Other ; This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Institute of Physics via http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L11 ; Abstract ; We present new results on [C II]158 $_{μ m}$ emission from four galaxies in the reionization epoch. These galaxies were previously confirmed to be at redshifts between 6.6 and 7.15 from the presence of the Ly$α$ emission line in their spectra. The Ly$α$ emission line is redshifted by 100–200 km s$^{-1}$ compared to the systemic redshift given by the [C II] line. These velocity offsets are smaller than what is observed in $z∼ 3$ Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) with similar UV luminosities and emission line properties. Smaller velocity shifts reduce the visibility of Ly$α$ and hence somewhat alleviate the need for a very neutral intergalactic medium at $z∼ 7$ to explain the drop in the fraction of Ly$α$ emitters observed at this epoch. The galaxies show [C II] emission with L[C II] = $0.6\,-\,1.6\times {10}^{8}{L}_{⊙ }$: these luminosities place them consistently below the star formation rate (SFR)–L[C II] relation observed for low-redshift star-forming and metal-poor galaxies and also below z = 5.5 LBGs with similar SFRs. We argue that previous undetections of [C II] in $z∼ 7$ galaxies with similar or smaller SFRs are due to selection effects: previous targets were mostly strong Ly$α$ emitters and therefore probably metal-poor systems, while our galaxies are more representative of the general high-redshift star-forming population. ; Other ; S.C. and R.M. acknowledge financial support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).