Lowcountry Action Committee Juneteenth rally demands no early release for killer cop

North Charleston, SC – On June 19, organizers with the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), a branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, rallied on the corner of Remount and Craig Streets, a few hundred yards from the site where Walter Scott was murdered by ex-North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager 11 years ago, in 2015.

Their goal was to stand in solidarity with families impacted by police and vigilante violence, amplifying their No Early Release campaign. Organizers read the names of Walter Scott, Cyrus Carmack-Belton and Kohen Wiley as well as inmates who died at the Charleston County Detention Center. They also urged passersby to sign the No Early Release petition in support of the family of Walter Scott. In 2017, former officer Slager was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for Scott’s murder, but is eligible for early release to a halfway house beginning in the fall of 2027. The family wants him to serve his entire sentence in prison.

“Don’t forget why we are out here today,” said LAC member Erica Veal as a passing train caused traffic to back up along the busy road, located in the heart of North Charleston.

“The Scott family needs 10,000 signatures on the No Early Release petition to escalate their campaign to the next level, let’s help them get there,” said Veal. “If you are holding a stack of petition flyers in your hand, you need to be going up to these cars and passing them out. This rally is not a performative gesture. We are here to help the Scott family.”

In between handing out flyers with QR codes to the No Early Release petition and chanting the names of the deceased, organizers also made speeches to connect the defense of families to the fight for community control of police.

“The police have no interest in dealing with racist vigilantes or the killer cops they work next to,” said Nate Hubler of LAC and the Elbit Out of South Carolina Coalition, in reference to the murder of Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old who was murdered by police in Mississippi, and Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a teenager who was chased down and shot in the back in Columbia, South Carolina by a store owner.

“We need community control of the police to keep us safe. We can have a system that benefits us. But we will only get that by fighting for community control of the police and working together,” Hubler said.

Matt Colburn of LAC said, “Whether it’s striking workers, people protesting genocide, ICE raids, data centers or police murders. whenever the people try to organize and fight back, the police are always the first line of defense for the oppressors against the oppressed.”

When asked why they chose June 19 as the day of action, Veal said, “It’s important for us to be here on Juneteenth, Freedom Day, to commemorate our enslaved African ancestors who liberated themselves from slavery 160 years ago because we still aren’t free when our communities continue to suffer from police violence.”

The Lowcountry Action Committee encouraged those present to join their organization to continue supporting families like the Scotts and to relaunch the campaign to end the deaths at the local county jail. They said progress has been made in the 160 plus years since Emancipation, but that there was still important work that needed to be done.

Miranda Xiong of LAC said, “The only communities police serve and protect are those of the state. The criminal justice system can’t be remedied by NCPD increasing the budget by 4% every year, while Al Cannon [Detention Center] racks up over 20 preventable deaths by this year from proven medical neglect.”

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