All the heat and humidity made Columbia feel like a catfish stew. At the State House grounds Aug. 14, a few speakers added some spice to the pot.
About 400 people gathered for a vigil honoring the one person who died and 19 others injured when a man plowed his car into a group of counter-protesters against a white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia. It wasn’t a somber event, but rather one where speakers rallied the crowd against President Donald Trump and called for racism to be outed.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was one of those speakers.
“We can fight against xenophobia,” Benjamin said, “against racism, against sexism, against homophobia but only if we do it together. … Keep doing the work — fight racism, say no to violence, say enough is enough, make sure our president hears our voice.”
A number of other lawmakers also spoke, including state Reps. Wendy Brawley, James Smith and Beth Bernstein.
“As an elected official I stand here today to condemn the groups responsible for that reprehensible conduct — the neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups,” Bernstein said, “something our president failed to do at the time. Today it has become too easy to espouse discrimination and not be condemned for it. It’s time to stand up and say this will not be tolerated.”
She pointed out a sign in the crowd, “Make Racism Wrong Again,” to applause and shouts from the crowd.
The gathering brought together over 20 groups representing civil rights organizations, LGBTQ groups and women’s health advocates, as well as entities like Simple Justice-Black Lives Matter, Women’s March of SC, and Grassroots Alliance for Immigrant Rights.
Michelle Edgar of Greater Columbia Action Together was one of the primary organizers.
“We empathize with people in the South,” Edgar said before the rally. “The heritage [white supremacists] are claiming is what we deal with in Columbia and South Carolina. … As a community we need to push the concept of peace and love to really proactively avoid something like in Charlottesville happening in Columbia.”
Michael Morrill of Progress South Carolina also helped bring the gathering together.
“We do have heritage dating back centuries for hatred and racism,” Morrill said. “So we as South Carolinians need to stand up against this kind of racism. … This is a vigil. This isn’t a political event. We’ve invited Republican politicians to speak. We’re just saying no to violence and no to racism.”
Many of the speakers at the rally felt like saying no to racism also meant calling out Trump. And the crowd agreed.
Jennifer Tague of SC Equality noted that Trump condemned white supremacists just hours before the rally, two days after the attack.
“Well, it’s a little too late to make that statement,” she said. “Trump sent a message loud and clear to those hate groups when he didn’t speak to acknowledge this on Saturday and only spoke out today after pressure from both sides of the aisle.
“You cannot condemn racists and employ them at the same time,” Tague said, referring to Steve Bannon, Steven Miller and Sebastian Gorka, who all have been said to have white nationalistic sympathies.
Annabelle Robertson of Indivisible South Carolina conjured up the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. to call out not just the president but Gov.Henry McMaster as well.
“We cannot be satisfied as long as Nazis and white supremacists spew their hate proudly and publicly with the blatant approval of our president,” Robertson said. “I have a dream that one day in South Carolina with its vicious racists and its governor having his lips dripping with the words of support for a racist president, one day right here in South Carolina little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
But the call of action for the night was for individuals to speak out against racism when they see it.
“They say there’s no such thing as a little pregnant, and I said there’s no such thing as a little racist,” said Sarah Keeling of the group Racial Justice. “Call out racist jokes. Call out racist comments. Confront your old uncle who uses the “N” word over dinner.”
Simple Justice-Black Lives Matter organizer Marcurius Byrd reflected those sentiments as he spoke in front of the George Washington statue.
“As a black person in America and a graduate of Washington and Lee University, I’m use to seeing racism everyday,” Byrd said. “A lot of times people go silent on confronting it. … Nazis marching down the street in Charlottesville is something we can all agree is wrong. We need to call it out when we see it in the smallest amount. I would just ask of you today to not let this moment be our only moment. Tomorrow when you wake up, call it out. Next week, call it out.”
Others said, the kind of racism seen in Charlottesville has a home in South Carolina as well.
“While the images and videos of the violence at the hands of domestic terrorists including neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, the KKK, and other white supremacist groups in Charlottesville were truly horrifying, said Julie Edwards of Indivisible Midlands, “they sadly should not be surprising to anyone in South Carolina. Our state has seen our fair share of violence at the hands of people holding similar bigoted views. One cannot help but remember the Mother Emanuel Nine slain by an avowed white supremacist.”
Carey Grady, reverend of Reid Chapel AME in Columbia, also reminded people of the murders that occurred during June of 2015 in Charleston.
“We felt what happened on Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina” he said. “These type of [white supremacist] movements have been with us for a long time.”
Grady implored the crowd to look to their neighbors and say, “We must become the change we seek. I must become the change we seek.”
After the chant, one white man patted a black woman on the back and said, “There we go. We did it.”
