New Hilton Head civil rights group to protest Heritage Tournament

A civil rights group on Hilton Head Island representing the interests of Native Islanders plans to protest this year’s RBC Heritage Golf Tournament in April, the group announced Saturday during its first public meeting.

The National Action Network, a nationwide civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, formed a Hilton Head Chapter in 2015 to address Native Islander concerns over town policies.

“We want these golfers to come here and know exactly what the locals are doing to the original people of these islands,” said Elder James Johnson, president of South Carolina’s National Action Network.

The Native Island Gullah-Geechee community on Hilton Head is comprised of descendants of formerly enslaved West Africans that built a community on the island in the 1860s.

Organizers of the local NAN chapter argue that the town’s strict land-use rules have now limited Native Islander’s ability to open small businesses that could help them hold onto the land of their ancestors.

“I think it’s a horrible injustice that the descendants have lost so much land,” said chapter founder Theresa White, who works with Native Islanders to preserve land ownership. “They now own less than 1,000 acres on Hilton Head down from the thousands they owned at one time.”

The group points to strict setback requirements that limit business opportunity on Native Islander-owned parcels, restrictions on subdividing property between ancestors and laws limiting Native Islanders’ ability to sell arts and crafts, and food off the road as examples of over-restrictive town policies.

White argues the rules mean that many islanders are unable to open businesses that could help them pay the property taxes to keep their land.

The protests will be non-violent and will enlist members of the nine National Action Network chapters across South Carolina, Johnson said.

“We want to bring national attention to what’s happening to the Gullah-Geechee people ... if we don’t do something now the culture could be extinct in the future,” he added.

The group also hopes to gain a more visible presence on Hilton Head.

“There’s people who come to Hilton Head and there’s no sign of us,” said chapter president Taiwan Scott “So I would say acknowledge our existence or experience our resistance.”

The signature PGA tournament is slated to begin April 13.

This story was originally published March 5, 2017 at 10:18 AM with the headline "New Hilton Head civil rights group to protest Heritage Tournament."