Thursday evening, May 15, operatives of Summerville Dream attempted to force members of Best Friends “Corps of Conductors” to stop leafleting citizens attending the third Thursday event on Hutchison Square in Downtown Summerville. The material being distributed promoted CARTA’s bus to the beach and plans to build a bus rapid transit line from Summerville to Charleston. Nearly identical materials have been distributed at this event for ten years without any problem.
However this year, in response to objections from MAGA supporters in the crowd, Summerville Dream demanded that our Conductors leave. When they declined to do so, the police were called, who also demanded we leave. The permit for the event was obtained, which did not, because it cannot, repeal the constitutional right to free speech on a public square. Attorney William Hamilton, leader of Best Friends was on site and after a very forceful argument, was able to persuade the police that his conductors have the right to distribute literature, provided it is not obscene.
The leadership of Summerville Dream was very disappointed in this result and sent Third parties later to obtain an apology for our latest effort in our 15 year campaign to bring functional public transit to the Lowcountry. No apology was offered. None ever will be.
The Freedom to Move and Whose Happiness Really Matters
The black lady and her family hauling her two disabled Grandchildren in a black wagon was Linda Saylor. Her family has been residents of Summerville for over 100 years. Her grandfather challenged the KKK on the same public square over 50 years ago and held the KKK off from his home with a shotgun in Brownsville (the black part of Summerville, across the tracks) when they came to his house to burn crosses.
The man working with her and defending her was Bo Rupert, who fought successfully to end sexual abuse in the Juvenal justice system of the State of Washington. Leading the effort was William Hamilton, the legally blind Attorney who serves as Executive Director of Best Friends and who has been fighting for freedom and mobility in the SC Lowcountry for over 45 years. Hamilton is the attorney currently litigating the free speech case in US Federal Court against the City of Charleston, George Soros did not pay us to be there.
Best Friends was leafleting in Summerville because in 2016 we won an election to bring real public transit to the SC Lowcountry in Charleston County. Part of Summerville is in Charleston County. All of nearby Lincolnville is. The march was led by Louise Brown, Mother of the Movement, then 81 years old.
Since then, plans to run the transit line all the way to Summerville were secretly cancelled without a public hearing or a public vote by any of the Governments allegedly in control of the project during the pandemic. We were told the Federal Government decided it was impractical. We demanded the relevant documents from the Town of Summerville over three years ago. We received and reviewed them. We found no such federal decision. You can review these documents online.
The Mayor of Lincolnville, who had been attending the relevant meetings, found out about the decision through a friend who read about it online. Members of Dorchester County Council claimed they first learned about it by reading it in the newspaper.
It is likely the Dorchester Shadow Government of tired racists made this decision and it’s likely they were involved in the demands to force us from the square on Thursday. They’re deeply connected to the MAGA movement. They’ve been running Summerville forever and they’ll continue to do so unless the people of Dorchester County stop them. Keeping citizens rotting in their cars for hours every day helps keep them in power. Exhausted citizens are easy to control.
We still don’t know exactly who decided, in the midst of the pandemic, that the quality of life of the people of Summerville would be better if they didn’t have an alternative to spending 2.5 hours a day stuck in traffic commuting to work. Those people believe the elderly, disabled and poor of Summerville, who they are actively working to drive out of the town, shouldn’t have even limited freedom of movement. They’ve already torn down Tri County LINK Bus Stops and bus stop signs as part of their campaign against public mobility.
Best Friends will continue to fight those people and their secret war against the freedom to speak and the freedom to move. Like Rosa Parks, we refuse to give up our seat.
The Corps of Conductors Will Return to Flowertown until Transit runs from Summerville to the Sea
Image, Right- Transit Advocates celebrating bus to beach with flag used (and objected to by Summerville Dream) on July 15. The flag uses a bus instead of a skull. The effort is part of a three year community drama project involving pirates from the past who have been teleported to the present and have to ride the bus. Read the backstory.
We will return to Summerville to leaflet, to protest and to pressure the politicians (including the unelected ones who appear to be in control) who tell us lies and refuse to hear our truth. We will go to Federal Court to get the court orders necessary to make this possible if necessary, as we are already doing in the City of Charleston. Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit, Inc. will come back with court orders, body cameras, flags, signs, pancakes and PA systems until real, reliable rapid transit runs from Dorchester County to Charleston, from Summerville to the Sea.
More Information
#TIDEsee; #chsresist
The board is composed of representatives of over a dozen local governments, including several Mayors. Trump's and Musk's proposed budget ends federal funding for public transit, which accounts for a third of CARTAs funding. Trump is currently attempting to interrupt already scheduled grant funding for CARTA's current operations, which could cause service cancellations and cuts in the next few months. Their plans call for ending capital construction funding for projects like the planned Lowcountry Rapid Transit system and the associated plans for affordable housing. 
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Best Friends of Lowcoontry Transit Executive Director, William Hamilton at
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Right, Social Media Banner Promoting Rosa Pancake Effort, from 2022.
