When you’re on a college campus you’re always going to meet new people. And inevitably the question gets asked: “where are you from?” But the difference between the first day of Orientation to now is that I brace myself even more for what their reactions might be. I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina. And so far, the only things that people seem to know about NC are the Panthers, HB2, and now the Charlotte Riots.
Cam Newton has made us proud, Governor Pat McCrory elicited UK Travel Warnings, and Keith Lamont Scott was fatally shot by a police officer under very dubious circumstances.
The latter of the three hits far closer to home, literally and figuratively.
On Tuesday afternoon Scott was fatally shot 10 minutes away from the mall my friends and I frequented. On Tuesday night, Charlotte protesters took to the streets chanting “Black Lives Matter” with a fervor. But that was when passion began churning into violence.
PC: Dailynews
On Wednesday night protests continued. People were smashing windows and starting fires, yelling obscenities and beginning fights. However the climax hit when in the midst of their fury a Charlotte protester was shot by another demonstrator.
Protests were becoming dangerous not only for the people around them, but to the actual demonstrators themselves. And this is what violence rooted in hate does to all of us.
PC: ABC News
Thursday was when a state of emergency was declared and the National Guard was called in to help control the riots. I saw the pictures and I heard first hand reports from my friends about soldiers on the streets. The same streets my parents used when they went to work. The same streets that I walked on when I went to swim practice. Those same streets were shut down due to violent behavior. This wasn’t the Charlotte that I knew.
PC: Dailynews
On Friday when I received the news that protesters were going to be in Ballantyne, the area that I grew up in, and I was scared. Instead of waiting for my family to call me I called them. I demanded that my parents stayed home from work and that my brother was driven to and from school.
But Friday surprised me.
On Friday morning in Ardrey Kell High School, a public high school in Ballantyne, the students organized a “Die In,” or a peaceful protest, against the injustices of police brutality. And what amazed me the most was that the school allowed it.
The students were able to express their voices in the best way that they knew how – as a united community.
And I have never been more proud to call myself an Ardrey Kell alumni.
I made the mistake of assuming that these protesters were strangers that I had no connection to, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Some of hese protesters are even my friends. We all believe in the same principles. We believe in smothering out injustice and spreading equality. We hold our morals close to our hearts but we expect others to follow the same standards. The same humane standards. And Charlotte right now is a living, breathing community who holds these standards to be self-evident.
It isn’t a matter to have any reservations about.
So to answer the question, yes I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina. Where are you from?