CHARLOTTE, NC — Rallies across the country Thursday night were showing solidarity and support for a young man gunned down in Missouri. Activists say it’s a problem for the whole nation, not just people of color.
“Just over the past few years there have been too many unneeded black deaths,” says Monroe resident Aubrey Rodriguez. “And it’s not right. There’s something wrong. It’s racism.”
Another young black man shot down, this time unarmed, by a Missouri police officer.
“We don’t want our young men shot down, afraid to leave their home because they’re afraid to get shot by a police officer,” says Jaleesa Hudson, who lives in Northwest Charlotte.
A rally and moment of silence in Marshal park for Michael Brown, also remembering others, including Jonathan Farrell who was shot and killed by CMPD Officer Wes Kerrick last September. CMPD arrested Kerrick within hours, charging him with voluntary manslaughter.
The protests in Charlotte after Farrell’s death remained peaceful, but the uneasy feeling remains.
“We see a bit of ourselves in every single one of the people who are impacted by police brutality, or by extra-judicial murders,” says Marcelle Vielot with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP.
Many in the crowd feel that young black men are being targeted. That an institutionalized racism paints them as violent and dangerous.
“It is an institutionalized fear,” says Cherry neighborhood resident Norman Muhammad. “In a lot of cases unjust. Just a misunderstanding in a lot of cases. Before I was what I am today, I was once one of those individuals.”
The reaction and outcry to Michael Brown’s death in Missouri is building, and many are shocked at the events that continue to unfold in Ferguson.
“Our police forces have been militarized,” says Bree Newsome of STAMP NC. “It’s kind of something that happened and we weren’t really aware of. Now we really have to take a look at how all these police around the country have obtained this equipment. How are they being trained on it? What is the protocol for when it’s deployed? All of that.”
