A swath of police officers donning riot gear stand at the ready with batons as they form a barrier between protesters on E Trade St. & N Alexander St. in Charlotte, NC.
Hundreds in Charlotte took to the streets Monday for a fourth night to stand with their fellow members of the community and march peacefully in support of the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the knee of white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.
The peaceful marching quickly turned into frantic sprinting, as the protesters attempted to regain traction from the army of police officers seeking to disperse them. The violence and anger that came with the night largely stemmed from the police officers’ militaristic tactics in attempting to maintain control of the crowd. Police released pepper spray, threw flash bangs and peppered the crowd with rubber bullets only to have them regroup again down the street. The anthem of “[Expletive] Tha Police” by N.W.A. echoed down Charlotte’s small streets as cars delivering water made their way past the epicentre and down North College Street.
Nine Black protesters, all from North Carolina and most from Charlotte, ranging from as young as 19, to as old as 58, shared in their own words with The Charlotte Observer why this cause is so important to them. Read below to find out why they decided to show up, marching down the street, sometimes arm in arm.
Bomani Asad, 54
University Area, Charlotte
“I’m an advocate against police brutality, and what’s been going on, I can’t just say with Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and so many others, so many others, I’m tired of it. This police brutality needs to be addressed. It needs to be addressed at the congressional level, because nothing is happening at the local level. Nothing is being done. When a police department can investigate themselves and always find that they’ve done nothing wrong, we have a problem. So we need to see systemic changes from a congressional level. That’s why I’m out here.”
Destinee Jacobs, 21
University Area, Charlotte
“I’m out here because I’m Black until the day I die. I have a Black dad, I have a Black brother, a Black mom, two Black sisters and all of my family is Black. Every single day, they are killing us left to right unlawfully, and no one is being charged, no one is spending life in jail. So many people have died in the past years from police, [those officers are] still walking the streets never apprehended, never questioned, because of the color of their skin and because of the color of ours. I’m sick of it. We’re here to stand together, unite and fight it, and we won’t stop.”
Kyndall Jai (right), 19
Charlotte
“I’m out here because every day when I wake up, and my Black mom and my Black dad, and my Black brother, and my Black boyfriend leave the house, I fear for their fucking life. They might not come home one day. And because what? A cop kills them for a turning signal. I can’t keep doing this every day. I wake up and I’m scared. I’m scared to have kids of my own because I can wake up one day and have people knocking on my door and they’re dead.“I debate having kids — I’m 19 years old — because I don’t know what’s going to happen to them because they’re going to grow up Black. When I was 10 years old, I got pulled over by a cop with my parents, and I was scared as hell. I thought my parents were going to die. As a 10-year-old, you shouldn’t have to deal with that shit. All the white kids, all they worry about is playing outside and riding bikes and little league and shit. I’m worried about getting killed, my brother getting killed, my mom, my dad, I don’t know what can happen at any point and time. I just don’t want to have to live in fear anymore. I’m tired of this. They’re not going to keep killing us, and we won’t shut up until we stop.”
Jaleel Liles, 25
Rockingham
“All over the country people are doing this. And I could understand if it was just the state of Minnesota, but this is close to 52 states (sic) that are doing this. I say to you Donald Trump with all confidence, your time is over. Help the people. You are clearly trying to get rid of our civil rights. You don’t want our voices to matter, but everyone’s voices matter. Everybody has gone to different places to show you otherwise. We’re not all thugs, we’re not aggressive people. Tell your police to stop killing our people, stop oppressing us, do more for us. This world would be a better place, if y’all would stop thinking that y’all reign supreme over one race.”
Kia Waddell, 44
South Charlotte
“Basically I’m out here tonight to stand in conjunction with everybody for George Floyd. I want my son to be out here to see this, and enough is enough. Honestly, I really feel like we need to come together collectively to be able to make our voices be heard, but in a peaceful sense. And so far tonight, I’m glad that things have been peaceful and we’ve been able to march in the city. Hopefully they see that we’re not going to let up until justice is served. I feel like [it shows] with our statement tonight — I can breathe, we will live and we demand justice — so that’s why I’m out here tonight.”
Alpha Arnett, 58
Charlotte
“I’m out here just to be supportive of this effort, I think just in terms of drawing some attention to what is taking place as it relates to the white supremacy and the racism, as well as the treatment of white cops towards those in the Black community and really to be supportive of many youngsters who are much younger than I am. This is what I did 20-30 years ago for different reasons, so I just want to be out here to observe and support what this younger crew is doing, too.”