30 January 2023
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Another name has been added to the long list of those killed by police brutality and another video has taken the nation by storm.
“Allow this moment to radicalize you,” one speaker said during a Charlotte march Saturday in Uptown.
Its pushed people into the streets once again, protesting and marching against police brutality and social injustice after a lengthy and graphic video of an unarmed man named Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by five Memphis police officers after a traffic stop.
“I watched the video last night with my family and as a pro-life family it really hurt me,” said Charlotte resident Christain Cano.
The NAACP Charlotte-Mecklenburg branch held a march in front of the Mecklenburg County courthouse.
Several people joined with signs in support for not only Tyre Nichols but other lives lost to police brutality. With two American flags in hand, Christian Cano spoke to the crowd wanting change.
“I want to challenge those who live in this city but those who live in our area who are pro-life to be pro-all life. And that’s what I think this is about. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can be for police and want to hold them accountable at the same time,” Cano said.
“It doesn’t matter that the officers were black. What matters is this system that says blue trumps Black,” says Melissa Funderburk with the Charlotte Justice League.
Dozens of people marched from the courthouse to Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters and then to Marshall Park.
CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings and other members of the department were also there.
In a five-part tweet thread, Jennings shared his thoughts about the incident saying, “I share in the anger and outrage that comes from this tragedy. There is always more to be done as we continue to improve police and community relationships. We must evolve and we must strive to be better.”
Funderburk says the video shows that the issue isn’t about what race the police officers are. “We need to get together to change the policies that make it okay for black and brown people in America to be endangered species like they’re not human,” she said.
“I was a believer in reforms, body cams, de-escalation, anti-bias training. We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars on those things. it doesn’t work, the problem is policing,” says attendee Tim Emry.