Today’s headline in The Greenville News read “Senator: Trooper ills run deeper than video” referring to the recent forced resignations of Jim Schweitzer, Director of the SC Department of Public Safety and Russell Roark, the commander of the Highway Patrol. Both men resigned after a damning video came to light which showed a state trooper threatening to kill a black suspect that had been pulled over during a traffic stop, the trooper also used the “n” word and off camera appeared to beat the suspect, even after he had been subdued. Governor Sanford expressed shock at these revelations even though members of the SC Legislative Black Caucus had warned him for months that racism and abuse was rampant in the Highway Patrol under the direct supervision of Roark and Schweitzer. After his resignation Schweitzer was defiant, blaming his ouster on “politics at its worst.”

I’ve got news for our clueless ‘white as the driven snow’ Governor and the rest of the white male power structure in South Carolina, racism is rampant not only in law enforcement but in the state legislature. Our elected lawmakers have steadfastly refused to investigate and once and for all get to the bottom of the shameful Orangeburg massacre, in which 27 young unarmed black students protesting their exclusion from a local bowling alley were gunned down and 3 young men were killed by white law enforcement officers in February 1968. Forty years later, lawmakers flatly rejected requests for an official re-investigation of this shameful episode in our state history, claimed that revisiting the matter would simply create more division. Rep. Bakari Sellers, a Denmark Democrat, whose father was among the people wounded in the incident has sponsored a bill that would create a committee to review the Orangeburg massacre, he believes the formal review would reveal the facts and clear his father’s name. According to The Greenville News, the bill would create a fact-finding committee with subpoena power that would issue a report. Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Harrison, A Columbia Republican told The Greenville News, “Unless I heard from a broad range of people within the House that this is good for uniting us instead of dividing us, then I’m not inclined to be supportive.” Well…since there are only a handful of black lawmakers, no other people of color and less than a dozen women representing South Carolina in the House, it might be a challenge for Harrison to hear from a broad range of people. Harrison, Sanford and the rest of the white males in charge aren’t inclined to do anything to heal the racist wounds of the past because they simply refuse to acknowledge the problem. And the problem of racism in South Carolina is glaringly obvious if you just look around and get outside your comfort zone.

Several years ago I went to traffic court to fight a ticket and I sat next to a very nice black man and we began to chat. I asked what he had been ticketed for and he said, “driving while black.” He was on his way to work one morning and a highway patrolman pulled him over, when the young man asked why had had been pulled over the patrolman refused to say, ordered him out of the car, searched the vehicle and patted down the driver. I was shocked to say the least. The man was ticketed for some minor offense and released but the process took nearly an hour and he was very frightened by the experience. He told me that whenever a person of color sees blue lights flashing fear overwhelms them because they don’t know what will happen to them. They literally fear law enforcement. I can cite numerous other examples, a young black man who was arrested at work for a charge that had already been dismissed, held over-night and refused a phone call even when his boss showed up personally at the jail to vouch for him.
I’m still not over that video tape released a few years ago that showed the black female driver being screamed at by a highway patrol officer, then when she refused to exit the vehicle (who could blame her) she was physically pulled out of the car through the window. This woman was speeding, not trafficking in drugs or even resisting arrest, she was clearly terrified. The latest videotape of racism and violence released and viewed by Governor Sanford is indeed the tip of the iceberg. The Legislative Black Caucus pleaded with Governor Sanford for months to review allegations of racism and abuse by Schweitzer and Roark and was refused. Sanford acted only after the videotape was released to The Greenville News and became public knowledge. The officer involved in the video taped arrest, which included the threat to kill the suspect and the use of a racial slur, were given a 12-hour suspension and a referral for anger management. That is a slap in the face to every citizen of South Carolina, white, black or brown. We deserve better. I don’t blame the racist cop, I blame those in charge who have knowledge that our citizens are being abused and verbally violated and turn their heads and shrug it off. That attitude breeds racism and allows it to flourish.

Several months ago, my husband and I had our own encounter with an angry abusive country law enforcement officer. The incident left us frightened and angry. Because we are white and middle class and pro-active, we filed a complaint and forced a review of the incident. The officer was disciplined and we were given an apology by his supervisor. I’m left to wonder, how many black, Hispanic, low-income and more submissive residents of our state have suffered similar incidents but never given an apology and that officer was never disciplined. We all deserve better leadership in this state, and unless and until the white male power structure gives way to a more representative leadership that is more open to change and criticism South Carolina is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past over and over again.