History was made yesterday during Charlotte’s 4th day of racial justice protests.
Over 2,000 people gathered in Myer’s Park (one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in our city) for what would become the first major protest the historically white neighborhood has ever witnessed.
The protest was attended by numerous city leaders and several Carolina Panthers players:
Shaq Thompson, Andre Smith, Tre Boston, Chris Manhertz and Ian Thomas all attended tonight’s peaceful “justice walk” in Dilworth/Myers Park pic.twitter.com/5KV7FWIsaR
— Bill Voth (@PanthersBill) June 2, 2020
Some Myers Park homeowners even joined in the protest and others handed out water and snacks to marchers:
Several neighbors in Myers Park have brought water out to give to demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/I0SerCekVg
— Genevieve Curtis (@GenevieveWSOC9) June 1, 2020
Perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire march was when several thousand protesters kneeled in the middle of the street for 9 minutes – the same length of time that Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck.
Here is the video of the kneeling protest at the intersection of Queens Rd. and Selwyn Ave., taken by photographer and protester Joshua Galloway, who noted:
“We took the peaceful protest right to the front doors of some of the wealthiest people in Charlotte. We continued to walk around the whole neighborhood by Queens University etc our presence was heard and felt beyond measure.”
What do you think about the recent protests in Charlotte?