for myself.

And when I finally, you know, did watch it, I just thought about, you know, all the black man that are in my family, you know that it could have been them.

Not only that, I thought about my students, because I'm a teacher, because not only are they dealing with the trauma and everything from COVID-19 while they're at home, you know, a lot of the students that I work with as well are dealing with the trauma from social injustice and I was you know worried about them.

And it just, you know, pretty much broke my heart to see this happening, you know, all of this happen at the same time.

And then also having to continue to go on with your life as well.

Because, you know, we had to be on ZOOM calls, and virtual meetings and things like that.

I feel like, you know, it's hard to put up that smile on your face and just carry on as - like things were normal.

I'm knowing all the pain that I was feeling because of what happened to George Floyd, so.

Today, you know, I feel better but I'm still going back and forth because you know this is a major issue.

But it brings me joy and I'm hopeful because I feel like so many more people are speaking out and Dr Martin Luther King Jr said 'When our lives begin to end, if we're silent about things that matter.'

So, I feel like that it's important right now that people begin to speak out.

But, I feel like I'm healing going forward but it's just a lot of work to be done in this area.

Thank you.

Dr Artis, like Chanda, you oversee flocks of young people who will soon enter into of the real world.

I watched videos of you interacting with your students.

I was very moved by one particular report.

And it was like a family.

How are you doing, knowing that so many of the people like your students are are faced with such a hard outcomes sometimes?

So in this moment, as I sit here and listen to the people assembled, I feel affirmed, because I see pieces of my reaction in each of them.

As a leader, I felt powerless.

My students are separated from the campus.

My ability to bring them together and help them walk through this pain and think through this and come up with a response and help the heal was very limited, because they were dispersed across the country.

And, so I felt really lost and rudderless and not able to take care my babies, because they were separate and apart.

The sort of numbness that Lyric mentioned, we've seen this before.

I wish I could say I was shocked.

I wish I could say I was horrified, but we've seen this before.

And so when I think of my students, I think about seeing it, does impose trauma.

Right?

And the fact that they're desensitized to it, doesn't mean they're not being harmed or traumatized.

It means that we're going to have to unpack that when they come back.

And so I began to think about what that means for us, when our students come back to campus and the brokenness and the pain that they're going to bring back with them.

And then as we think about how we find joy, I saw those students.

I saw them in the video footage of demonstrations and protests all over the country.

And I became excited and joyful and I initially was sending out messages sort of trying to calm them.

Do not be - Do not participate - like calm down!

I worry for your safety.

You know we know sometimes black boys survive the ride to jail.

We know that our kids will be arrested at a higher rate if they're peacefully protesting.

We know that there were agitators there, trying to create circumstances where students would be much more likely to be harmed or incarcerated.

And so I was talking to them and saying you know calm down.

We are kings and queens.

We will conduct ourselves appropriately.

But you know what?

They taught me.

They showed me.

They stood tall and they lifted their voices and they stood there.

And they would not be moved and because of them I am encouraged I learned from them.

You know, we're the elders now.

And so to watch them lift their voices and be heard despite our admonitions to kind of calm down, really taught me some things.

I learned from them as much as I hope they learned from me.

And so I look forward to welcoming back to campus and really helping to unpack and think through what our next steps are as a people.

It's an exciting time.

It's a painful and difficult time.

But the hope that's on the horizon, the conversations that are being had that I don't ever recall being had by people who don't look like us.

Right.

The phone calls that are coming in saying what can we do?

I am upset.

I stand with you and want to make change really are incredibly encouraging.

And I think we're really at the precipice of something amazing in South Carolina and across the country.

Thank you all for sharing.

I think it's very telling that we have to ask that question or to remind people to ask that question.

I think is an indicator that we've been seeing too much of this when you have to ask someone how they are doing.

It's an indicator that there's something wrong.

Many of you are watching via social media Facebook and ZOOM.

And Adrienne is taking your comments.

What are we hearing online?

So I have a question for the panel here.

That I believe is one that many people ask.

And so I'd really like for us to unpack your response to this particular comment, more so than a question.

So we have a viewer.

People that believe they are being oppressed need to work at their lives.

Got educated.

Get educated so that you can rise above poverty.

Being black has its privileges.

As a minority, there are quotas for employment in university enrollment.

White people don't get that handicap.

Violence and tearing down history shows ignorance.

So how do you respond?

How do you unpack that and respond to a level of - Because I can't tell if this is a question or a comment.

How do we respond to that?

So, that's a comment.

Right.

That's an opinion and we can debate how informed that opinion might be.

The reality is there was a young woman on social media.

Again young people have taught us a lot in this process.

And she articulated the current struggle in the context of the game of Monopoly.

Some of you may have seen it.

400 rounds of Monopoly.

And I'm not allowed to play.

Round and around the board we go, I can't acquire property.

I can't build a Monopoly.

I can't participate in anything I might earn, grow or build.

I have to give to my opponent for 400 rounds.

For 50 more rounds, you let me in the game and I get to participate, but if I begin to accumulate property and build something, you burn it down.

Rosewood, Tulsa - Right?

If you didn't like how I was playing the game, you tore up the game.

You burned down my game.

You took away my Monopoly money.

And then after that, you said, 'Well, it's 451, you can play now.

Catch up.'

You have monopolies.

You have hotels.

You have properties.

You have accumulated wealth, generational wealth and you look at me and you say, 'Catch up!

What's your problem?

What's your problem?

I think that really amplified what this looks like for people of color in this country.

400 years of not being able to play in the game 50 more years, 65 more years of having limited ability to play in the game and again recognizing that if you begin to win they will take it away from you.

And now you look at me and say, 'What's your problem?

What's wrong with you that you can't catch up?'

Well, I don't know.

Why don't you give me what you've acquired for 465 years and let's see how you do in a fair game.

I think we have to think about things in their proper context.

And I thought that was really a perfect analogy for how people of color feel.

So this notion that an African American would be given an opportunity to go to college, it does not disenfranchise you.

It enriches you.

Now you have an opportunity to study besides someone with a different perspective and perhaps grow your own.

Expand your own way of thinking.

You should be grateful that those opportunities exist and we have an opportunity to have a more broad, a more diverse, a more inclusive educational opportunity for everybody.

That's not a set aside.

That's an opportunity and you should be grateful for it.

Chanda.

Just kind of piggy backing a little bit off of that, I think about you know even in the midst of African Americans being able to go to college, we know, like looking at statistics, there's still an extreme wealth gap.

So African Americans can graduate college but it's still sometimes harder for them to advance and move up the economic ladder.

So, we need to look at things like that as well.

I think that comment reeks of a certain kind of privilege.

And a certain type of ignorance of history.

We were once, one time considered chattel.

Yes.

Property.

After that when we were freed, we were emancipated.

Still not given anything to begin to restore to make us whole.

And one of the talking points that I continue to hear for people who may have that, who may have that belief system is that black people don't work hard.

I would argue that black people work the hardest.

Because I look at the things that black people have been able to accomplish with all the obstacles that are in front of us, that have been in front of us.

Historically, right now, still, a part of a system that is in many ways still built on our exploitation, built on exploiting our labor, built on not seeing us as equal, built on our incarceration, having our communities policed a certain way, stripping us of our land, putting our families, putting children in areas where they're growing up where the air quality isn't good.

All these things, hiring practices, housing insecurity, homelessness.

We're in the midst of a global pandemic right now.

We're really looking at the statistics and what it's telling us about a disproportionate impact on black people, that's added on top of the disparities that already exist in health care for black people.

Now we even get to look at the trauma and the stress and the science that we know now.

We're learning about trauma and stress and how we hold it in our bodies and how it affects our health, in the stroke belt, in the South.

So to hear one say.

You know.

If we just work hard and focus on ourselves that we can somehow pull ourselves up out of the boot straps, by the bootstraps in a country that we basically built without our labor for free, because we have these quotas.

Many of these quotas I'm assuming that some of what they may be referring to is with colleges.

The term escapes me right now.

Affirmative Action.

Affirmative Action, which we know even now by the data that white women benefit from the most.

So it reeks of a certain type of ignorance.

I think of history, data, what's going on right now and I think this is a time when people before they should say things like that, it's a timeless to listen.

Because listening is a form of leadership too.

I saw a tweet, the other day and it talked about how in a lot of predominately African American high schools, you see more military recruiters than college recruiters.

The idea of college isn't presented to a lot of black students in the first place.

Black students are told in middle school, college isn't for everybody White kids don't hear that until their senior year of high school when it's almost basically over.

Like you basically failed every test in the book.

Black students are told in middle school that, 'You know, college isn't for everybody.

You don't have to do this.

Like, you know.

Maybe, it's just not for you.'

Not college isn't for everyone, but the option is taken out of your hands before you can even process that there was an option in the first place.

And I think a lot of times, once you make it to college, if you're able to go to an institution, everybody's experience is not the same.

You still can't play in every game.

So you can't go and study abroad like your peers because you don't have funds laying around just to be able you know to take a flight and take a semester off, because that's not doable for a lot of students.

There's only but so many of those minority based scholarships that are even going around to try to even the playing field for people to be able to have those experiences.

And let's just be honest.

A college degree itself, by itself, is no longer enough.

What really gets you across the line after you graduate is those internship opportunities.

Those co-op experiences.

And many black students cannot participate because they can't afford to work unpaid internships.

And that's just the sad truth.

And it doesn't mean that black students are lazy.

That means that they were working three or four jobs to keep themselves a float, while they were working and paying their way through schools.

And they probably have families that they have to account for as well.

It's not a single story.

And I think that a lot of times, we think that the black experience is a monolith and it's not.

It doesn't mean that black students are lazy.

They have more to think about.

They have more priorities that no student, no one between the age of 17 and 22 should ever have to deal with those things, but black students deal with them absolutely every day.

So, the idea that black students are just profiting off of a system and meeting a quota, every black person you see is a miracle, every black person you see in a leadership position with a college degree and that survived past all the odds, is an absolute miracle, because that means that you survived in a system that was built to break you and that you weren't meant to thrive in.

Anyway.

So that's just how I feel about those comments.

I think they're out of touch and I think that they don't see the holistic story of the black experience.

Okay.

Representative.

Yeah.

When I hear comments like that it's frustrating.

It's ignorant and it really tries to legitimize so much of what's led us to this place to begin with which is an ignorance of the real issues.

Dr.

King said in his last speech in Memphis that you know we need to keep the issues where they are and that kind of comment is dangerous for a number of reasons but one that you mentioned, Benny, when you talk about that mindset being in positions of influence and in positions where you deal with hiring and in places, in the classroom or you know, whether it's on the collegiate level or the secondary level where we have to understand that while we've, we've certainly gotten to a place where there is a reckoning and an understanding of so much of the, the institutional and structural racism that is, has plagued our people, that there are a number of people and there is this, this sentiment out there that that, that tries to legitimize the oppressor and continue to suggest that we haven't done things, that we, that what we're asking for is too much.

That, you know we've arrived and that could be very dangerous when we look at the kind of society that we're trying to raise children in, the kind of place that we want to conduct ourselves in a professional level and so it is we have to be careful and one, calling out those kinds of comments for what they are and also trying to educate people because as it's been said before there is a lot that goes into the Black experience and it's just not by happenstance and then we have to be careful about trying to legitimize so much of the oppression of our people and understanding that kind of comment is ignorant.

Thank you.

You have another social media comment?

We have a question from Zoom that I think I'm just going to point directly to the representative on because this piggy backs on something you just said.

What are the mental effects?

What's the mental impact of living as an African American in this society?

How does this affect your mental state?

Yeah, well I mean there's, there's so many sayings about living, being Black in America right now and many since, you know so many folks say is the biggest blessing the biggest curse in many ways.

Curse in the sense that there is this constant target but blessings because as a people were very unique and remarkable and have created so many things that really make this world thrive.

But, the mental state for me I constantly wrestle with this because I'm always trying to make sure that I'm in a good place mentally and understanding the greater moment, especially with the larger personal responsibilities that I have now as a father and also you know being careful not to internalize it so much to where it could be harmful.

So, the best thing that I could say for me is a lot of my mental state goes towards harnessing this energy, this frustration, this anger and really looking at what I can do in my role and how I can use that to push for the kind of change that we need to see, to have the conversations that must be had and to engage people in ways that they haven't been before.

And so I as Black men, as Black people we're constantly wrestling with how we process these, these traumas, because it does have a mental effect on us.

And historically, we haven't always been good about dealing with that, that impact and talking with people and trying to engage one another and so really it's the time for us to really have those conversations.

I know that I have and in really digging deep within and thinking about how we can utilize our respective roles to really amplify our voices together and really push for the kind of change that we need to see.

The moment is here and we must meet the moment.

Thank you.

We've watched and many of us participated in recent protests for the fair and just treatment of African Americans, of all people, but if we take a look back through the years, we will see familiar images and hear familiar sounds.

From the South Carolina ETV archives, we see that obtaining these simple civil rights, fair and just treatment, is something Black South Carolinians have fought for, for decades.

Black Lives Matter!

Black Lives Matter!

Black Lives Matter!

South Carolina has a long history of protesting for civil rights, some peaceful, some deadly; from The Friendship Nine to The Orangeburg Massacre, but in the 1950's, one Columbia woman, Sarah Mae Flemming, led the way for the country.

She was leaving work one day.

She was a maid, a house worker in a predominantly, White, suburban area here in Columbia, South Carolina.

And when she got off from work she wanted to catch this particular route that would get her home quicker.

And when she got on a bus the driver of the bus explained that there were no available seats and there were some available seats in the front.

So, she took her seat and after asking her to move and she did not, he then got up and hit her in the stomach and from there, sought legal counsel which propelled really the Civil Rights Movement as we know today.

Her case actually was the blueprint for Rosa Parks.

Five years later in Rock Hill, the actions of a group of college students, started what would become known as The Jail No Bail Movement in 1961 They became known as The Friendship Nine.

We had two worlds here, a black and white world.

At that time, you know, things was stagnated.

We had certain places we could go, we couldn't go, so we felt the urge to join in with the sit in, the movement that started in North Carolina and to try to make a change and make a difference in our hometown.

We established Jail No Bail.

And see, before that, it comes stagnated 'cause every time you go to jail the people had to bail you out and it was costing the people of Rock Hill money so when we went to jail, then the state and the city and the county had to take care of us, so that reversed it and that kind of, that made a big difference in the movement because people say, if we go to jail it'll make a difference and that started, that really started the ball rolling and change was coming about.

And eight years later in Orangeburg, civil rights activists and Denmark native Cleveland Sellers was the only person jailed during the Orangeburg Massacre.

He knew then as he knows now that change comes from the next generation.

I like to think that period of our history, the 1960's was a significant period in terms of changing America to live up to its constitutional provisions to all citizens and we also were able to step onto the stages of history and show that students young people can be engaged, women can be engaged, all folk can be engaged and that we have to continue to try to motivate young people to write their own legacy for that generation in the sands.

And as we've seen over the past few months many young people the next generation are stepping out to change the future of racial injustices throughout the state and the country.

Familiar images, familiar images, familiar sounds.

Before we start to talk about this round of protests we go back to Adrienne because we have more comments and questions from our viewers and listeners online.

Excellent.

So for those who don't know exactly what it is, why we're here we have also a panel assembled on Zoom, so they are also sending in questions.

So, I've got a question for the group.

As leaders in education, politics and community, what advice are you, we providing to the masses regarding policy and the importance of policy as we move forward with dealing with social injustice, criminal reform, political unrest?

Dr.

Artis, I'd start with you.

so I think we have an obligation to educate our young people to give them the tools in their tool box to be effective advocates for issues that impact equity in access in this country and so for me that means helping them think about economic equity, right.

We spend our money in communities and with people who invest in our communities and so thinking about how we build wealth and create businesses so our small business development center right functions in that regard to assist small minority owned businesses and growing and building capacities.

So I think that's one critical element.

I think from a policy standpoint our young people have to be engaged.

The only way things change is through legislation and policy and so being educated advocates of what the intended and unintended consequences of policies and legal changes are.

I came to South Carolina from Florida.

There was a standard ground law in Florida that many people of color voted for.

Sounded like a really good idea until you really dig into the implications you are effectively giving someone a license to kill.

But no one saw that in the early stages of stand your ground and so I think teaching our young people to be effective advocates means teaching them to read carefully and to find meaning and to understand and push back and ask questions.

Find your voice and do not be afraid to ask questions.

Our elected officials are accountable to us to some extent and we have to hold them accountable as the electorate and so voting, working through our economic prosperity issues and helping to build wealth and of course educated democracy is our goal.

Anyone else take that question?

Yeah.

I think that it is important for once again our young people to start exploring policy as well and even our teachers.

This year you know serving as teacher of the year sometimes we're often focused on you know our classroom but you know serving in this role I was able to see how the policy at the state level affects the the funding and even you know thinking back to like the school district how our discipline policies, how that affects the proportion of African American males that are expelled from school and just exploring those policies and examining them to see which ones are injust or unjust, that are oppressive and take an action to, to change those policies so I think we should take a strong or a good look at those policies.

Examine them and see which ones that we need to take action to change to make them more equitable for all people.

Representative I think you were following up with that.

Yeah, so a few things.

One, if we learned anything from the video is that so much of the social movements for that kind of change that we've seen in this country, were started by young people and that's one of the things that encourages me.

I'm young I'm thirty and so being able to see the next generation rise up, find our voice and understand our role, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with Dr.

Artis in that with my advice to people who are looking to push for the kind of changes.

It is your obligation.

This moment has taught me with the global pandemic that we're experiencing and the pandemic of systemic racism is that so many of the issues that have long existed are now being exacerbated and brought to the forefront, issues like the disparities in health care, the economic injustices that exist in our communities, those are, you know, the inequities in education, the education system, those are the things that have long existed and so the moment is right for us to really understand our powered voice and push for the kind of change.

I serve in a body that passes legislation and I can tell you and I tell young people all the time is that so much of what moves is what people support in large sum and the ones that get the kind of momentum behind it that's going to be necessary to effectuate that changes so for the young people watching, the ones that are on ZOOM, I would just encourage you to understand the critical moment that we are in our country and to really be vocal about the kind of changes that have to happen within our criminal justice system, education system, the economic system, it's important and really continue to hold elected officials accountable to that kind of change.

Don't let up.

Keep this same energy that we're seeing and sustain it long term because I assure you we'll see the kind of change that we need to see.

Absolutely.

I think that it's really important to be intentional about knowing that in this time it feels like you can only do one thing at one time so you can either March or you can vote or all those things but protest and policy cannot be exclusive.

Protest makes policy possible.

So for young people, it's important, I self I have to remind myself of this a lot, you have to make your anger means something.

Just being mad, being on Twitter and letting the Twitter fingers move, it feels good in the moment but what does that actually do?

So, you have to make the anger means something.

Congressman Clyburn said at the Faith for.

Black Lives March here in Columbia something so powerful: a March without an agenda is just a parade.

And so it's important that you have something to go behind it.

Know who you are aiming your anger at, know who are those people in charge that can directly make that change happen for you and if you get the perfect scenario that you want and you get in that legislators space or you get in that mayor space for you get that governor or president's face that, and if they say, I'll give you anything you want, if you don't have a list then you're out of luck.

So it's really important that you know exactly what you're looking for; What do you want to be changed?

What are the policies currently?

How can you make them better?

And so protest and policy cannot be exclusive.

What you're doing on social media and what you're doing at these marches can not just stand on its own.

You need to vote.

That's absolutely important but you also need to be putting pressure in other ways as well so it can't be exclusive.

All these things work together and we have to think, we are trying to dismantle a system has been around for four hundred years.

There's no one method that's going to make it all go away.

And so it's going to take all of us is going to take all these different methods I'm going step by step and to bring this systematic oppression down, so it can't be exclusive.

We need all hands on deck.

And we can take one more.

Benny I wanted to hear from you because I can tell you had something, something you want to add.

Yeah, I think especially in South Carolina we have like such a rich history, right and I think history often times have been told one way, so I think engaging with our history because the historical informs what is happening now what will happen.

So a lot of people I've seen young people with the energy and I'm seeing young people starting things like book clubs, I'm seeing young people engage with local politics in certain ways that where they're pouring through local policies, local ordinances, they're figuring out, who do I go to get results pertaining this very issue?

And they're multi tasking because they're doing that on a national level, we're understanding the judiciary, we're understanding executive branch, we're understanding the legislative branch because mind you, in South Carolina public school I only had Government and Economics one four point five weeks of the nine weeks you know and I wonder I sat back and thought to myself at one point I'm learning Math and English and Reading every year but my junior year, four point five weeks Government, four point five weeks, Economics.

So what I would say is I love to see young people and I do agree that young people are going to shape this movement and they continue to shape the movement.

The more that we continue to engage with history and know where we came from, understand the strategies, the multitude of strategies, what worked what didn't work, what could be tweaked, how we can approach it, what we should be questioning, how much power and who has that power, we should be questioning.

I think those things are really, really important because when we start to talk about economic systems much like the ones we have or political systems, the questioning of those things can get us closer to where we're trying to be, who has too much power, as it pertains to the police, this proliferation of police power, the militarization of the police, the surveillance that we're constantly under, the proliferation of incarceration especially disproportionately with Black men and Black women, all these things have to be challenged and if we say, if we already see ground and say well.

'No, no, no,!'

'We can't imagine that.

We can't imagine a world without police.'

I think we're already kinda shooting ourselves in the foot.

Because at one point people would say we can't imagine a world without enslaved people.

So we should challenge everything And that way we allow the young people to be creative.

We allow them to be the creators they are.

We allow them to be the leaders that they are.

We pull power back to the young people to demand the type a more just society that we all need to live in 'cause much like I tell my parents all the time, y'all did y'all thing, right?

Y'all nearing 60.

This baton that y'all are passing to me you think about this, if I'm not doing well, who's going to look out for you all when you all become elderly?

If my little brother, my little sister, that next young generation if they're not doing well, if they are part of the school to prison pipeline, if they're being incarcerated at disproportionate rates, if we're constantly living this police, extremely over policed environment how can we be able to build a more just society that we all know that we need one that is built on exploitation and a centralization of power so engage with your history, engage with local politics, state level politics, national politics and question everything.

I, I wanted to go back to something you said the time is now.

What stood out to me that kind of separates what we saw this, these past weeks with what we saw in the video is that this protest look a little different.

We see a broad coalition.

First of all, we had several days of consistent loyal demonstrations.

I think in the past when we had in the aftermath of a shooting of an unarmed Black person there was maybe one day of protest we had continual demonstrations not just in the place where it happened but across the country, across the world.

We have this broad coalition and a lot that we heard from people are what can we do?

What are your thoughts on that?

I think this moment is different.

I don't think we've ever seen the rainbow of colors from people of all different walks of life and levels of life.

What are your what's your message to Americans watching and listening for how we can move forward?

How we take the energy from the protests that we saw and move forward?

Yeah, so much of it's already been said.

I I like you have been encouraged by other broad coalition as you put it of people that are out protesting and I think at one point there was a confirmed at least thirty straight days of some kind of demonstration across the country somewhere and I'm sure that number is greater if you look at the totality, so I've been encouraged by what I've seen and a lot of what we've seen as far that broad coalition is in this sense one you have to understand the leaders of this as we've already mentioned the young people that are that are out front kind of leading the charge and when you think about that you can start to think about that this generation that in many respects aren't like their parents and in kind of dare to think differently you know want to be more inclusive, are more willing and apt to engage in those kinds of conversations and want to question things and say well you know we were taught this but why is that?

You know, why do I have to harbor those views and maybe I need to think independently and so the thing that I'll tell Americans as we look at, you know, Black and White is as we look to move forward is really think about what we want to learn from this moment.

One of the things that touch me the most and I'll tell you a little story to kind of make that the point a little clearer.

Right after the protests and I demonstrated in my home town downtown Charleston and right afterward one of my coworkers at my law firm send me a pretty lengthy email.

It was very touching.

In fact, so touching it took me about twenty four hours to respond because I really wanted to process all that she said and she's a White woman and she had been moved so much about the movement to the point where she felt compelled to reach out to me but also say something because she had grown up in a culture where she really didn't have the opportunity to interact with Black people and have those conversations and she wanted to extend the olive branch and say hey, I want to talk with you about these issues.

I see your vocal on social media, I see you're in the legislature advocating for these issues and I want you to know that I really hear you and I want to engage with you in a conversation, and that meant a lot to me and I think and I say that because that's really what it's going to take for us to turn a corner and to not let this moment just be just that and that died down and we're back here in July of 2021 thinking about what could have been.

We have to harness this energy.

I mean we really have to look at it as a an inflection point in our country's history and looking at ways to be able to address these issues.

I told the folks who were protesting for my Black brothers and sisters I would encourage us to continue to work towards dismantling this institution, to work towards trying to call out injustice and bring light to issues that are important and to engage in the process on the local level the state level.

To to my White brothers and sisters I would encourage you have to be vocal you have to, you know, someone said to me you have a choice to be racist or anti-racism.

It's not just enough to say I'm not racist or not complicit I have to be active in weeding out the injustices and really having those uncomfortable conversations and being willing to be vocal about these important issues.

That is, that's what is going to take.

That's not easy work.

It's not comfortable work but it's necessary work in and as we turn this corner you know we get to this awakening and understanding that that's what it's going to take for us to really move then I think we'll start to see that change but we have to recognize this is a marathon.

As Lyric said you know this is four hundred plus years in the making.

It's gonna take some time to unravel and unpack all of this but we have to begin and we have to show and demonstrates the kind of energy that's going to lead us to really undoing it like it has to.

We have another comment from social media that we want to get to.

We do and I'm going to pitch this one to Chanda because we want to make sure to get final comments in.

There're a number of women on the panel.

What are your thoughts about the space that Breonna Taylor and the experiences of other Black women takes up or is allowed to in conversations on race and police brutality?

Well, when I think about the Breonna Taylor incident I, that was just heartbreaking and I think about you know being a Black woman, a woman of color or women of color holding the position that I did this year and some of the spaces that I walked into like legislators and things like that like sometimes, because of my, we tend to I tend to suppress my voice but just basically encouraging women of color that you know your voice matters in every arena whether it's legislation and education you're powerful you're strong so just continuing to affirm them and encourage a woman of color to use their voices and speak out against these issues of injustice, police brutality and just be leaders in our community as well and be a role not models for the younger generation that's coming forward.

Thank you for that.

We told you that tonight's conversation was just a part of a longer conversation it's just the beginning so sixty minutes goes by fast but I would like to get final thoughts from each of you about 30 seconds your final thoughts, now just put it like that I won't try to frame it.

Your final thoughts for this evening.

I remained encouraged but we must continue to push we must continue to lift our voices we must continue to advocate for the change that we seek we welcome our partnerships, our friends, people of color, people who are not of color to join with us and changing the world and creating a better world for our children and our children's children.

Thank you.

I think that it's important now more than ever that we continue to have a courageous conversations and that everybody seeks an understanding our Black brothers and sisters, White brothers and sisters about on the importance of anti-racism and studying and sharing that and just fighting to tear down these policies that are injust and change and take action against some of the things that you know we know that just aren't right so just fighting for equity and equality for all people in this nation.

I echo their sentiments finding that way to stay encouraged, doing the work, engaging with our history and understanding in a way that you know white supremacy has engaged and merge itself to the hip of our current economic system, listening to activists who out there being very courageous at all times, the White folks who have been woken up by this, welcome to this, to this fight.

Go to your churches, go to your homeowners associations, go to your events and question the history of all those things, question who isn't there question why, question your privilege, continue to do the work and it's a marathon.

I just want Black people to know how powerful we are not just the legislators in leadership but our churches, our barber shops, our hair salons every part of our culture.

We are so powerful and I want us to stay encouraged and know that we truly are beautiful as a people and our experiences are valid and they matter and to White people who may be new to this fight, it's important.

Don't get tired.

I know it's a lot, seeing on social media and in the midst of COVID, it might seem like it's the only thing on the news but these are realities that Black people have to face every single day of their lives so even when things go quote, unquote back normal once COVID is hopefully behind us one day it's important keep these conversations going even when it's not on the news or not or your Twitter feed every day to continue to keep justice at the forefront of your minds.

Representative.

For me while we're not enslaved by chains and shackles anymore in many instances we're enslaved by the institutions that continue to marginalize us, so I would just end with my favorite quote from Assata Shakur, which is "It is our duty to fight for our freedom.

It is our duty to win.

We must love each other and protect each other and we have nothing to lose but our chains."

Thank you all for your insights this evening we greatly appreciate your time and thank you for joining us this evening and starting this very important conversation there is much more to be had if you've noticed they were no members of law enforcement here, there were no counselors here to talk about the trauma that flows through generations for households, this is just the beginning and we thank you very, very much.

We also want to thank our online audience and our stakeholders taking part via Zoom.

We appreciate your time and your insights as well.

For more on our coverage of racial injustices visit SouthCarolinaETV.org/racematters For all of us here at South Carolina Public Radio and South Carolina ETV.

I'm Thelisha Eaddy.

Good night.