A secessionist and a black nationalist team up after Charlottesville
Johnathan Thrower, who also goes by the name Shakem Amen Akhet, of the Charleston Black Nationalist Movement, held a joint press conference this week with James Bessenger, chairman of the South Carolina Secessionist Party, in which they pledged nonviolence.
The pair created The Charleston Accord, a document aimed at preventing what happened in Charlottesville from happening in their city. They admit they land on opposite sides of many issues but told PBS Newshour that the accord promises to encourage communication and prevent violence as well as promote legal avenues for change.
During the interview Thrower said that racial tensions are “at a boiling point” in Charleston and things have been steadily getting worse since 2015 when white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager shot and killed Walter Scott, an unarmed black man.
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“It’s really hard when I look at a white person with a Confederate flag, it brings up a lot of emotion. That brings images of the enemy,” Thrower stated. “In spite of the fact that all of them aren’t Klansmen and aren’t KKK members, it’s still something … that really took me a moment to get over.”
Bessenger told Charleston’s Post & Courier that, “Charleston has every bit of potential to become the next Charlottesville.”
Which is why the two leaders have decided to reach out to each other in peace in order to avoid future violence. Bessenger even went so far as to say that he has more in common with Thrower than he does some of the white extremists who criticize him for wanting an open dialogue.
“What we want to do is show that we can have intelligent discourse amongst each other without violence,” Thrower said to the Post & Courier. “We can be civil in our actions and still be able to disagree man to man.”
