As all of you know, riots and violence erupted in Charlotte, around the University City area, late Tuesday night. The violence went into Wednesday night, and had everyone on edge. While protests are ongoing, they are mostly peaceful.
On the afternoon of September 20th, a man named Keith Lamont Scott was fatally shot by local law enforcement officers. The story goes that the police were looking for someone with a warrant out for their arrest, when Scott came out of his vehicle "with a gun". The officers demanded that he drop the gun repeatedly, and shot him dead when he refused the orders and apparently "pointed the gun at officers". There are multiple accounts from witnesses claiming that Scott was not holding a gun, but was holding a book. The community is outraged by the death of another black man by gunshots from a police officer.
The first night and second night of protesting ultimately ended in rampage. While many believe that the younger generations would be the ones to act out violently and recklessly, the students of UNCC proved this assumption to be incorrect. A group of students had planned a peaceful protest outside of the student union after the night of unrest in our city. Students would wear all black and meet up outside of the union to stand in protest against police brutality.
After about an hour of standing outside of the union, the group moved the demonstration indoors and every news station in the Charlotte area was present. Here, protesters laid on the ground, demonstrating a "die-in" and occasionally broke the silence with a hymn, poem, or statements about the movement. Students of all races came together that day in unity, holding hands, praying together, and just sitting together in silence. The protest was so beautifully powerful and yet it barely made the news. All the local channels covered it, but for some reason, the only thing plastered across CNN and other national news channels was the violence that had broken out the night before.
It is important for people to understand that violent rioting is not the only thing that the community is partaking in, and in fact most of the community members are encouraging peace and love during this time. Rioting is not the answer to the pain the city of Charlotte is feeling, and it is not what the community wants. I am beyond proud of my school and peers for demonstration we put on Wednesday afternoon. It was full of emotion, power, and love, which is what the community needs at this time. After this demonstration was put on, there were more peaceful protests in the city in the following nights. Not only was Charlotte following the example put on by students at UNCC, but other Universities across the state were doing the same demonstration. Peaceful protests speak power and unite community members together, and I hope this trend of peace keeps its momentum and spreads across the nation during this tumultuous time.
