Hundreds in Chester SC, including cops, rally against police violence; vow for change
By 8 p.m. Monday, a once-empty parking lot had filled with an audience of different backgrounds, races and interests — of police officers, state representatives, spiritual leaders and Chester County residents.
And by 9:30 p.m., those present vowed to help their community progress as one.
A few hundred gathered in Chester, S.C., to condemn police brutality and to encourage love to be the driving force at protests in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed by police in Minnesota. The rally was organized by Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey, who is white, and Chester Mayor Wanda Stringfellow, who is black — and it occurred after a weekend which bore witness to many violent protests taking place across the state and country.
At the rally, Stringfellow thanked the hundreds of people for coming out to fight racism and police violence. Yet, she said the reason for gathering is somber, serious and causes her anger and despair.
Stringfellow said that as a black mother of a teenage son, she has fear for his safety in Chester and America. And that fear is shared by black parents across the nation and in Chester — a town with a population of approximately 5,500, 70 percent of which is African American, census figures show.
“If my child leaves my house, will he return to me alive?” Stringfellow said.
Racism must be eradicated through the unity of people of all races, Stringfellow said.
Like Rock Hill, the death of George Floyd has pushed her to recommend that Chester start a citizens review board for its police department. The board would add transparency and accountability and is not a slap at the police, she said.
“The idea is to make us all better,” Stringfellow said.
The rally was peaceful and had dozens of law enforcement officers in attendance, from the Chester Police Department, Chester County Sheriff’s Office and S.C. Highway Patrol. Dorsey said he is angry at the death of Floyd at the hands of a police officer, and he understands the anger and frustration that people in Chester and America feel.
Dorsey and Stringfellow, who linked shoulders as a sign of unity during every prayer that was done, asked the crowd to support each other and be angry but nonviolent in their protests.
“A terrible heinous crime occurred,” Dorsey said. “George Floyd was murdered by a police officer.”
Leaders in Chester speak out
Rev. Demorrius Robinson, pastor of Ember Church in Chester, said as a black man and parent, he is outraged by the Floyd killing. But the interjection of violence in protests in other cities has taken away the focus of the problem of systemic racial profiling and police brutality.
It is that problem that can be overshadowed by violence, Robinson said.
“It is vitally important that all protests remain nonviolent so that the issue remains bringing people together,” Robinson said.
Chester County School Board chair Maggie James, a lifelong civil rights advocate and mother of two black sons, said she is angered and appalled by the death.
“This was an act of senseless brutality,” James said.
James and several others, including several religious leaders, spoke at the rally after Stringfellow and Dorsey, urging racial differences to be set aside for a common purpose.
Teacher Pete Stone, the Chester County teacher of the year, plainly said that the time has come for white Chester, and white America, to act on the disparity between white people and black people.
“Until we say black lives matter equally, we can’t say all lives matter,” said Stone, who is white.
Chester parents and children attend rally
Near the back of the crowd, a couple stood together through the 75-minute rally: Tiffany Buchanan Ross and Joshua Hicks, the parents of two small children.
Buchanan Ross said she attended the rally because she wants to make sure their children grow up in a community where black children see the police as those who protect them and not as a threat.
“I want them to feel safe in this town, to know that the police are on their side,” Buchanan Ross said.
Hicks stood through the rally wearing a coronavirus mask that read: “I am not a threat.”
Afterward, he said that he hopes that the rally shows Chester and other cities that the time for change is here, and must be acted upon now.
Young people were at the rally, too. Kristiana Boyd, 14, said she was encouraged to hear from police officers and community leaders that she and others in her community will be protected.
“Taking an action and being proactive is something that I definitely believe in,” Boyd said. “Being proactive is one of those things that I strongly believe in.”
Jai’den Stringfellow, the 15-year-old son of Mayor Stringfellow, said he expected the rally to have a central theme of unity among all people — and he left feeling that the police in Chester was on his side.
“They feel as if our community can come together and fix the things that are going on in the world,” Stringfellow said. “It doesn’t feel like a backpack only for us to carry. We can work together equally and carry it around.”
Chester and police protests
Chester had a protest march in February 2020, after a black man was killed in November 2019 by police outside a Walmart. Police said Ariane Lamont McCree, who died at 28, had been shoplifting, was placed in custody, then fled and showed a gun.
No charges were filed by prosecutors against the officers involved, after SLED and prosecutors said the officers fired in self-defense. McCree’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Chester Police Department and the city of Chester. That lawsuit remains pending.
McCree’s killing was mentioned several times throughout the night.
“There should be no more Ariane McCree’s from Chester, South Carolina,” Stringfellow told the crowd. “It does not matter what the circumstances were. In my heart, it did not yield death as a sentence.”
Several members of McCree’s family sat in the middle of the crowd at the rally. They wore T-shirts with McCree’s picture on them. At one point, McCree’s mother left the rally and sat by her car.
A difference between Floyd’s death and the McCree shooting is that no video of McCree’s death has been released to the public.
The State Law Enforcement Division and S.C. Attorney General’s Office have declined to release any video from the November shooting death, citing the ongoing investigation.
The Herald also has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the videos.
“This with George up here, I’ve been following it,” McCree’s cousin Kim T. Chisholm said. “People cannot follow this here because we haven’t seen the video. So, why is it so hush hush? If there’s nothing wrong, show it.”
McCree’s sister-in-law Hope McCree said when the family is able to see the video, they can feel at peace.
“I think we’re all sad about what happened to George Floyd,” she said. “We’re sad. We’re angry that it happened. But we’re also angry that justice hasn’t been served for our family member.”
Protests in SC: Rock Hill, Lancaster, Columbia
Chester’s peaceful rally followed other peaceful protests around the Tri-County area.
A Rock Hill protest Saturday, which had more than 1,000 people march from Fountain Park to the Rock Hill Police department and back, was peaceful. Spiritual leaders, Rock Hill NAACP leader Apostle Norma Gray and others spoke about the necessity and urgency for a local citizens review board for city police.
In Lancaster, a protest with about 100 people Sunday was also peaceful, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
Other protests in South Carolina, however, had turned violent. At one in Columbia, S.C., this past weekend, police were injured, cars were burned and stores were looted. S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said National Guard troops are prepared for mobilization around the state if protests turn violent.
In nearby Charlotte, N.C., protests turned violent on Friday and over the weekend. The Charlotte Observer reported that 25 arrests were made in Charlotte on Sunday alone. And of those arrests, seven were for assaulting a police officer and at least three officers were injured, CMPD said.
Chester speakers reinforced throughout the rally that violence isn’t the answer when trying to promote change.
“We have many problems in Chester, and it would be disingenuous to pretend that we don’t,” Dorsey said. “But here we have the opportunity tonight, and my prayer tonight is that this gathering will lead to significant change in our community.
“A change that leads to trust and understanding and compassion — and most importantly, love.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 10:06 PM.
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