Local activist groups organize daytime protests, provide support
Behind the packed parks and chanting crowds, a network of activist groups is helping keep things organized.
In the weeks since George Floyd’s death, thousands have protested at events across Charlotte. Although organizers said nighttime demonstrations are spontaneous, various local activist groups plan daytime events, sometimes partnering with each other.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg branch of the NAACP has been active, organizing events including a June 2 protest with the group Kidz Fed Up.
“It’s important that we not only have a role, but that we have some opportunity to lead in this fight,” said branch President Corine Mack. She said the NAACP has helped by passing out food and water and giving free face masks to other groups.
“We’re present,” she said. “If they need us to help with something, then we help.”
Another mainstay is Charlotte Uprising, formed in the wake of the 2016 police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. On Thursday, the group held a “People’s University” at Freedom Park that drew hundreds for educational sessions on topics including taking direct action and the history of resistance to police violence in Charlotte.
In addition to planning events, the group works to support people who are arrested and jailed. One of the sessions at Thursday’s event focused on the jail support program.
Kass Ottley, an activist with Seeking Justice CLT, planned a memorial for Floyd, also held on Thursday, where people signed a banner to be sent to Floyd’s family. She also worked to organize a June 1 march through Dilworth and Myers Park, two of Charlotte’s more upscale neighborhoods.
Ottley said she’s been organizing in Charlotte for more than 10 years, but other organizations are new to the scene. It Ends Now Charlotte, a faith-based group that formed after Floyd’s death, planned a May 31 protest at First Ward Park.
The group already has thousands of followers on social media. It spans denominations and involves both church leaders and lay members, said Geoffrey Gibbs Jr., lead pastor at Encounter Church in Charlotte and one of the speakers at the May 31 event.
He also said he was excited by the multi-ethnic nature of the movement.
“I believe the black church has been leading the protest against unequal treatment since Nat Turner, but now we have a level of support from non-black Christians and church leaders that will help the message of social justice reach those who would normally turn a deaf ear,” he told the Observer in an email.
In the long run, It Ends Now Charlotte wants to partner with other Charlotte organizations and become a “hub and a one-stop shop for people to connect,” said Sanchez Fair, a local pastor and one of the group’s leaders. They plan to support local book clubs and educational opportunities about fighting injustice, among other goals.
Coordination and partnership
The various organizations often coordinate with each other and promote each other’s events, leaders said. Gibbs commended local groups for their work to collect resources and coordinate messaging.
He said the roots of cooperation go back years.
“A lot of the people who were active in 2016 are active now,” he said. “And so these are the same people who have been doing the hard work on the ground for years in our communities. We just haven’t gotten the level of media coverage or exposure after the initial protests in 2016.”
Mack said the local NAACP branch has intentionally partnered with youth-led groups such as the Sunrise Movement. “They’ve never done this before, and I’m trying to teach them how to do things so that we have effective, sustainable change,” she said.
Greg Jackson, founder and executive director of the local nonprofit Heal Charlotte, said he has helped provide leadership without organizing protests himself. He sees the demonstrations as a chance to recruit new people, giving them a way to get involved after the protests.
Many of the groups have one thing in common: a robust online presence.
Social media “speaks the language of the culture,” Fair said, helping activists communicate and get their message out to the public. He said It Ends Now began after a Facebook post from one of its founding members that challenged Christians to fight racial injustice.
“Nobody could have a successful event if they’re not using social media,” Mack said. “Because everybody’s on it.”
Night marches ‘more free-for-all’
The nighttime marches are “a little more free-for-all,” Jackson said.
Yet parts of Thursday’s Charlotte Uprising educational event felt like a prelude to the night – and preparation for the clashes between protesters and police that have taken place then. The session on direct action included tips for avoiding arrest. One session was devoted to medical training for protests, which covered treating rubber bullet wounds, helping people who are suffering panic attacks and more.
And leaders and activists take part in the nighttime protests as well. Jackson said that one night he helped defuse confrontations between protesters and law enforcement.
“Me and a lot of other leaders in the community, we held a lot of lines, keeping the peace, and making sure that the officers understood that we are a unified voice and we’re organized,” he said.
The various groups organizing protests have different policy priorities and structures. But Jackson emphasized their sense of unity.
“We’re unified in one front,” he said.
This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 1:00 AM.