Protests at NCCU, other HBCUs over Charlotte shooting
DURHAM (WTVD) -- North Carolina Central students and community advocates rallied on campus at the Greek Bowl on Wednesday night. The protest was one of many taking place at Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the state. The rallies are in protest of the shooting death of Keith Scott in Charlotte on Tuesday.
Triangle activist Conrad P. James traveled to Charlotte in hopes of uniting the group in a civil disobedience by locking arms and blocking Interstate 85. A type of protest his organization Living Ultraviolet encourages. But his efforts backfired.
"There was no goal - just curse out these police officers as much as you can. Which I am not about, and my organization doesn't stand for," James said Wednesday.
"We only had 100 to 150 people there at first, and in the second video we did shout no justice no peace and then that's when more and more droves of people came where it got to the point where it was another spiraling-out-of-control-type of situation," James added.
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James said he left disappointed. "We all need to stand together."
But other rally organizers said Tuesday's chaos was a sign of frustration about police shootings of unarmed black men. Charlotte Police said Scott was armed when he was shot. His family said Scott had only a book.
The shooting opens wounds for activist and NCCU Student Ajamu Dillenhunt, who remembers the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell by Charlotte officer Randall Kerrick three years ago.
"Black and brown people have been subject to police violence since the founding of this country," Dillenhunt said.
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When asked about the Charlotte officers who were injured during the unrest, Dillenhunt says this, "black lives matter. We lost a life."
Rallies are planned at other Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the state, including at North Carolina A&T University, Bennett College, Elizabeth City State, Shaw University, Winston-Salem State University and Fayetteville State University.
