Sept. 4, 2020

By: John A. Carlos II

Counter-protesters watch neo confederates annual flag-raising, marking the anniversary on which it was taken down after the shooting at Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston back in July  17, 2015. John A. Carlos II / Special to The Free Times

July was a hot miserable mess... if you didn't know I hate the heat, preferring rather to be cold than hot. But covering events in the South it is damn near impossible to avoid the heat. I was encouraged by those racist folks that put up a confederate battle flag every year, having their worst showing ever. COVID-19 continues to wipe out the calendar year, the only thing that I've been asked to cover is either related to the virus or protest about racism and police reform... or as John Lewis put it "good trouble."

In July we lost Representative John Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and an apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied in Selma Alabama, and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality who then carried a mantle of moral authority to Congress died at age 80. Godspeed John Lewis, the world lost a true champion of human rights.

Photos from A confederate flag-raising by the group "Flags Across the South."

Harrison Ayer, flips offmembers "Flags Across the South." On July 11, 2020, the group raised a Confederate Battle flag at the South Carolina Statehouse.

Herman Green a downtown ambassador for the City Center Partnership, cleans an area outside of Boyd Plaza on July 17, 2020.

John A. Carlos II / Special to The FreeTimes

On July 17, 2020, Kids attending a summer camp at the Columbia Museum of Art, play on one of the walls at Boyd Plaza.

John A. Carlos II / Special to The Free Times

The Colonial Life Arena sets empty on the corner of McGuire Way and Dawn Staley Way.

John A. Carlos II / Special to The Free Times

Teachers and parents of students of Lexington-Richland School District Five schools protest outside of Spring Hill High School, before a special-called board meeting, of The Board of Trustees on July 23, 2020, revising their proposed plans for the 2020-2021 school year.

John A. Carlos II / Special to The Post and Courier

Photos from a story on schools taking PPE precautions for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. 

John A. Carlos II / Special to The Free Times

Photos take at Hall's Chophouse for an upcoming Bites and Sight Issue for the Free Times.

John A. Carlos II / Special to The Free Times

Photo of a man on a motorcycle taken at 2 am.  

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first and is waiting for it.” - Terry Pratchett (📖: Reaper Man)

Keywords: South Carolina; above the fold; editorial; news; journalism; 2020; photojournalist; photojournalism; photographer; SC photographer; Columbia; Columbia SC Photojournalist; soda city; Post and Courier; Free Times; events; PPE; COVID-19; Protest; BLM; confederate flag; confederates;

Article & Photos by John A. Carlos II Copyright 2020 www.jac2photo.com