NAACP Claims Conway Road Project Is Discriminatory

The South Carolina NAACP filed a complaint with the federal highway administration requesting an investigation of the Conway perimeter road project.

The NAACP says the project will displace elderly Black residents from land they grew up on and inherited from their ancestors since the 1800s.

The project will connect Highways 378 and 701 with a four-lane road and median, the proposed road will cut through Sandridge park.

Nathan Lee and Justin McCarrol are student advocates at the NYU law civil rights clinic.

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Before the South Carolina NAACP sent a complaint letter to the federal highway administration, the NYU clinical law center sent a demand letter to Horry County and the South Carolina Transportation Department stating the Conway perimeter road project violates Title VI of the civil rights act of 1964 because it will unfairly and unnecessarily impact the black community in Sandridge.

Title VI states that “no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

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“The problem is, it’s only impacting those black folks, not only is it a black community, but it also happens to be going directly through this sort of census block in Horry County that has the highest concentration of black residents, and as well as the highest concentration of impoverished residents,” McCarrol said.

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McCarrol said most of the community are against the road being built, but if that is not a possibility, they the SCDOT and Horry County to preserve their dignity.

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