Charlotte Protests
On Sept. 20, the police killing of 43-year-old black man Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, would ignite a series of protests throughout the state, from the streets of Charlotte to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.
There are conflicting reports about what happened the day a police officer killed Scott. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says he was holding a gun. His family says he was holding a book. Some articles talk about Scott’s past felony convictions. Some refer to him as a family man.
Regardless, no one deserves to die at the hands of the police.
Several sources claim that were Scott obeying the law by not carrying a gun as a felon in the state of North Carolina, he would still be alive. The fact of the matter is, even if Scott were carrying a gun, police would not have known who Scott was and, therefore, could not have known he was a felon.
“Most cops have been in situations where they lawfully could have shot somebody and didn’t,” said former police officer and president of Polis Solutions Jonathan M. Wender according to The New York Times.
This kind of rhetoric has occurred for years. On July 17, 2014, a police officer killed 24-year-old Eric Garner by choking him to death in Staten Island, New York. Because he was selling untaxed cigarettes, many claimed Garner’s death was justified. There was no indictment.
On Aug. 9, 2014, a police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He had reportedly just committed a robbery at the time, so many came to the officer’s defense, claiming he had no choice. Brown was unarmed. No charges were filed.
I could go on, since there were at least 193 black people killed by police this year before Scott, according to the Huffington Post, but my point is that none of them deserved to die for being black.
White people have committed crimes including everything from selling illegal drugs to speeding, but black people were somehow 2.7 times as likely to be shot and killed by police in 2015 according to the Fatal Encounters database. At the time, black people were only 14 percent of the United States population.
This is why it is necessary to protest in Charlotte. Though it is important to mourn Scott’s passing as one person, it is also important to acknowledge the larger systemic issues: Scott, along with 193 others before him this year, died because of their race.
Several sources are criminalizing the protests the way Scott has been criminalized, calling them violent riots and unnecessary. However, having been to a protest in Charlotte, my experience was that protesters were not violent, and the protests were certainly necessary.
Part of this prejudice comes from how many people feel about Black Lives Matter. There were many calling for Black Lives Matter to be considered a hate group, and those same people formed All Lives Matter as a response.
However, there are also those who are referring to Black Lives Matter as “the next civil rights movement,” according to Dissent Magazine, but focusing on humanizing black lives instead of gaining equal rights.
“One of the negligent areas of the civil rights movement is that we did not move the moral compass of racism to the right direction,” said HandsUp United organizer Kareem Jackson, according to Dissent.
The protests in Charlotte and all over the state indicate that people do support change and that they can envision a future where people like Scott don’t have to die for the crime of being black.
Walter Hassell • Oct 23, 2016 at 11:32 pm
I’m tempted to write my own piece on police shootings, if only because it seems every Guilfordian “writer” who’s tackled the subject thus far has proven themselves incompetent.
Where to begin….
“Regardless, no one deserves to die at the hands of the police.”
What a patently absurd statement. If you cannot imagine a single situation in which someone would deserve to be shot and killed by the police, you have a poor imagination indeed. Someone’s threatening innocent people with weapon? Shoot to kill. Someone’s resisting arrest and reaching for a gun? Shoot to kill. Needless to say. if these situations can be de-escalated through more peaceful means, that is ALWAYS preferable. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
“The fact of the matter is, even if Scott were carrying a gun, police would not have known who Scott was and, therefore, could not have known he was a felon.”
The fact of the matter is, past convictions are irrelevant when someone’s waving a gun at you. IF that was indeed what happened. It’s a shame when we can’t get a clear picture, even with body camera footage.
“On July 17, 2014, a police officer killed 24-year-old Eric Garner by choking him to death in Staten Island, New York.”
Yes, Garner’s death was a tragedy. The officer who put him in a chokehold (which was against department policy) is an asshole. The officer was charged departmentally, but you’re right, there was no indictment.
“On Aug. 9, 2014, a police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He had reportedly just committed a robbery at the time, so many came to the officer’s defense, claiming he had no choice. Brown was unarmed. No charges were filed.”
This is moronic. The shooting was justified, not because Brown was a CRIMINAL, but because he was *actively resisting arrest.* He was *going for the officer’s gun.* The eyewitness testimony – mostly from BLACK people, mind you, not racist whites – CONFIRMED this. Wilson’s story withstood scrutiny. The “hands up don’t shoot” rhetoric coming from BLM didn’t. Don’t retroactively pretend that people justified the shooting by referencing Brown’s criminality. The facts in the case were enough to justify the shooting. Seriously, do your staff actually do research before publishing such pieces? Or do they just mimic the same talking points they hear from their favorite alternative news sources? Moving on….
“I could go on, since there were at least 193 black people killed by police this year before Scott, according to the Huffington Post, but my point is that none of them deserved to die for being black.”
Again with the red herrings. There are literally ZERO people saying any of them deserved to die for being black. You are talking to no one right now.
“White people have committed crimes including everything from selling illegal drugs to speeding, but black people were somehow 2.7 times as likely to be shot and killed by police in 2015 according to the Fatal Encounters database. At the time, black people were only 14 percent of the United States population.”
It’s fascinating to me that you juxtapose white crimes with black death rates (as a result of police shootings). I wonder what happens if we (gasp) compare black crimes with the rate at which blacks are shot by cops? Let’s see now… From 2011 to 2013, 38.5% of people arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault were black. This figure is three times higher than the 13% black population figure. I wonder, given these statistics, at what rate would you EXPECT blacks to be shot compared to whites? I suppose it’s a lot easier to claim “racism” when you hide the facts. Come to think of it, I’d be mildly impressed if this comment is ever even published.
“This is why it is necessary to protest in Charlotte. Though it is important to mourn Scott’s passing as one person, it is also important to acknowledge the larger systemic issues: Scott, along with 193 others before him this year, died because of their race.”
Ah, there we go. Does it feel better to have gotten that off your chest now? Do you feel accomplished, now that you’ve diagnosed the one and only problem as “systemic racism” without touching any of the data that disagrees with your position? Well done, Nicole. I’m sure those in your ideological echochamber will be patting you on the back.