157b.-dispatches-from-charlotte.pdf
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DISPATCHES FROM
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Reportback from the
Charlotte Uprising
1n Tuesday, September 20, 2016, Charlotte Police shor and killed
Keith Lamont Scott, a disabled Black man, while he was reading
in his truck waiting for his children’s school bus. The very first response
from the community was to grieve and call for accountability from the
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police (CMPD). The CMPD responded by
forcefully disrupted the gathering with officers in full riot gear. This
quickly escalated the situation, causing an unplanned and intense riot
where protesters took to the streets all night and into the early morning
to fight back against the continued police terror and racist system that
criminalizes Black people, murders Black people, and continues to get
away with it
Like all across America, Charlotte isin the middle of process of re-seg-
regation — relegating its black population to worse education, housing,
health, and economic prospects, while maintaining this inequality by
force: with its police. The city’s history of school re-segregation provides
a good insight into this process. In the early 1970's Charlotte was con-
sidered a model of success unparalleled in a majority of the country for
ending segregation in public schools. This success lasted nearly three
decades until lace 90's when a white father sued the Charlotte Mecklen-
burg School system for denying his daughter access to a certain school
and the courts sided with the parenss.
Today a third of the district's 168 campuses are segregated by poverty
and half are segregated by race. What city officials would call amazing
progress, improved community integration over decades, began to un-
ravel between 2002 2014 and now Charlotte has become a cautionary
tale of a school system disregarding research. The outcome is increased
racial and socioeconomic isolation and is indicative of widened inequal-
ity in the broader community. Charlotte is experiencing an intensify-
ing in structural racism, which is directly tied to police violence.Fast
forward to three years ago: a Charlotte officer shot and killed Jonathan
Ferrell, an unarmed black man who was asking for help after his car
broke down. The case ended in a hung jury and all requests for a retrial
were denied. Another horrifying yet unsurprising case of a system fail
ing an entire race of people and the police murdering black men with
impunity. The rising tensions on both a community and national level
contributed to the rupture that occurred on Tuesday night and is con-
tinuing into the weekend. As of the night of Wednesday, September 21,
protests were high energy, emotionally charged, and chaotic. The police
attempted to clear the streets, even at the cost of human life, Justin Carr,
who was shot in the head at close range.
‘The evening started off with a rally and vigil in Marshall park, but a
few hundred people quickly took the streets, blocking intersections and
gaining ground for an hour or so. The march had no internal trajec-
tory and march marshals were absent, leaving the creative potential of
protesters in their own hands. At this point police on foot and on bike
followed the perimeter of the march, breaking up conflict between peo-
ple in cars trying to run through crowds blocking traffic and. protect-
ing private property. There were murmurs about potentially taking the
highway until a few gunshots were heard. People panicked and hit the
‘ground running, Screams were then heard and sounds of gut-wrenching
grief crupted as people began to swarm a police bike barricade. Blood
was everywhere. They shot someone. They shot him in the head. Carr
‘was quickly rushed to the medics. The mood instantly changed to rage.
Many people were in tears and people were screaming. “They killed
him, they did ic again!!” Once again the police rather than protesters are
the most dangerous people in the area.
“The CMPD began to feel intimidated as the area was swarmed and
they deployed tear gas and quickly dispersed the crowd from the area
using their state legitimized violent tactics to disrupt protesters from
expressing their rage and exasperation, As media reports focused on the
destruction of property, the common media narrative where ‘anarchists
or ‘outside agitators’ co-opt and escalate peaceful protests led by black
people in the community have remained absent thus far. Itis apparent,
regardless of ‘the facts, that the law and media protects the officer, not
the victim, Media reports that the protester was killed as the result of
an internal civilian conflict but all eyewitnesses say it was the police.
“The amount of conflicting information coming out of Charlotte is hard
co handle right now. Its easy to speculate, but if the cops arenttactive-
ly stirring some of this misinformation up, it’s certainly helping take
some pressure off of them by overwhelming people with information
to process. We can only hope that when the police are shown to be the
manipulative liars they're trained to be, people will remember all the
diseress and harm they've caused — on top of murdering Keith Scott
— and make them regret every confusing detail they have cowardly and.
arrogantly spun throughout this whole ordeal.
‘This monopoly on media and legitimacy must be climinated. Trust the
black voices. Tiust the people who were there, who witnessed it. I don't
need to see the video, I don't need proof. I was just a few feet away when
ithappened, I heard it and ran over to sce people screaming, and crying
and holding each other. They said a cop did it. That is all the proof I
need,
‘When people regrouped there were two lines of riot cops on cither side
blocking the area where the man was shot. Protesters clashed against
them, throwing things, screaming, linking arms and holding hands.
Police shields were covered in blood. ‘This lasted for 20 minutes until
the police issued an audio warning to disperse before the area became
an ‘unlawful zone.’ You could see behind the line of riot police that
they were lining up with handcuffs and zip ties preparing for mass ar-
rests, Many people took the warning and left, many people stayed and
bore the consequences. Those who left began to smash windows of cop
cars and businesses, taking merchandise and other products, and there
.was litte internal resistance to a diversity of tactics, leaving people with
large degrees of autonomy in their actions.
I know this article's readership is typically more sympathetic to these
tactics, but in case this article is shared and read beyond the typical
reader base, I want to include this message:
“If you think that destruction of property is more ‘violent’ or more
upsetting than the people (specifically POC) who are murdered by
the police, I beg you to re-evaluate your position, and reconsider your
stance on what is and is not ‘violence’. I think your definition of what
constitutes violence and/or a legitimate form of protest to be narrow
and soaked in privileged. Peaceful protesting isa luxury only available
to those safely in mainstream culture, So maybe I do support what you
would cal ‘violence’ if is the last resort of a community whose entire
life was subjected to unending violence enacted by both the state and
by racist individuals, Institutional power, the police, and society is an
inherently violent hegemony with few forms of escape. And with this
analysis I think it is more appropriate to deconstruct power dynamics
between individuals and ask yourself “does this reinforce the current
state of power disparities? or does this negate them?”
As of Wednesday night a State of Emergency has been declared, and
the National Guard has been deployed, upping the stakes and changing
the tone significantly. “The protests 8 march on Thursday increased in
number significantly, but the march remained ‘peaceful.’ This march
had more internal organization and was lead by the local Black Live
Matter group and local and regional Clergy of varying faiths. As the
march took the streets, stops were made along the way in front of the
courthouse, the police station, and the jail. The police and the National
Guardsmen were carrying their assault rifles, but did not assault the
protesters until riot police eventually showed up on I-277 and escalated
the situation by shooting tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the
crowd. The Mayor issued a mandatory curfew from beginning Septem-
ber 23 at midnight to 6am, to be enforced by the CMPD.
Protests will continue on into the weekend and the foreseeable future,
and tremendous support is necessary. The exact number is unconfirmed,
but I am hearing reports that 75 people were arrested Wednesday night.
‘This number will only increase. If you live far away and can not show
up, please support these efforts in whatever way is within your means.
Donate to the bond fund: duerhamsolidaritycenterorglbondfiand
Revolt in the
Queen City
the following are personal accounts by two participants from the 2nd
dey of rots and protests that have shaken Charlotte in the aftermath of
the Kieth Lamont Scott's murder. On the first night, impromptu protests es-
calated into battles with projectiles, a 3-hour highway takeover and bonfires
on I-85, and an attempted looting of Wal-Mart. On day two, the Governor
declared a state of emergency, and the National Guard is now patrolling the
city, Large protests have continued, including a third takeover of the high-
way, albeit with a generally more peaceful character.
ood
I rolled into Charlotte, a town that I've visited for years but never lived
in, full of apprehension and skepticism. Charlotte is a banking capital
of the South, known more as a sprawling corporate suburban hell than
a bastion of resistance. But the first day of the uprising was inspiring
and irresistible from afar, all the more so knowing the deep oppression
and dispossession that goes into making the wealth that Charlotte is
known for. So me and a couple friends packed a car with some cases of
water and banners and other supplies to share, and made our way down
for Day 2.
By 7pm, Marshall Park was already packed—between 500 and 1000
people easy. People were milling about, mostly ignoring the rotation of
men on bullhorns at the front of the open amphitheater, and instead
taking the time to give hugs to friends or debate the unexpectedly mil-
itant tactics of the night before. As a crowd it refreshingly lacked the
highly managed, ‘nonprofit activist’ feel of most demos where I live
now.
7
“The march left fast, and quickly took over one, then two lanes of traf-
fic. Before almost any time had passed, the crowd was led by a few
folks into a church parking lot. There were audible displays of disap-
pointment immediately—most folks didn't seem to know that this was
where we were going—and people started yelling and muttering shit
like, “Fuck this Jesus shit,” “Ie ain't Sunday,” and “We dont need that
submissive religion.”
One brave woman just started screaming, “I wanna march!” as she start-
ed to leave the parking lot by herself. The entire crowd followed her,
heading in the direction of the police station downtown. I felt that rare
fecling of new things being possible. It was only 7:45.
a
“The crowd ascended the stairs of the Epicenter, a three story open-air
mall, and started gathering on the second floor. As more people amassed,
heard folks asking each other, “Now what? Why are we here?” Other
curious voices continued, “This is a weird place to march to; it’s so
enclosed. Where are our exits?” Crews started exchanging their ob-
servations. “We could get out that way if we needed to. Yo, over there's
an exit.” As more folks poured into the space, I heard a woman shout,
“The only way to go is up!” and folks started climbing the stairs and the
escalators. A minute later, we heard the first glass shatter. Some people
ran but quickly calmed as I heard shouts of, “Stay together! Don't scat-
ter. We good, yall!” There was a mixture of groans and cheers, laughter,
“hell yeaht"s. Immediately some folks grabbed a huge rolling cooler and
started wheeling it towards the interior railing of the third floor. Others
warned, “Hold up. Tell folks to move!” People by the railing shouted,
“Hey, everybody, move out the way!” And once it was clear below, folks
tossed that fucker over the edge.
a
“The crowd was just getting dense enough at the intersection of Trade
Street and Tryon Street to really stop cats from passing through. I was
standing next to a child on a bike when a slow-moving car sped up to
hale right in front of us, nearly hitting us. “What the fuck?!" I screamed
at the car while the kid stood firm behind his bike, stoic as fuck and
glaring at the young man driving. Then the car lurched forward, bump-
ing me and the kid's bike. I slammed my hands on the passenger side of
the hood of the car and shouted, “Fuck no! The fuck is wrong with you,
tayna run over a kid?!” I heard a woman next to me cry out, “That's my
son! You ain’ gonna run over my son!” I kept my hands braced on the
hhood as people started to swarm the car and yell at the driver that he
better fall back. Though the night was young, people were amped and it
‘was clear after the Epicentre that folks already felt powerful asa group,
down to wreck some shit and ready to look out for each other.
‘As I stared at the dude in the driver’ seat, my friend ran up to me and
put an urgent hand on my shoulder. “I saw what happened, and I know
youre really mad right now, but that dude is packing. Did you know
that” I spun around silently to face my friend. “Yeah, I didn’t think
you could see it from here. You do you, but he’ dangling a revolver out
the window right now.” Some folks on my side of the car, the passenger
side, started hitting and kicking the car. The driver got out and walked
slowly around to the people fucking with his ride. They all started yell-
ing and flexing at cach other, and a handful of cops soon rushed in
co surround the shitbag driver, telling him to get back in his car and
GTFO. He complied, and the crowd let him drive off.
ood
“Scop throwing bottles!” “Dont give them a reason to use violence!”
I milled around the intersection of Tryon and Trade while some folks
tossed plastic water bottles at the line of riot cops and others screamed
at them to stop. One woman stood in the plant beds outside the Ritz
Carlton yanking up handfuls of tiny shrubs, hurling them over the
crowd and into the line of riot cops. I was wearing a mask when a young
Black man approached me, looking at me with narrowed eyes. “I heard
about you, white boy. I read about you outside agitating shit. I could
drag your ass all through these streets, so I best not catch you throwin!
shit.” My gut reaction, from a decade of being misgendered, was to re-
tort, “I'm a woman.” But, realizing that totally wasn't the point, I tried
to just say calmly, “Man, I havent thrown shit tonight.” He looked me
up and down again and reminded me, “I better not catch you throwing
anything. We aint about your kinda shit
ood
Ie was clear that the cops were holding back. They were fucking scared
all night, unprepared for the storm they had unleashed, People were
furious—earlier that night a shooting took place near the Omni, and
multiple protesters said it was police who shot the protester. The mans
name was Justin Carr, he was shot in the head at point blank range, and
he died the next day.
For awhile folks came and went in smaller groups of maybe 50 from
the intersection of Trade and Tryon, pushed to leave by a new wave of
tear gas, and branched off into surrounding blocks with their anger.
On multiple occasions a group of bike cops would follow us, only to
be pelted by rocks and bottles from the crowd, and would bike off in
a hurry. I tried to block them once by adding a trash can to the mix;
1 gor it loose from the sidewalk but it was too heavy to do much with
other than roll i¢ somewhat pathetically in their direction. Buc wait
‘Tivo more people came up behind me afier I left ita perfect projectile!
I ran back, and with our combined efforts we sent the trash can, which
held discarded protest signs, hurling through a massive bank headquar-
ters’ window. Ie’ a pity that capital itself doesnt shatter so easily
a
Down the hill from the line of riot cops, a hill chat was now littered
with clothes hangers and shoeboxes thanks to the expropriation of the
Charlotte Hornets store, people were hanging out casually. Every now
and then a flash bang grenade went off. Folks were sharing boxes of
Snickers and Twix bars, beers, water, and other supplies recently do-
nated to the movement by local capitalist shops. We threw in our own
supply of liberated Gatorade and coconut water—it’s important to have
health-conscious alternatives, and electrolytes are crucial yal.
In thinking back a couple days later, that was maybe my favorite time of
the night. Just hanging out, smiling and meeting people, talking about
race and the police and the state, screaming ‘Fuck 12” at the helicopter,
being both sad and angry and joyous and exhilarated. I saw a sweaty
‘older white man in a Sublime T-shirt and we sang the lyrics to “April 26,
1992" together. He said ie wasn't about race, but about fighting back
together. I told him I thought it was about both,
A lot of the time I was one of only few white faces in a sea of deeply
angry, fierce, and courageous Black folks who were risking their lives to
do something many had only dreamed of, No 5 or 6 hours of rioting to-
gether was going to erase the suspicion and skepticism that alot of folks
held towards me, much less the real structural positions of privilege and
power that come with white supremacy.
But with only a couple exceptions, the conversations I had and ques-
tions put towards me—about why I was there, about what I wanted,
about who I was with—held an honesty that anonymous twitter-snip-
ing and college campus-style identity politics can never approach. In
between the flash bangs and bouts of coughing, I tried to be honest
in return, to say I was there for Keith Lamont Scott, forall the Keith
Lamont Scotts, but also that I was there for myself, because I hate the
police deeply and personally.
Maybe it was because other folks saw our crew there the whole night,
afier a lot of other people had left, throwing down as hard as we could,
‘or maybe it was those conversations about whiteness and the police, but
by the end of the night I fele safer and more cared for than in a hundred
peaceful marches, where I know damn well that most of the other peo-
ple there wouldnt do shit ifI got snatched by the cops.
ood
Afier teams of people re-purposed some metal gates to barricade Trade
St. and failed to set fire to a dumpster, the crowd slowly retreated back
to the intersection of Caldwell and Trade. Our numbers were a little
smaller, as multiple crews had left earlier in cars to target other parts of
the city, partly due to debates that broke out about what might be more
materially and politically strategic to loot than Hornets gear.
When I got to the intersection, there were already a couple trash can
fires, and the partly smashed window facade of the Hyatt hotel was
completely covered in white tags of “Black Lives Matter.” Cars with
spinning rims pulled up, filled with people leaning out the windows
‘or standing on top, to block the intersection while we all danced to Lil
Boosie, Besides "Hands Up Dont Shoot,” the most common chant of
the night was probably, “Without a badge you a bitch and a half, Fuck
the Police, Fuck the Police.” Periodically someone would run up and
toss concrete through the hotel windows. I passed around a foamy can
of Bud Light, and tied to remember ever feeling this happy.
I remember one tall woman who started chanting, “Smash that shit
white boy!” at a kid who was kicking out the windows, to cheers. She
saw me laughing and gave me a strong hug. A white dude in a collared
blue shirt who worked at the building tried co stop some people from
smashing it; he was jumped and chased away by the crowd.
ood
“We been here too long, yall.” “The riot cops are getting closer.” “They
‘can just surround us here.” “Ok, yall, let's movel” And we headed South
down Caldwell from Trade. As we approached the Hilton Inn’s glisten-
ing glass facade, somebody at the front of the crowd yelled out, “That
looks too good!” I laughed with dozens of people in agreement. “Don't
that look too good?” the same voice asked. I shouted back, “That looks
way too good!” among a chorus of “Hell yeah!"s and “We need o get
- -<.—oerm
Se
that!” As folks grabbed shit to smash the place, I heard people look-
ing out for each other, “Okay, yall, move back!” “Watch out now.”
Somebody with a 2x4 like a battering ram charged the window. On
the fourth ty, it shattered, and everyone cheered. Folks threw rocks
through the other windows, and somebody tagged” R.LLP. Keith Scott.”
ood
‘We spilled over the on-ramp and the grass, my friend shouting at me,
“This is fucking crazy!” People went racing onto 277 with no lights or
anything to make them more visible to highway drivers, and a couple
cars sped by: L arrived to just a few brave souls standing their ground in
‘one lane in front of one car. The car was stopped, but still had plenty
of space to get around with some maneuvering. It lurched forward at
fan angle towards me, and in the moment that I saw those headlights,
I thought I was about to be run over. I juked to the left in terror, and
ran right into a brave man who was sturdy as hell and giving no fucks,
When I crashed into his body he didn't respond at all, buc co me it was
an immediate and visceral reminder that if we were brave together, may-
be we could get some shit done, Reorienting in that collective power, I
‘wrapped my hands around the rock in my pocket as I ran towards the
“Ie a fucking beamer2!” I shouted as I gor close. Folks on the highway
were having words with the driver, but I couldn't hear what was going
oon. I heard a woman say, “He's Black, let him through.” And he found
the space he needed to drive away. A man called back to the woman
whoid spoken, “I dont care if they Black. If they dont stick their ist,
‘out in support of us, they aint getting through. They gotta stick their
fist out!” A few minutes and several passed cars later, someone else said,
“Man, we gotta stop lettin people through. If we're taking the highway,
wwe gotta take it 100%.”
“The group I was with moved quickly up the highway, and we started to
get separated from the dozens and dozens of folks continuing to amass
near where we met that first car. I decided with my crew to head back
towards that group to get stronger numbers and feel out what people
wanted t0 do, As we approached, I saw a huge swath of riot cops com-
ing down the on-ramp. “Y'all, there's as many of them as there are of
us,” [said to my small crew. “Yeah,” my friend agreed. “It’s time to get
off the highway.” We had agreed earlier to exit up a hill that didn’t have
fencing like the rest of the highway, and now dozens of people were
using the same narrow route. The hill was steeper than I expected, and
as folks scampered with me, I was nervous about the possibility of a hu-
man landslide, us all tumbling over each other and down this hill into
the highway. “Hielp each other!” I heard my friend say. Others echoed,
“Y'all lees take care of each other!” A man next to me was just standing,
next to a wall, helping everyone who ran past him. I saw a man fall from
a tight spot, grabbed his outstretched arm, and yanked him back up, “I
{got you, man, youre good.” “Thank you!” he said as he scuttled up. We
poured out right onto the rocky rail track of Stonewall Station, where
people started scooping up rocks as we ran. I could hear a faint clinking
sound as rubber bullets fired by police on the highway below struck the
railing nearby.
I saw a man throwing rocks atthe glass of the waiting area, so I stopped
running to avoid behind hit by a rock or having glass shatter on top of
me. “Hold up!” I called to my crew to alert them, and the man with the
rock saw me, dropped his hand down, and told us to run on, Somebody
called, “Man, not now, we gotta go!” and the dude joined us as we ran.
‘We followed the crowd turning left into the stairwell of the station,
a disconcertingly finite space. Still people hurled rocks through glass
doors as we descending the tight stair case, Running as fast as 1 could
without tripping, and jumping the last half of each set of stairs, my arms
kept slapping against those of the shirtless man I was racing next to.
Again I was reminded of the physical power of our group. I thought, “I
dont know how long this staircase is, and I don't know how many cops
will be at the bottom of it, but I'm ready to fight next to this dude.”
‘When we poured out onto the street, there were no cops, just another
‘group of people who taken a different staircase. “Alright yall, let's re-
group!” someone shouted, and we kept moving.
Welcome to the
End of the World
Neves can close the window of mass disaffection opened by the
revolt in Ferguson. The unending tide of criticisms leveled against
the insurtectional movement, the pacifiers in the left-wing and “com-
munity” organizations, the National Guard and the resurgent fascist
grassroots have given a staccato structure to the rebellions, bur have so
far failed co stamp them our completely. No falschood can reverse the
intoxicating effects of the truth.
No one can doube the absolute strategic clarity of the insurgents on
September 20th, who broke with the insane delusions millions hold
‘onto which deprive them of basic fighting skills in light of racist police
executions. In a beautiful and creative development on a common tac-
tic from the last two years of revolt, they rushed onto I-85, looted the
contents of stalled semi-trucks and burned them in the middle of the
interstate.
17
September 21 - Day 2
On the second night of disorder, it took only thirty minutes to unmask
the ethical polarization underpinning the entire Black Lives Matter
movement. What is commonly described as one movement is, in re-
ality, atleast two. Even this is a simplification. ‘The capillary structure
of power has likely produced 5, 10, 20 bases of affective re-aggregation
and transformations all under the same slogans. In any case, itis clear
that there are forces invested in policy-friendly restructuring around di-
versity trainings, indictments, body cameras, review boards, ete. These
factions ~ of which the organized BLM “chapters,” the left wing groups,
the churches, the student organizations, and the “white allies,” more
or less comprise the base of ~ are the obvious revisionist tendencies
in a historical sequence opened by insurrectionary black proletarians,
anarchists, communist groups, street gangs and angry working class el-
cements.
At only 7:30 pm, on the night of September 21st, 600 marched to
a church in downtown Charlotte, Just as the prayers began, masked
youth in the crowd interrupted. “Fuck this Jesus shie” they screamed.
A clear demarcation was made between the clements that wanted the
night co proceed into the disorder of the night before and those trying
to keep it from reaching that threshold. Most of the crowd chased the
police away. A small group of cops sought refuge in the Omni Hotel,
which was attacked. Justin Carr, a demonstrator, was shor in the head.
Blood spilled across the sidewalk. The situation had changed. Hundreds
ransacked the NC Hornets store just around the corner. A convenience
store, a sandwich shop.
We receive messages that someone has been shot at the Omni Hotel. We park
and run toward the demonstration. Just as we catch our breathe, tear gas is
{fired into the crowd. Flash bang grenades explode by our fet. To my left and
right, masked people are kicking and throwing back the spinning canisters
on the ground. I pull a t-shirt over my face. Hundreds of people are cheering
and jumping, a few are coughing. A young man with tattoos all over his
torso and hands looks to me and says, through his mask, “This is id Welcome
to the end of the world!” In front of me, a giant cloud of gas thinly veils a
wall of police in rot gear
For an hour the crowd controlled the streets around the EpiCentre,
utilizing police barricades and dumpsters to block the road. ‘The rioters
methodically destroyed the veneer and windows of the Hyatt Hotel and
other businesses over that time, while the barricades were left undefend-
ced. Trash cans were set on fire and police cruisers were smashed with
hammers. Elements in the crowd attacked random cars, while others
smoked weed and rapped Lil’ Boosie’s now famous “Fuck the Police,”
the anthem of the movement.
‘When the line of riot police finally approached the crowd, under a hail
of stones and some fireworks, they began shooting more tear gas and
rubber bullets. The crowd split into at least two sections, engaging in
vandalism and looting whenever possible for the rest of the night.
A guy is in agony while his friend dabs his eyes with a hoodie to stop the
burning. I take someones bottle of water, make a hole in the cap and flush
his eyes. He pops back up to his feet, pulls something out from his pocket
and yells, “Who knows how to pull a pin from a grenade?” Before throwing
ane of the police concussion grenades back at a line of bike cops. "Yeah we
got that shit too!" After a few more racks they bike away from us. The crowd
cheers
It’s Going Down in Uptown
‘The shooting of Keith Scott occurred in an area of North Charlotte, far
away from the cluster of financial towers and economic powerhouses
that Charlotte is well known for. It’s remarkable to note that the riot
on Wednesday occurred in the very heart of Charlotte and that the
demonstrations that have followed continue to happen in this area. This
sets it apart from the rioting that recently took place in Milwaukee. On
the second night of rioting in Sherman Park (Milwaukee) almost every
business in the area had either been burned, looted, or smashed with the
only immediate targets being the police and media. In Uptown Char-
lotte everything was there to be destroyed, even the Nascar Museum.
Of course the fact that the riot took place in a major financial center
also meant that there were different limits. Most urban centers have
been totally renovated to meet the new demands of counter-insurgen-
cy that followed the last great wave of rebellions in the 1960s. Every-
thing that can be bolted down is bolted down, cameras are everywhere,
and people are funneled seamlessly via “smart” infrastructure between
various business and shopping corridors. Throughout the night, scarce
projectiles made it difficult to defend against police incursions. In fact,
without tactically experienced persons, there may have been almost no
projectiles at all. This proved a major stumbling block by the end of the
night when a barricade was no defended and a relatively small number
of riot police in an armored golf cart where able to disperse a much
larger group of fighters who were unable to come up with anything to
fight them off with. ‘The golf cart was a major material advantage for
the police, who were able to use it to transport riot cops very quickly. It
played a key role in breaking up a crowd that had been rolling together
for hours. It gave them a mobile dimension that isn’ typically associated
with riot control in the US, but is the norm in places like Greece or Cat-
alonia. Developments like this must be countered in the future. Toward
thac end, we submit: these golf carts are like any other, have normal tires
which can be punctured and are window and doorless leaving oceu-
pants vulnerable to attack. They are mounted with a loud noise cannon
and fit up to 5 fully outfitted riot cops (if 1 or 2 stand on the back)
Quickly, On Intra-Crowd Dynamics
On the night of the 21st the crowd seemed to be almost entirely uni-
fied in its objective: Occupy spaces outside of police control and loot
and destroy everything in them. With Uptown Charlotte being nothing
more than a glorified shopping district, there's really nothing to spare.
Ir took only a few fash bang grenades to send the pacifiers running
home for the night. Window smashers could expect cheers to accompa-
ny their courage. Hundreds of people were helping one another mask
up, set things on fire, kick back tear gas, make projectiles, and stay safe
from the police. However, hostilities were not solely directed at the po-
lice and property, and to dwell on “racial” dynamics inside and outside
of the crowd is of grave strategic importance.
1, White rioters were more or less accepted by the majority-black
‘crowd, as was also the case in Milwaukee. As an influential participant
declared, “Everybody's black tonight,” after watching some white peo-
ple participate in the riot.
2. White mororists were subjected to a kind of “shibboleth,” being
asked to raise their fists and declare that “black lives matter.” For those
who refused, their vehicles were smashed or stomped. This did happen
‘occasionally co black motorists as well, suggesting a general anti-social
current in the crowd, but the overall tendency was to “racially” order
the situation,
a. This mainly was occurring when there was nothing to set on fire, no
police, no windows to smash.
3. Therefore, it seems that “race” was used as a vector for determining
ethics.
Weve been holding the intersection by the Hyatt for over an hour, setting
fires and destroying the hotel. Two masked kids start moving a large piece
af concrete into the crowd so that it can be broken up into projectiles to use
against the police charge that seems imminent. A woman start shouting to
no one in particular that “these white people are not with us and need to
leave.” She walks over and pushes the piece of concrete out of their hands.
A large group ses this and encourages the kids to pick the concrete back up.
While she keeps yelling to leave it, a black man picks up the piece himself
and starts breaking it. The police tear gas and clear the area.
‘The Necessity Of The Party
Riot police charge down the on-ramp towards our highway blockade, Ev-
exyone starts scrambling up a hill towards what we thought was the street,
ut is actually a light rail station. Finally we have enough rocks and we
launch dozens from the bridge down onto the cops below. One of them must
have had good aim cause a few tear gas canisters land up on the bridge. We
move on through a hotel, down several fights of stairs and back onto the
street. Windows drop everywhere, A 7-11 is being looted. Rocks toed at
bicyele-mounted police miss and smash windows behind them. “Smash that
shit, Smash that sit,” someone screams at the top oftheir lungs as we come
over a hill and see a brightly lit Bank of America lobby. The entire block of
it is destrayed. Police are more determined to disper us now and we are a
litle sktesh ourselves. Weve been holding space well fora few hours but our
ability to-do this is becoming limited.
On September 22nd, three days after the shooting of Keith Scott, an-
other demonstration was scheduled to take place in Uptown Charlotte.
“The arrestees from the night before were still locked up, reportedly at
the requests of the National Guard. Congressman Robert Pittenger tells
the news that all of the protesters hate white people “because white
people are successful.” Right wing news outlets manufacture and exag-
gerate “racial” tensions which were minimal or nonexistent. Left wing
personalities deliberately and naively surrender agency to the police, re-
positioning the insurgent party as a mere protest movement shamefully
victimized by an excessively militarized enemy.
Hundreds gathered and managed to briefly shut down 1-277. Police
launched tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Clergy, lawyers,
leftists, and others used physical force and intimidation to insure the
relative docility of the crowd, at times shoving and ejecting people
wearing masks, throwing bottles, or even cursing at the police. Here,
countcr-revolutionarics, reactionaries, pacifiers, and reformers hope to
‘outmaneuver the insurrection and to crush its revolutionary horizon.
“This should be impossible.
“The experimental powers and rhythms thac are splitting America open,
exposing it to uncertainty and transformation, must compose them-
selves into a plane of consistency. There should have been space and
time established to mect and to discuss. We need churches, parks, ra-
dio stations, collective houses, centers, businesses, or any place that
can host a public event to combat the idiocy of the reformers and the
police. Pethaps a false organizational front group could have made a
bold starement to the press calling for deeper and bolder forms of disor-
der, Perhaps a small band of dedicated people could have extended the
imagination of the rioters with a well timed disruption of a news station
= as occurred during the 2008 Greek insurrection ~ or with a high-
ly destructive flash mob they could have renegotiated the balance of
forces for the coming week. Is it too impossible to imagine a collective
of herbalists and acupuncture students organizing a temporary clinic,
advertising treatments for tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets? What
recently-evicted apartment complex could have been taken over and
transformed into a laboratory of revolutionary potential? These skills,
powers, capacities, and tools do not develop overnight.
Ie is clear that something is growing between the No Dakota Access
Pipeline blockade, the ongoing nation-wide prison strike, and the
movements and uprisings against racially-motivated police killings.
“There has been a great outburst of protest energy since Ferguson, and
especially since the beginning of the year. We must continue to elabo-
rate on and intensify the insurrectionary process, to build what we can,
where we can and smash what is within our reach. Living and fighting
together. The powers established in the breakdown of apparatuses must
be made irreversible, or else new controls will emerge which are less
attackable, more obscure, more resilient. The most dedicared cannot
satisfy ourselves with riots alone.
‘Truth is in revolt,
RIP
Keith Lamont Scott
and
Justin Care
AGITATORS INTERNATIONAL
September 2016