Black Lives, Black Deaths in Charlotte
Nine-year-old Zianna Oliphant implored the Charlotte City Council to figure out a way to treat black people better. “I’ve come here today to talk about how I feel, and I feel like that we are treated differently than other people,” she entreated before breaking down in tears.
↩︎ posted Oct. 4, 2016
When Charlotte-Mecklenburg eliminated race as a factor in student assignment, it not only meant less diverse schools; it also created a feedback loop that made the problem worse.
The loss of busing leads to “academic genocide for low-income children” at Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, a drastic reversal from the 1980s, when the city served as a case study for successful integration.
↩︎ New Yorker, posted Oct. 4, 2016
Footage Released
Deferring to public pressure, Charlotte police release footage of Keith Scott’s death. The video shows a one-sided scene, as Scott is only visible for a split second before crumpling to the ground. He may have had an ankle holster on, but no gun is clearly visible, and his arms never leave his sides.
↩︎ posted Sept. 26, 2016
In reviewing nearly every publicly available video of a police shooting over the past year or so, it is close to impossible to find footage of an officer aiding the person who has been shot.
Callous disregard or best practice? Cops seem unconcerned just moments after they killed Keith Scott, which fits snugly to a broader pattern.
↩︎ HuffPost, posted Sept. 26, 2016
Charlotte pastor: If you don’t want black people to riot in your stores, then they need to feel some ownership over them. “Would someone who feels they have a stake in the community consciously try to destroy it? But we don’t own Wal-Mart.”
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
Police Video Not to Be Released, Which Perhaps Is a Good Thing
Video may be the only thing that will sate a public hungry for answers, but according to Charlotte’s police chief it doesn’t contain any definitive answers as to whether Keith Lamont Scott was holding a book or a gun.
Earlier this year Governor McCrory signed a controversial law banning police from releasing police footage except under orders from a judge, which the ACLU called “shameful.”
That said, “when black death goes viral, it can trigger PTSD-like trauma,” according to mental health researchers. PTSD is more common in African-Americans than in other ethnicities even though they are less likely to have other anxiety disorders.
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
State of Emergency—aka, the “Shock Doctrine”—Declared in Charlotte
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory—formerly mayor of Charlotte—declared a state of emergency in North Carolina on Thursday following the previous day’s protests. The state of emergency authorizes the governor to deploy National Guard troops to put down riot, rebellion, protest, or uprising.
A state of emergency is, according to social theorist Giorgio Agamben, an excuse the state uses to suspend constitutional rights and extend its power—for example, the establishment of extralegal detention at Guantanamo Bay following 9/11. These ideas are also familiar to fans of pop-leftist Naomi Klein as the “shock doctrine,” which uses emergency as an excuse to neoliberalize areas following disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
Contrary to the author’s recollection, what “state of emergency” is not is the title of the excellent Bjork song that prominently features those words as lyrics; that song is properly titled “Joga.”
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
Two Days of Violence
Violence struck twice in Charlotte this week: On Monday, a policeman shot and killed a middle-aged black man, Keith Lamont Scott, who may have been armed, while serving a warrant for someone totally different. On Tuesday, after rioting led to highway bonfires and smashed cars, a “civilian-on-civilian” altercation in the crowd left another man in critical condition (he died yesterday afternoon).
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
Three years ago, Charlotte police shot black college student and football player Jonathan Ferrell, who had been in a car wreck. Ferrell was unarmed and probably concussed from his wreck, but the policeman who shot him walked. When his relatives visited the area where he was killed, they were told to “leave our neighborhood alone.”
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
Frustration with police in Charlotte previously centered on the creation of “exclusion zones,” parts of the city that were to be off-limits to ex-cons/returning citizens.
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016
The likelihood of climbing out of poverty is lower in Charlotte than in any other big city in the country.
Charlotte and Atlanta stand out as the least likely cities for children who grow up in the bottom fifth income level to rise to the top fifth.
↩︎ Charlotte Magazine, posted Sept. 23, 2016
North Carolina Stands Divided
The division of North Carolina’s communities is real: none of North Carolina’s electoral districts are expected to be competitive, thanks to gerrymandering. Even the schools are practically segregated.
↩︎ posted Sept. 23, 2016