Around Town

Passionate, peaceful protests filled uptown Charlotte streets Thursday night

By Corey Inscoe

I didn’t need to go into uptown yesterday. I could have worked from home, like I’m sure many people did. But I stayed up late Wednesday night watching coverage of the initially peaceful protests and then the riots and the looting in the heart of Charlotte and I didn’t recognize the city I saw on the screen. I needed to see it with my own eyes.

Around 5 p.m. Thursday — rush hour — the streets and sidewalks in uptown were eerily empty. I saw a few joggers and more news crews. I saw two people taping Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on boarded-up windows. I saw my city.

Quotes from Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. on the boarded up windows of the NASCAR Plaza building.

A photo posted by CharlotteFive (@cltfive) on Sep 22, 2016 at 3:02pm PDT

I’ve seen people tweeting with the hashtag #ThisIsNotMyCharlotte. Yes, it is. This is your Charlotte, it’s my Charlotte and it’s our Charlotte, but maybe you haven’t noticed it until this week. Instead of dismissing these protests as something foreign, we should be thinking about the aspects of our society that led to them. We can condemn the violence and destruction of property, but also be willing to try and understand the frustration and pain that led to it. This is our Charlotte. We’re in this together. Where do we go from here?

Here’s what happened yesterday following the Tuesday shooting of a black man named Keith Lamont Scott by police officer Brentley Vinson, who is also black:

– Thursday night’s protests were mostly peaceful, with the only significant moment of tension coming when protesters tried to block I-277. Police blocked traffic on the highway and drove the protesters off the road with the help of tear gas.

National Guard troops lined the streets after Gov. Pat McCrory declared a State of Emergency for Charlotte Wednesday night. Some got hugs.

– Mayor Jennifer Roberts announced a midnight curfew late in the evening, but it went unheeded and unenforced as the protests remained peaceful. The curfew, which was lifted at 6 a.m., will continue until the end of the State of Emergency is declared for Charlotte. Here’s what that means for you.

– Scott’s family and its lawyers watched the dashboard and body camera footage of the fatal shooting yesterday. Justin Bamberg, one of family’s lawyers, said it “raised more questions than answers” and that Scott seemed calm and not aggressive in the video, with his hands by his side and walking slowly backward when he was shot.

– The family has called for CMPD to release the videos to the public. CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said officer appears justified in the shooting, and that the videos would not be released. The family and CMPD agree on one point — it’s impossible to tell whether Scott was holding a weapon, or anything else, in his hands.

– U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger said on a BBC-TV show that the violence in Charlotte stems from protesters who “hate white people because white people are successful and they’re not.” He later apologized.

Then Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James sent this tweet, which he hasn’t apologized for.

– Family and neighbors call Scott a quiet, “family man.”

– The man who was shot during Wednesday night’s protests, Justin Carr, 26, died yesterday.

– CMPD arrested two men and issued more warrants in connection with the vandalism to businesses that occurred uptown Wednesday night.

– Bank of America said uptown staff should stay home Friday, and many other events scheduled for today or this weekend have been canceled.

– Several Panthers players have spoken out following the police shooting, calling for peace and for the video to be released.

Photos: Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer

This story was originally published September 23, 2016 at 3:10 AM with the headline "Passionate, peaceful protests filled uptown Charlotte streets Thursday night."

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER