Pastors, Rock Hill leaders ‘keep the momentum going’ at rally after George Floyd killing
Vanessa Daniel and Olivia Barton, both 3, held hands in Rock Hill’s Fountain Park on Sunday and ran in circles. Vanessa wore Olivia’s pink birthday crown, and Olivia wore a pink visor hat. They giggled as they ran faster and faster, eventually falling to the ground.
Behind them, more than 200 people gathered in the park in memory of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed by police in Minnesota at the end of May. In front of the children, a band performed worship music and local pastors spoke, encouraging the crowd to continue fighting against police brutality, racism and racial profiling.
Olivia is white and Vanessa is black. Their parents stood smiling beside each other in the middle of the park, watching the girls, who go to the same school. The girls’ laughs could be heard over the blaring music.
“We want our kids to know that it’s OK to stand up for the things that are right,” said Fanechia Daniel, Vanessa’s mother.
The rally featured several speakers, including pastors and NAACP leaders who spoke, prayed and sang in front of a band that energized the clear night with gospel music. Many in the crowd sang along.
“God is love,” said Timothy Taylor, an organizer of the event. “That’s the ultimate thing. And if we say we love each other, it shouldn’t make a difference which skin tone you have when you say, ‘I love you.’ ”
For the first half of the night, much of the crowd sat along the park’s edges, or stood near the fountain about 50 feet away from the stage. But when he took the mic, Rev. C.T. Kirk of Sanctuary of Life Outreach Center in Rock Hill drew everyone closer to the stage and spoke of the importance of not letting the enthusiasm for social change fade.
He wore a black shirt with the rally’s central message on it: “Keep the momentum going.”
“We want to launch a citizens review board in Rock Hill, and we don’t want (the momentum) to die down just because it gets quiet in Minnesota, or it might be quiet in Atlanta,” Kirk, who was also one of the rally’s organizers, told The Herald. “We want to keep that fuel going in Rock Hill so people can know that there’s a point and there’s a message behind everything that we do.
“Usually, what we do is when the hype is over, we go back to our comfortable living and we wait for something else. But I think this is a snowball effect, and people are really wanting to see change.”
Beyond protests
Dolli Steele sat behind a folding table under a red tent on one side of Fountain Park, trying to get those present at the rally to register to vote.
Steele, a Fort Mill resident, has been to several rallies in the past few weeks with her clipboard of voter registration information, trying to ensure that those who show up to protest will show up to elect their local and national leaders.
“This is important as well, to bring unity to the community and everything,” said Steele, who wore a white shirt emblazoned with a black fist and the word “vote” on it. “But I think that voting is where it really matters.”
In order to make meaningful community change, Steele said, you can’t gather as a community and then not vote — or vice versa.
“They go hand in hand,” she said. “This is going to be in vain if we don’t vote.”
Citizens review board
Norma Gray of the Rock Hill NAACP, one of the organizers for the first Rock Hill protest on May 30, said the momentum behind the movement cannot stop. In order for change to occur, she said, there needs to be unity among people of different backgrounds.
“It’s gonna take each of us keeping the momentum — not just wait until another incident happens and then we get fired up,” Gray told the crowd. “We got to keep the fire. We’re not doing this for us. We’re doing it for the entire city.”
Gray is spearheading an effort to create a local citizens review board for the city police. Review boards are used in many other cities and counties, including Charlotte and Richland County. The board would allow transparency for reviewing complaints and give residents more of a voice in how the police department interacts with the public, she said.
“We need confidence that those who are employed to serve and protect — whether they’re from Rock Hill or whether they moved from another city — that they will have your best interest,” she said. “We don’t need mistakes.”
Gray said she’s already has been approached by people willing to serve on the board.
“The nation can point to a small, little town called Rock Hill and say, ‘That’s how you do it down there,’ ” she said. “Up North, they talk bad about the South. They say we’re slow. We don’t have it together, but I beg to differ. I say, ‘We got it together in Rock Hill.’ ”
‘Teach your children young’
By the end of the rally, Olivia and Vanessa had stopped running in circles. Olivia sat on her dad’s shoulders and Vanessa, who was still wearing Olivia’s crown, clung to her mom’s arms. The girls held hands and rocked back and forth to the music.
“It’s important to teach your children young,” said Cammie Barton, Olivia’s mother. “I think they are going to be the generation that rises up and does something different.”
This story was originally published June 14, 2020 at 8:48 PM.
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