Protests in Columbia, South Carolina Prompt Outpouring of Support from People Around University of South Carolina Athletics

Transcript

00:00 Protests ensued at the University of South Carolina Saturday as demonstrators marched to protest the death of George Floyd,

00:06 who died last week in Minneapolis police custody as an officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

00:12 Chantel Powell has covered the scene and the university's response.

00:16 Chantel, how would you describe the protests?

00:18 Well, first I would say it had been a majority peaceful.

00:22 One incident I heard of was someone showed up in one of the red MAGA hats,

00:26 usually used to identify Trump supporters,

00:30 and it got a little bit violent as they tried to chase him off and get him off the premises.

00:36 But for the most part, from what I've heard, I haven't heard a lot of property damage or anything like that.

00:42 So it seems to have been pretty, you know, it got a little tense because it is a protest.

00:47 But for the most part, I haven't heard a whole bunch of violence and things that you're kind of hearing throughout.

00:55 So it seems to be under control. The city is still on curfew this weekend.

01:00 They're looking to lift that curfew, I think, Monday and just see where it goes from there.

01:06 So everything seems to be, you know, tense because just that's the nature of it.

01:12 But it seems to be going pretty smoothly.

01:14 And some of the school's athletic department heads have spoken out about this, supporting this.

01:19 How important is it and what is the messaging that you're seeing from the university?

01:25 Right. So, you know, the women's basketball coach, Dawn Staley,

01:28 she has been very vocal from the very beginning of all of this.

01:31 And it hits her hard, you know, just being a black woman and having majority black athletes on her team.

01:38 She's been calling for justice from the start.

01:41 She was actually at one of the protests yesterday.

01:43 So, you know, she's seen firsthand, you know, how this has affected the city.

01:50 Will Muschamp issued a statement.

01:52 Ray Tanner issued a statement. You see players like quarterback Ryan Polinsky has, you know, issued a statement.

01:59 Basketball players like Leticia Amahare was speaking out.

02:03 And I think when your coach and your athletic director set the tone and give you a space to really verbalize and vocalize how you feel

02:12 and then fight for change, you want to see, because a lot of times we see people look up to athletes because they have that platform

02:19 and because, you know, at the pro level, they have the money and the influence to make change.

02:24 But then it becomes a situation like you see in the NFL, where an athlete has to decide,

02:29 all right, am I going to give up my entire livelihood in order to stand up for my people

02:34 when I still feel like I have a responsibility to my family and things of that nature?

02:38 So to give them that space and to give them that outlet to really make change in the community and know that not just that,

02:46 but like in Don Staley's case, you know, having understood the situation and she's going to have your back.

02:51 So whenever something goes off, you know, she's right there with them in the trenches, so to speak.

02:58 I think that has a huge effect.

03:01 Absolutely. Obviously a wonderful thing for these people to use their platform to be positive in this tough time in our country right now.

03:09 Chantel Powell, thank you so much for taking the time.

03:12 No problem. Thank you for having me.

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