ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Protests about the death of a Minnesota black man at the hands of police are in happening in most major cities including here in South Carolina in Columbia Greenville and Charleston.
Some of the protests have been peaceful and other have erupted into rioting and violence.
No scheduled protests have been held in the city of Orangeburg but residents are reacting to what is happening here and across the nation and how they best think the country can move forward.
"Why would a human suffocate someone on the ground with a knee?" asks Theresa Bagasra, former Kentucky native and now calling Orangeburg home continues and says, "especially someone that is supposed to be enforcing the law and protecting the citizens. He has taken it upon himself to do this to this person and to Breonna Taylor she’s an EMT, she was serving the city and they break in her bedroom and shoot her I mean how can you justify that?"
"This moment with George is going to take what Martin Luther king Jr. did to a whole other level because there is something different here," says Georgie Davis, a local church and community leader, "We are reaching out to our white friends and saying look, you can no longer be silent, this is not an option and they’re like why? Because this is different. There is a line in the sand and blacks are saying we need to hear from you because nothing is going to change and it’s going to take us to help move this forward. The black community can’t do it by themselves and they shouldn’t have to."
"I was here in 1968 during the massacre and to see some of the same things that happened then is happening now it’s sad," said business owner and life long resident Johnny Murdaugh, "I don’t how many results we got. I’m in my 70’s and I hope in my lifetime things get fixed."
