Stand Your Ground in mi birthplace

In the wake of the God awful verdict of Trayvon Martin's 2nd degree trial, there's a few things we (South Carolinians) must know.  All too often we are unaware of our rights, state laws and more importantly...how these laws work for us or against us.  Many times it's not that the privileged or empowered is cheating us but more so they know how the laws work and the loop holes.  We have to learn to play chess instead of checkers.  Get off the freakin sidelines!  No doubt race, money, privilege and connections play a BIG part in the "have/have nots" but, we can definitely be smarter, read more, second guess authority, vote (and not just big elections), research, ask questions, get involved, run for office, google, document....You get my drift.  I bun too sad but not surprised when I saw SC on the list of 24 states that has the SYG law.  So my beloved geechee fam I'm posting some info to at least get the wheels turning. 

All my Gullah love, PenTherapee

Gun laws in South Carolina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gun laws in South Carolina regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of South Carolina in the United States.^[1][2]

Subject/Law	Long Guns	Handguns	Relevant Statutes	Notes
Permit to purchase required?	No	No
Firearm registration?	No	No
Owner license required?	No	No
Carry permits issued?	No	Yes		South Carolina is a "shall issue" state for concealed carry.
Open carry permitted?	No	No
State preemption of local restrictions?	Yes	Yes
"Assault weapon" law?	No	No
Magazine Capacity Restriction?	No	No
NFA weapons restricted?	Yes	Yes		Possession of automatic firearms (made before May of 1986), short-barreled shotguns, or short-barreled rifles, like Silencers/suppressors, DD's, AOW's are allowed if registered properly with the ATF.

Location of South Carolina in the United States

South Carolina is a "shall issue" concealed carry permit state. No permit is required to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. South Carolina also has "Castle Doctrine" legal protection of the use of deadly force against intruders into one's home, business, or car.^[3] It is unlawful to carry a firearm onto private or public school property or into any publicly owned building except interstate rest areas without express permission. Open carry is not allowed, but no permit is required to carry a loaded handgun in the console or glove compartment of a car. As of September 12, 2008, states with which South Carolina has reciprocity are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.^[4][5]

South Carolina law also now supports a "stand your ground" philosophy under the "Protection of Persons and Property Act" SECTION 16-11-440(C) with the following language. The act was apparently ruled non-retroactive in State v. Dickey.^[6]

A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in another place where he has a right to be, including, but not limited to, his place of business, has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or another person or to prevent the commission of a violent crime as defined in Section 16–1–60.

South Carolina also has the “alter-ego” clause with respect to the defense of others, under which a person who uses deadly force to defend a friend, relative or bystander will be allowed the benefit of the plea of self-defense if that plea would have been available to the person requiring assistance if they had been the one who used deadly force. In other words, the person intervening is deemed to “stand in the shoes” of the person on whose behalf he is intervening. If that individual “had the right to defend himself, then the intervening party is also protected by that right. To claim self defense, a person has to be in a place they have a legal right to be, not be involved in any illegal activity, must not have started the confrontation, and must be in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.

References[edit]

1. ^ "State Gun Laws: South Carolina", National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
2. ^ "South Carolina State Law Summary", Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
3. ^ "Protection of Persons and Property Act", South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
4. ^ South Carolina Concealed Carry CCW Laws and Information on carryconcealed.net^{[dead link]}
5. ^ South Carolina Concealed Carry Permit Information on USACarry.com
6. ^ State v. Dickey and S.C.'s "stand your ground" law dead link

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Categories: 

• South Carolina law
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Congratulations Candice

We, here at More than a Geechee, would like to congratulate Candice Glover, the 2013 American Idol. 

Growing up Gullah

I miss my home its in my heart. I came across this video the other day and wanted to give my own version of how I grew up. Let's start with the cooking

We cook differently than other people. I remember the first time my mother cooked potato salad for people here in GA they kept asking how did you cook this. My mom (may she RIP) never gave me her recipe but I know she used many different flavors including 2 kinds of milk and 2 kinds of eggs. We ate sardines.....let that marinate for a second. I am talking about the ones in the can where you peel the top back. The staple for breakfast in our house was grits and sardine for breakfast. Y'all remember the bones in them I hated that part but omg the sardines and grits yes. We are known for shrimp and grits but so many people have taken that and ran with it so I am not going to touch it. Something else we eat with our grits is liver. It gotta be calf liver though not that tough beef liver my mom did tell me that. What foods did you have that were staples in your gullah home?

We help each other.  Where I am from if we like you we help you if we don't well you will know. Everything I have is from my people geechee people. I seem to can only connect to them for some reason. I guess growing up I know my people so we have a lot in common. I can relate to what we saying, I can relate to what we eating, I can relate to our heritage. Where I am from it's not what you know its who you know. I can go down to Charleston right now and get a job within a week whereas here in GA I have been looking for a job for 3 years and have found none yet. If you have met a geechee person that has not helped you that means they don't like you.

Tough Parenting.  Our parents are tough. My hubs always say I don't mess with y'all geechee parents you all don't play. I admit my mom didn't I am not as strict as she was on me but I am strict. She was a tough cookie I remember having to go get switches off the tree, that leather brown belt....was readily available for me. My mom was tough but it taught me lessons that life is tougher than she will ever be. She prepared me for life I think that's one of the reasons life doesn't get to me as much.

What do you remember about growing up Gullah? If you didn't grow up Gullah tell us how you grew up in your neck of the woods?

By Kita

Give she a red wun

O'please Geechee family don't leave me hanging on disya wun!   Who remember chilly bears?  Bae bae lookya I bun the chilly bear queen of 'merica street heah!  I loved the red (cherry) wun and the yella (lemonade) wun.  My chilly bear lady stayed in Reed st housing (I may not have the name exactly right), God bless ee heart I can't call her name and I'm shame because many a day she put her futs under our dinner table and broke bread with us.   Anyhow, she would bring a whole carton of 'em soon as she knew I bun home. That bun the best treat ever!  I stayed in the freeza.  Who knew little Dixie cups filled with kool aid would bring a child so much joy.  My cousins and I would destroy a carton full in a day or two.  I'm sure other places in the sowt have something similar but just call them by a different name, but if ya Geechee and from chasstun then you ONLY knoh 'em by chilly bears.  What I would give now to hear Miss Ma'am yell shru mi screen door "chillee beah" and we come a flyin down the stairs.  Then when I/we got old enough we would walk our lil  boonkys right on up the street and get our chillee beahs ourselves. Just another fond memory growing up geechee.

Story by Pentherapee

Ring Shout

Ring Shout

A ring shout is a religious ritual, used by African slaves, to declare a oneness to God, call out to the ancestors, and to speak to each other. It's a counterclockwise dance-like movement, call-and-response singing, and percussion consisting of hand claps, and a stick beating the rhythm on the ground or the floor. 

The ring shout was often performed after the slave owner's Christian service. It is said that the Gullah/Geechee, of Georgia and South Carolina, ring shouters made a circle around the church building. Often times, the slaves went into the woods at night to perform shouts, for hours, until they were exhausted. 

A ring shout is performed when a songster begins or sets a song starting off slow, then speeds up the tempo. The singers, or basers answers the songster in a call-and response. There is a stick-man, who sits next to the songster, will beat a simple rhythm with a wood stick, sometimes a broom, the basers will use hand clapping and foot patting to add rhythm. 

The earliest known records of the ring shout are circa 1840. Today, the shouting that is done in some churches come from the ring shout. 


Below you can watch the McIntosh County Shouters perform a traditional ring shout

Njoy sum Geechee Black Histree Munt you tubes

http://youtu.be/JNgyGHjgbfk

http://youtu.be/dWpHNWLeKP4

http://youtu.be/No5HrBHkfzs

http://youtu.be/zg_UevpsyQA

http://youtu.be/r3gr1ghQExs

http://youtu.be/VxIJ4Jn3QFE

http://youtu.be/JNgyGHjgbfk

http://youtu.be/z3e5G3T6lWI

http://youtu.be/abgc1Y94iq8

http://youtu.be/D4Wl1KvBH7s

http://youtu.be/a5N7cbK85bY

QUEEN QUET/GULLAH NAYSHUN is such a great solid resource for geechee culture old and new! There's is so much of mi own culture and histree I still don't know (sighs) but I gwan ta lurn.  Hunna gwan knoh the ins & outs of mi culture wun dey.  Gud ting bun I'm intertwined simplee cus I bun born an dud alodda raysun, with boat sides of mi famalee bein frum chasstun...I literally have NO immediate famalee (like most charlestonians) from another part of da sowt so mi geechee ties, despite me living in Cali for years are strong up heah!  I'm so proud to be a geechee gal but I'm seeing dares alot I must lurn...I godda go deepa!!!

Happy Black Geechee Histree Munt!!!

PENTHERAPEE shufflin she futs ta da chasstun clap

If on twitter follow @moregeechee and @geechie101 (she tweets in authentic geechee language). Alot of fun!!

Every Geechee should be aware...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/06/0607_wiregullah.html

Please read the above link.  It's a devastating truth.  How blessed we are that with the World Wide Web and other technology we have been able to keep our heritage/culture alive, but I feel like the Gullah nation is on life support.  Thank God for soldiers like Queen Quet and a few others that has put in their all to preserve our history.  Young Gullah Nation STAND UP!!!!!

Story posted by Pentherapee
Credit goes to National Geographic News

Help a Geechee Out

Hey Geechee Fam!

    A member of our Geechee Family is collecting hygiene products, healthy snacks, and puzzle books for Luvkits! The Luvkits will be handed out on Valentine's Day to Charleston, SC area hospitals, to bring a little comfort to those who are visiting love ones in the hospital.

Please send contributions to: Geechie Gurl Inc

                                             P.O. Box 71061

                                                   N. Chas, SC 29415

Please have contributions to the above address by February 7, 2013. If you aren't able to collect, and send items you can donate to service@geechiegurl.org.

Any help is greatly appreciated! 

King Street

Being from Charleston, SC their are a lot of places to see and a lot of places to visit. Most cities have that one street that everyone knows about well in Charleston we have that kind of street. The name of the street is called King Street. It's a long street with a lot of stores before I get to some of the stores let me give you a break down of what I remember about King Street

I grew up in the 80's going into Charleston was always beautiful. My mom would go downtown often. I would always notice that their was a white side of King Street and then their was a black side. On the black side you would see stores like (forgive my spelling it's been a long time since I have been down there) leon's variety store where I got my first ears pierced and my mom bought endless stockings from there with the designs. Bluestiens where every man from Charleston has shopped for that colorful Easter suit. On the white side you had the Talbot Company where a lot of rich white people would go in and buy fancy digs for work. You also had brooks brother where they sold nice clothes that my mom use to make because she worked in a factory that made the pants. I had heard talk about how black people don't cross the white side and vice versa but my mom being the dare devil that she was took me into talbot company for the first time when I was around 8 or 9. I remember it clearly the white people seemed like they stopped what they were doing and just stared at us. My mom went right in and browsed some sweaters and asked a sale lady if they had a certain size. The lady helped us and my mom ended up buying the sweater. Some years later my mom was able to obtain a Talbot card and that became her favorite store she even sent all of her friends in there to shop. Now I don't know if black people ever went in the store before but this was the experience I had when we first went in.

Through the years King street has grown when I got to high school their was a pizza joint downtown that we would skip school to visit and to this day they are the best pizza I have had. I don't know if any of the stores are still there but I sure do miss that King Street. Last time I was home their were many new stores even my favorite firehouse subs. What do you remember about King street?

Image

Geechee Profile: Philip Simmons

Photo Credit: http://southcarolina1670.wordpress.com/

Philip Simmons was born June 9, 1912 on Daniel's Island, South Carolina. Mr. Simmons lived on the island with his grandparents until he was 8 years old. He was then sent to live with his mother in the city of Charleston. At the age of 13, Mr. Simmons began to apprentice under a blacksmith by the name of Peter Simmons (no relation), a former slave. After a 5 year apprenticeship, at the age of 18 Mr. Simmons became a full blacksmith. 

Mr. Simmons began his 77 year career making simple things such as horseshoes. His first commissioned work was for Jack Krawcheck, during WWII, where he had to use scrap iron to make a gate because wartime materials requirements made it impossible to get iron. 
 

Mr. Simmons created all types of ironwork including fences, gates, balconies, fireplace pokers, and various tools. Much of his work can be seen in and around the city of Charleston. 

Philip Simmons has been awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South Carolina General Assembly, the Order of the Palmetto, and the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award.  Mr. Simmons has been inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. Mr. Simmons’ work has been on display at the Smithsonian.

 Mr. Simmons, after retiring from blacksmithing, continued to teach his craft until he was no longer able. Philip Simmons died June 22, 2009, at the age of 97. He is truly a Charleston icon.

 I had the pleasure of meeting, and speaking with Mr. Simmons on several occasions, and he was one of the sweetest people I've ever met. 

To learn more about Mr. Simmons visit: Philip Simmons Foundation, Inc

Biography:  Charleston Blacksmith, The Work of Philips Simmons by John Michael Vlach

Documentary: Keeper of The Gate by David Flander
Interview:http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-philip-simmons-11873

If you are ever in Chaleston here is list of places that you can see Mr. Simmons' work:

• The gazebo at the Charleston International Airport
• Gates outside the Charleston Vistors Center
• The egret gates at Waterfront Park
• The Gadsden house gate at 329 East Bay St.
• The gate at 2 st. Michael’s Alley
• The railings and window grilles at 45 Meeting St.
• The heart gates at St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church at 91 Anson St.

Picture Source: http://fycharleston.tumblr.com/post/40688453488/philip-simmons-a-charleston-legend-1912-2009

 

 

Get to know us in Charleston

Get a taste of how we talk and what we are known for if you understand everything in this video you alright with me lol. 

Folklore: Plat-Eye

One of the evil spirits that the blue bottle tree is believed to trap is the Plat-eye. The plat-eye has been described as the unsettled spirit of a person wronged while alive, or who wasn't buried properly, or without any care.

The Plat-eye can take the form of animals, or the spirit form of the recently deceased. There are times that the plat-eye has no shape, it's just mist, which is said to be freezing and suffocating. The plat-eye can also be invisible except for glowing, fiery eyes. If you are haunted by a Plat-eye that is in human, or animal form, it is said to have front teeth, but no back teeth. If the plat-eye isn't in the form of an animal, or human ,it has one large eye that is the size of a plate, hence the name. This is said to be the plat-eye truest form.

The unsettled haint, mostly hunt the people who have done them wrong while they were alive, or the people who buried them incorrectly. The plat-eye is so vengeful that it's said that it torments a person until they go insane, or until they die. Some are even said to be able to suck the souls out of their hunted.To get rid of a plat-eye you have to either bury a person correctly, or right the wrong that you have done to the offended, somehow. 

Though you should treat people with care, and respect, not to worry SOME say that the plat-eye only lurks around swamps, and old rice fields.