Charlotte, NC – On the night of Sept. 21 protesters gathered in uptown Charlotte for the second night of militant protests after the murder of Keith Lamont Scott by Charlotte police (CMPD). Protesters called for the arrest of the officers involved and an end to police crimes in the city.

Protesters first pushed up Elizabeth Avenue after a short demonstration in front of the CMPD headquarters. They then occupied the Epicentre shopping and entertainment complex. The protesters reached as far as the Omni Hotel until an African American man was shot in front of riot police. Some protesters at the scene say they saw the police shoot the man. When the shot was fired the only guns visible were in police hands.

“They won’t stop killing us!” a protester shouted shortly after.

Then riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to continue to push the protesters back down Elizabeth Avenue. People then spread out across the city and some briefly occupied a portion of Interstate 277.

Throughout the night the police escalated the situation, taking advantage of calm breaks in the protest to shoot tear gas and rubber bullets. Before the end of the night, police arrested 44 protesters.

Despite the deployment of North Carolina National Guard troops to Charlotte, protests will continue until there is justice for Keith Lamont Scott.

#CharlotteNC #PoliceBrutality #CharlotteRebellion #KeithLamontScott

Charlotte, NC – On March 4, 30 activists from across Charlotte united to march against the ongoing abuse of power and racist violence employed by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) and various police departments across the state.

They demanded justice for Akiel Denkins and Malcolm Glenn Elliott. The protest comes days after the fatal shooting of Akiel Denkins, age 24, by Raleigh Police in broad daylight on Feb. 29, and the surfacing of a video in Charlotte of Malcolm Glenn Elliott Jr, 26, being brutally beaten by an officer while on the ground, as six more officers and a state trooper stood by and watched.

The march consisted of around 30 people from the Black Lives Matter movement, the newly formed Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Charlotte chapter, and various local independent activists. It began at Marshall Park in uptown Charlotte and continued down South Davidson Street before converging on the CMPD headquarters. On the steps, speakers shared their frustration, disappointment and weariness with the continuing epidemic of police brutality.

“We demand to be treated like human beings, before arrest, after arrest and while being detained, and to live so that we may be able to stand before a jury of our peers,” activist Ashley S. Williams stated before the CMPD headquarters.

Earlier in the year, a study by MappingPoliceViolence.org found that 14 police departments in the U.S. were guilty of exclusively killing black people in 2015. CMPD and Raleigh police made up two out of the 14.

“I have five sons and the first thing I thought was, ‘Why would they do that?’” said protester Kelle Pressley in an interview with WBTV.

Before the march was over, the organizers promised to protest city council meetings. They will continue to fight for justice against CMPD and a change to the cities' compromised citizen’s review board. This board, in the recent past, has worked for the police interests and not that of the people. After leaving the CMPD headquarters, the march continued back to Marshall Park, chanting cries against racism and police brutality.

The night closed with a quote from Assata Skakur, delivered by Ashley Williams: “It’s our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and protect each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

#CharlotteNC #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #AkielDenkins #MalcolmElliott

Charlotte, NC – On July 17, the day of Uriel Alberto’s scheduled meeting with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and likely deportation, Alberto received a phone call and was told his order of ‘Stay of Removal’ had been approved.

What started off as a simple demonstration against reactionary anti-immigration policies, turned into a year-long struggle against Uriel Alberto’s ICE-enforced deportation process. In Raleigh, on Feb. 29, 2012, immigrant rights group El Cambio crashed a House Committee meeting on immigration issues, resulting in Alberto standing up and ripping off his outer shirt, revealing an undershirt reading, “Undocumented and Unafraid!”

Alberto was detained for his actions, sparking a ten-day hunger strike against his imprisonment. He was eventually released, but from then on ICE has been scheduling a year-long process in deporting him back to Mexico because of his unwillingness to do so voluntarily.

On July 4, what many in the United States mark as th