COLUMBIA – Fort Jackson officials are investigating the actions of a white soldier who was caught on video capturing a black man for walking inside a Richland County subdivision, an incident that led to protests.
“This kind of behavior is not in line with our military values and will not be allowed,” Fort Jackson spokeswoman LA Sully said in a statement on April 14. “We started our own investigation and are working with the local authorities.”
The two-minute clip posted on Twitter on April 13, showing how a man stands less than a foot away from the Blackman, who is on a sidewalk in The Summit, a large diverse neighborhood in Northeast Richland.
“Go away now,” said the man. “What are you doing here?”
The Blackman says he walked in and suggested the Whites call the police. A woman not seen on camera said officers were called.
“You’re aggressing in our neighborhood,” the white man says, pushing the black man. “You better walk away, otherwise I’ll carry you (explicitly) from here.”
“I did nothing,” said the black man.
“I’m about to do something to you,” said the Whites. “You better start walking.”
Then the Witman and the Swartman deal with accusations about who started the argument.
“You’re in the wrong environment (explicitly),” the white man shouted. “Go out. Go out.”
The Whites said the Blackman was “harassing the environment.” The Swartman says he lives in the area, but does not answer questions asked.
“Look, we are a close community,” said the white man. “We take care of each other.”
The video does not show how the confrontation began or ended.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that the Blackman in the video is accused of two incidents in the same area days before the confrontation. According to sheriff reports, a man touched a woman and picked up a baby without permission.
There was no word on whether delegates had issued any charges. The names of the suspects and victims were retrieved in the reports sent to The Post and Courier.
About 40 protesters turned up outside the soldier’s home on April 14, shouting, “This is our neighborhood, too!”
“This young brother could have been another hashtag instead of a living, breathing warrior,” Jerome Bowers, chief executive of One Common Cause: Community Control Initiative, said during the protest.
Four Richland County sheriff’s vehicles were parked in the street from the protest and another six patrol cars parked in nearby Brookland Baptist Church with officers grinding outside the cars.
Neighbors from further afield gathered on the sidewalk, some confused about the source of the activity in what, according to one resident, is a typically quiet subdivision with newly built homes and houses still under construction.
No one answers the door at the soldier’s house.
Shadae McCallum, who lives in the neighborhood and shot the video of the confrontation, said people in The Summit, a network of neighborhoods off Clemson Road, regularly walk between the various communities and it is not unusual.
While walking on April 12, McCallum said she saw a black man confronted by women who accused him of harassing their daughters.
A white man came out of a house and was initially calm, but quickly became furious, says McCallum, who then started her video.
McCallum said she stopped recording when two black women started walking the Black Man away from the area and she thought the situation was over.
But after she stopped recording, the Whites followed the Blackman on the sidewalk, knocked the phone out of his hand and stepped on it, McCallum said.
Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest training camp in Columbia, did not identify the soldier.
“It is in no way approved by a member of the service,” a tweet from the report of the Commanding General of Fort Jackson said. “We will get to the end of this matter as soon as possible.”
Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, the fort commander, issued a statement on April 14 thanking the community ‘for bringing this to our attention’.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department said it was investigating the confrontation.
Sheriff Leon Lott plans to meet with elected officials and representatives of the community organization to discuss the incident before making a public statement, the department said on April 14. Lott will hold a news conference at 5 p.m.
“Sheriff Lott realizes how important it is to publish correct information quickly, as a lot of misinformation has been spread through Facebook and other social media,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “The video itself is very disturbing and has helped tremendously in our investigation.”
State Senator Mia McLeod, a Democrat with The Summit district, gave a passionate speech from the Senate floor and asked her colleagues to stand up against injustice.
“What else needs to happen? It’s like a ticking time bomb,” said McLeod of the Senate podium. “We have to decide here now, whether we go forward in 2021 or to 1921.”
State Representative Ivory Thigpen, a Democrat representing The Summit, said that while he understood that something could have happened before the video, “what we did see was an assault and intimidation.”
“When I put race aside, I was furious at what I considered bullying, and I hated bullying,” Thigpen told The Post and Courier. “Clear facts must be found, action taken, hopefully mediation and solution to promote harmony in the community.”
Stephen Fastenau and Seanna Adcox contributed from Columbia.
This is an evolving story and will be updated.