Red Gate Media

Red Gate Media is a grassroots media outlet centering the experiences and stories of Queer and Trans People of Color. 

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“This is a documentary about LGBT+ Asian Americans in the San Gabriel Valley, which was made in response to a homophobic protest that happened in that area in 2015.”

Thanks to @gayformarceline for sharing these stories with us! We must continue to uplift each other and circulate our stories, helping our communities find and use our voices among a culture that would rather have us keep them to ourselves. We will win!

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Ghost Tales

“We refuse to dissociate from the truths we know from trauma here.”

This project grew out of writing to survive heartbreak and trauma in radical community in Greensboro. We wrote to stay alive, to grieve, and to keep from dissociating. Guided by mostly Black femme freedom writers like Audre Lorde, Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens, Jasmine Syedullah, Octavia E. Butler, and bell hooks, some truths surfaced from our survival writings. We have been called to ask: What have we learned here? What does ghosting/being ghosted mean? What does it mean to ghost our community or to ghost our dreams? How does ghosting relate to oppression and liberation? Who are ghosts? Who is human? What must we re-member here to get closer to whole, to well, to free?

“We were never meant to, but, survive we did.”

These are ghost tales from a ghost town by two sometimes ghosts.

Photos and Text by: JB & Amira Rashida

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A selection of Photographs from a Queer Sex Ed. event led by Christine Cromartie, sponsored by Red Gate.

Greensboro, NC

June 2018

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21 Questions with Chae Buttuh

Red Gate gets to know “Glam Trap” inventor and “Ho Fi” musician Chae Buttuh. Pictures by Orchid.

Which fictional character[s] do you relate to the most?

“Usually I’m more Toni Child’s, but lately these past few years I’ve been very much Lynn. I’m like a Toni Child’s Sun, Lynn Rising, and Mya Moon. Lol if you don’t know who these characters are watch Girlfriends.”

When people listen to your music, how do you want them to feel?

“I want people to feel as empowered and sexy as I feel, if not more.”

Do you believe in aliens?

“I’m an alien, so yes.”

Who are the most iconic rappers or singers?

“Most iconic rapper, Lil Kim of course. Most iconic singer is Sade.”

Are pugs cute?

“Pugs are cute lol but have you seen a Schnauzer.”

[note: we googled Schnauzers, it’s the smaller dog from “Lady and the Tramp". It looks like your favorite, coolest uncle in dog form. Cute!]

What are your favorite snacks?

"Happy Meals from any fast food, and popcorn.”

What’s your sun sign? [If Aries, please skip this question, sorry!]

“Leo power.”

What’s a hobby or talent that few people know you have?

“I can draw.”

Is sexting fun, corny, or a little bit of both?

“Sexting is only fun if you’re both horny, other than that it’s whack lol”

What things do you never leave the house without?

“never leave the house without mace, chapstick, and brush”

Who was your first celeb crush?

“I had a big crush on Romeo, he still fine.”

Favorite scents?

“Right now my favorite scent is Baby Doll by YSL.”

Kids? In general.

“I want one or two, when I’m like 40 or something like that.”

If you were a superhero, what powers would you have?

"think Poison Ivey, extreme seduction..hypnotic kisses.”

How did you choose your rap name?

“I got my rap name from the fact that I love Shea butter. I actually used to make scented and whipped shea butter in 2011, way before the hype. Shea butter is smooth, and healing...like me.”

Copper, Silver, Gold or Platinum?

“All of ‘em.”

What’s your catchphrase?

“Lol if I had one it would be “ooo nooo” or “cute”. Everyone who knows me would say I’m always saying those two, at first they make fun of it, then months later they’re saying it too lol.”

What are the tallest pair of heels you own?

“6 inch.”

Did you ever have a myspace? What was it like?

“Omg my first MySpace page was a pink Playboy bunny background with Milkshake playing as my page music, my acct tag was “rainbeauhoe” lololol sooooo baby lgbt. I was in the 8th grade.”

Where were you at when you heard “How Many Licks” by Lil Kim for the first time?

“The first time I heard Lil Kim how many licks was on my friends desktop in ‘99, we had to sneak to listen to Notorious KIM. I remember the volume being so low we had to put our ears to the speaker, but that’s how hot and important it was lol we had to hear it.”

What is love?

“Love is necessary drama. Who ever or whatever you love is necessary for life, to be happy, but when you’re in love, the drama unfolds. You find out things about yourself and what you love that you may not have wanted to know or needed to know. Love is dangerous but also safe.”

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CHAE BUTTUH by Orchid for Red Gate Media, Part 2

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CHAE BUTTUH by Orchid for Red Gate Media

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The Battle for the Heart of [Downtown] Greensboro

Looking at a map of downtown Greensboro, it becomes apparent that something big is coming. The entire eastern side of the downtown is undergoing a major shift, and much of it is entrenched in public dissent tied to development choices being made by the City and local developers. This is apparent in various current projects in Greensboro, from the Tanger Performing Arts Center, controversy around Cafe Europa, and the great parking deck debacle occurring simultaneously with the City Manager’s premature retirement, to the sale of the Bardolph Building–home to many of the city’s social services–for less than tax value to a local developer whose vision greatly strays from the building’s namesake. The entire eastern side will be torn earth between 2015-2020, with millions of dollars poured into the oft overlooked area.

For just under a year, I spent a significant amount of time in this strip as part of the work I’ve been doing with the Greensboro Mural Project, a local mural arts group, installing a community-collaborated mural. The Greensboro Mural Project has been creating community inspired and powered murals since 2011, making a priority of engaging the people in the places where we paint.

In December of 2016, we started collecting love letters and poems to the city, tabling at many events to gather the thoughts and feelings people had about Greensboro. We anticipated the responses were going to be lovey-dovey affirmations of the city, though perhaps not that revealing. What we got was a series of complex emotions of both fondness and fraughtness with the city. The very first time we were tabling and collecting love letters we asked someone to write a letter and he said no, that he had fallen out of love with the city many years ago. Others just didn’t want to mess with love. Some of the letters spoke of a love-hate relationship with the city, the fondness found only after being able to leave the city and return by choice, a love of the greenery, a love of the legacy of social justice, or even stating that Greensboro is “culturally psychotic.” Taking the messaging and meanings found in these love letters we created a design, and got permission to install the mural on a wall of the old News & Record building across from the bus depot and right in the middle of the above aforementioned section of the downtown.

We came to call this mural “Tough Love” as it portrays the tough love that residents from very different walks of life have for the city. Rooting in the notion that tough love is something you have for your family or those closest to you that you offer because you want to see them grow and improve. The love letters we received are tough love letters because we know Greensboro can be better for all of us. This brings us back to what I am calling the battle for the heart of downtown Greensboro.

In January 2018, the Greensboro Mural Project was notified by the property manager that our lease granting us the right of way to the building was going to be terminated in thirty days, six months earlier than our lease stated, and that the building will be demolished. This news was a devastating blow, as we had not yet finished painting the mural, and we would need to break the news to the 400+ volunteers and the wider community. The irony of the tough love residents expressed about the city, growing in the creation and destruction of this wall, is not lost on members of the Greensboro Mural Project. In the past two months we have held an unveiling and launched a petition that is influencing the property manager. As of right now there is a six month delay in demolition, and preservation of the wall is being investigated. Of course, if you or anyone you know has $4 million and wants to make a sound investment in downtown Greensboro, let us know.

This wall sits in the crossfire of downtown development: development that praises creativity and sees the economic value of murals, but only as placeholders before demolition and development. And while I do not feel like our project was targeted for our content or process, I do feel that our mural is caught by both the real estate speculation going on from the properties around it, and from the age old growing pains of a city with an identity crisis and superiority complex. The city is marketing itself for people who are not yet in the city, not those who are already building the city from the ground up, who stay during the tough times, and believe in the promise of the city. In trying to fix our identity crisis we are seeing a destruction of the very things that make us unique, that make us Greensboro.

As many medium size southern cities struggle to assert what makes them distinctly them, they are working against people, the communities that make them them. The role of public participation is more than at the municipal level, it is also at the street level where people are putting their own embellishments on the city. Where people are having a direct say as to how our cities are being developed.

Are cities meant for people? Are they meant for businesses? Are they meant for young people, or old people, or the wealthy, for houseless people, renters, recent immigrants, generational residents, artists, people of specific or varied racial identities, or any of the many different kinds of people?

In Greensboro we must ask ourselves this very question. Who is Greensboro made for? Who is it currently being made and envisioned for? Who is Greensboro? Part of the answer is connected to whom we ask this question, and who is allowed to answer.

We are in a critical place in the development of Greensboro’s identity, which will be formed and reformed whether intentionally, haphazardly, or with little consideration for all those it will affect.

When thinking about who a city is for, it is critical that we understand that we all have a right to the city, both in its physical space, but also in its creation. So I challenge each of us to go further, to demand of the city, and enact in our daily lives what it would look like to draw all sorts of people in to the conversation and creation of what we each want the city to look like. We’re all responsible, but as I said everyone has to be allowed to answer these questions, to have their voice heard, instead of being pushed out by such haphazard planning practices. Greensboro, our heart is on the line, what will we do?

BIO:

Alyzza May is an angelic troublemaker and cultural organizer in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were part of a team that worked to start the first participatory budgeting process in the south, co-founded the Greensboro Mural Project, and are committed to helping build the new economy. Alyzza is currently a Master’s candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying City and Regional Planning with a concentration in Housing and Community Development.

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Queer Eats: Episode 1

Enjoy this new video shot and edited by our newest member, Orchid!

From the description: Queer Eats is a cooking web series starring queer chef Shay Greene. In Episode 1, Shay makes a Thai Curry soup.

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Patterns

a short film by Orchid and Mayam

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A House is Not a Home

by Mayam, 2-28-18:

For those who didn’t make it. For those who are struggling to make it. You have all the resources you need within you. We are more than just survivors. We are thrivers.

          Powerless. That’s how I felt growing up during my childhood. Blanketed by the bible, suffocated by scripture, bubbling is my identity, yet suppressed to please and conform. I came out to myself at the tender age of 10. I remember the first boy I kissed and how I wanted to give him head in the YMCA bathroom. I came out to my parents at the tough age of 20. Decades after decades of years informed of trauma, acceptance, discomfort, and a new form of self-love.

          I remember not necessarily identifying with any binary, floating between people and places, like a leaf in the breeze. I remember my mother crying, saying the devil is trying to ruin her family, trying to take away her only good “christian son”. I remember packing my bags, getting in my car and heading out of the city to carve out a life of my own, rediscovering my necessity for breath.

          Now at 24, I feel as if things are coming to be. I am a part of a loving queer community, just got an awesome therapist, a new job opportunity, and am self-actualizing the prophecy that I envision and walk daily. Yet why do I not feel grounded? Stable? At peace within my bones and in my spirit?

          There is something that is comforting about having a stable physical home environment. A place where you can truly be. Let your hair down, if you will. Yet I don’t have that at the moment. I have been homeless since June of 2017, luckily finding farm work to provide an ephemeral glimpse of a stable routine environment, yet once the season is over, I’m back searching, yearning for a place to call home. To be honest, deep inside there is a twinge of envy for those who have a home. I have always wanted to feel secure. Yet the visceral effect of now being homeless has magnified my sense of instability.

Swift features float ahead. Unclear and vibrant.

A gentle nudge from uncertainty.

Unknown is a place where I can truly be.      (((12.29.17)))

          There’s a lot of stats and misconceptions about homeless folks. “Go get a job, make something of yourself and you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place”. Or when people talk about “the homeless” as if we are some other species of human beings (sometimes not even seen as human), some big group of faceless people with no voice that’s immediately worth saving.Everyone’s charity case or piece of trash to be stepped on, grinded into, rendered invisible, and neglected. Yet everyone has a story about why things are the way they are. Why we are in the exact situation we are in. Specifically, many homeless queer and or trans youth are pushed out of their home because threats of physical violence, emotional abuse, sexual violence, and the list goes on and on.

          I was pushed out because of childhood trauma, spiritual and emotional abuse under the guise of Christianity and dogma. I didn’t feel safe in my childhood home environment. And even to this day I still don’t feel safe. Being out in public more often than not means the threat of police violence, maybe crossing some asshole who doesn’t like me for who I am (for being a black trans person). Quite honestly, just finding a place to sleep is stressful in itself. Often times I awake in terror when I hear a siren, hear footsteps, and voices. As the day goes on I find myself fighting sleep, holding on to the little energy I do have, trying to maintain healthy relationships with others let alone myself.  

          Yet it isn’t all bad or at least I try to make the best of my situations. I have learned to hold myself up and hug myself daily. I take care of myself in radically new ways like creating my own mobile cooking system, cleaning with clothing scraps, making cowboy coffee in the morning and pitching a tent in the middle of the night, lying down and looking up at the stars. I’ve made new friends with folks like myself, who don’t have a place to stay but share the little that we have. Advice, stories, cigarettes, food. Lots of encouragement. I have declared my independence and existence to the world. I still ask for help when I absolutely need it. My relationships with others are true, more mutual. I have developed a deeper trust in myself. And my powers only continue to flourish.

Gratitude and Grace…

          I am truly thankful for those who have opened up their doors, offered their beds, couches, futons, and hearts. For those who I have shared meals with, shared water with, shared bodies with, shared souls with. The moments where we dream in secret, plan in public, scheme as the sun sets, and stretch as the sun rises are all held in my heart. The love and gratitude I have for my chosen family and friends is beyond words. I only hope we continue to grow and support each other in ways that are comforting, new, radical, and healing.

          I can finally say that I am thankful for being here. For not giving up even though it seems so easy. For my ancestors telling me “hell no child, you ain’t gonna give in that easy.” For my childhood even though it was rough. It has made me into the resilient baby I am today. Thankful to the Earth and all its medicine and wisdom. And thankful for the future and what’s to come.

          There are 1.6 million to 2.8 million homeless youth in America right now. 320,000-400,000 are queer identifying and/or trans identifying. We are on the streets, in the woods, abandoned buildings, factories, and libraries. Realistically we are everywhere. Just like anyone else, doing what we need to do to make it through the day. Sometimes it’s not the “prettiest things” being done in the world but nonetheless, we are here. 

          Fighting to breathe. To maintain our breath, the very thing that the cis-tem says we cannot have. That we are forced to sell ourselves for. A house does not have to be a home. Whenever we hold ourselves, find the time to ground ourselves, to just breathe in and out, and in and out, we are home. Whenever we find the time to be still, we are home. Whenever we find the comfort to exist purely as can be, we are home.

Resilience is in my blood. I can feel it pushing through my veins.

Every heartbeat is a proclamation to the world that I am still here.

And I will not be moved.

As breath circulates throughout this body my ancestors and I celebrate     the gift of being alive.

They live through me and I through them.

Symbiosis.

Oh so precious are our thoughts, our orientation and perspective.

Keep it.

Shape it.

Share it.

You have found what you need inside yourself.

Continue to build your home anew.   (((1.16.18)))

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John Kill.

pronouns:

Any

zodiac:

Virgo Sun / Aries Moon / Libra Rising

“What brings you to this work?”

“I’ve always loved to tell stories and create visuals. I believe in the power of art and its ability to challenge and change the minds and hearts of people. I believe queer and trans people of color deserve to be seen, loved and protected.”

fave childhood tv show:

Samurai Jack, Ren & Stimpy / everything that aired on Toonami.

bio:

“I am a visual artist living in Greensboro, NC. I love being black, I love my community, friends and family. I went to majority black schools growing up and graduated from NC A&T State University. I have a fondness for frogs and bats. I’m allergic to dogs and cats but I will pet them anyway and no one can stop me. Making and teaching art keeps me living.”

strengths / weaknesses:

“I am familiar with the language and principles of visual art and a bit of photography. I have an obsessive eye for detail and visually pleasing design. I am familiar with a range of different applications used for creating graphics. I am unfamiliar with nuances in video editing and audio engineering and processing. I’m not as confident in writing as I am with making visual art. Social media and website design/maintenance are also not my strongest suits (but very excited to learn!)

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Amira Rashida.

pronouns: 

she/they

zodiac: 

aquarius sun/taurus moon/sagittarius rising

“What brings you to this work / Why is it important?”

“i am brought to this work by all of my ancestors wildest dreams that i believe we can make come true. i believe that we have many stories to tell, many ways to tell them, and that no one can tell our stories like we do.”

fave childhood tv show: 

Rugrats

strengths & weakness: 

“my strengths are community building and community care. i have begun to dabble in communications and graphic design. i look forward to growing these skills, and learning more overall about media artistry.”

bio: 

“amira is a queer southerner who resides in Greensboro, NC. amira is committed to modeling radical self care. she has a budding passion for growing food and offers regular Black and/or Queer autonomous yoga classes in her community. amira believes that she, and many of those around her, are survivors of perpetual invisibility. because of this, she is especially passionate about making sure others feel seen for their resistance in their existence. amira identifies as a dabbler and a student of many things and people; most notably the movement, Queer and Trans leadership, Audre Lorde, Llama Rod Owens, mama Earth and the Universe.”

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Alex Rae.

pronouns:

they/them

zodiac: 

Gemini sun, Gemini moon, Sagittarius rising  

favorite childhood show: 

Avatar: the Last Airbender

“Why is this work important?”

“It is vital that we emphasize narratives of Queer and Trans joy, creativity, and love. I’ve been honored to share in and bear witness to my community’s journey with collective resistance and power building, collective trauma and conflict, and a burgeoning emphasis on individual and collective healing. I’m invested in what pieces of liberation we can create for Queer people now, what emphasis we can place on our own thriving. And in sharing struggle with my leaders, teachers, comrades, and family, it is my dream to help create space where Queer and Trans People of Color are safe, celebrated, and sustained.”

strengths/ weaknesses: 

I’m good at organizing in the background of things- supporting other people’s visions and keeping track of the details that need to happen to manifest them. Thanks to my mentors in Red Gate, I’m adept and using a camera and I especially love video editing projects. Oh, and I’m great with literary stuff- especially editing and formatting.  I’m not so great at having boundaries for myself in how much work I take on, and then as a snowball off of that I tend to get really stressed out or overwhelmed, which then results in me being short with people. In light of this, I’m practicing expressing my needs and boundaries, and being part of Red Gate’s collective process is really helpful with that.

bio: 

I’m a soon-to-be Licensed Massage Therapist, and I’m passionate about the link between how we hold trauma in our bodies and the potential for bodywork in our healing journeys. The goal of my practice will be to make massage accessible to Queer and Trans people. Things that are vital to my survival: a steady supply of dirt under my fingernails and 2-3 hours of direct sun a day, having no less than 10 house plants at one time, friends who check up on me when I turtle and who call me on my shit, people to feed and who feed me, developing my spiritual practices, my relationship with my family, golden delicious apples, probiotics, and sugar-free desserts.

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Mayam.

pronouns:

they/them

zodiac:

Sun: Taurus / Moon: Aquarius / Rising: Taurus

“Why is this work important?” 

“Our very nature as queer and trans folks is engulfed in magical goodness. Why not tell our stories? We have been hidden and erased for so long, yet our legacy still thrives beneath the surface layer of this cis-tem. Now if we choose, we can share our magical legacy with others. Not just to survive, but to inspire and thrive. Continuing our transcestry by means of storytelling. That’s why I love this work!”

Favorite childhood show:

Codename Kids Next Door

strength/weaknesses:

“I have a passion for filmmaking that’s hard for me to describe at times. So filming and editing for sure. I like to push my work and boundaries when it comes to making films and also teaching the aspects of filming. So with filming comes a lot of patience which is a huge strength of mine. My camera is my heart besides farming. However, I have a hard time saying no, which can pile up a lot of filming and editing assignments. But I’m working on it.”

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Red Gate Media is a grassroots media organization based in Greensboro, NC. We are a collective of Queer artists, farmers, workers, storytellers, healers, lovers, organizers, teachers, and family. We are dedicated to storytelling and shifting narratives to highlight the importance of Queer and Trans people of color.

Our mission is to document the stories of Queer and Trans people of color in the South and provide resources for our people to share their stories across all media platforms. We believe that we are all storytellers and we aim to magnify the voice of Queer and Trans people with the belief that no one can tell our stories like we can.

We refuse to accept the sole narrative of Southern Queer suffering without including  stories of resilience, love, truth and community. Our work is rooted in our survival and our dreams of justice and liberation.

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On October 4, 2016 Organizers and Residents of Charlotte and other cities across North Carolina came together after two weeks of the murder of Keith Lamont Scott. The statement is below as follows.

"To Keith L. Scott and Justin Carr, we are here to lift up your names and honor your lives. To Rayquan Borum, we see you, we love you.

On September 20th, Keith L. Scott was killed by CMPD. We are here, two weeks later, because his death still remains unjustified. We showed up in the streets filled with grief and outrage, and Wednesday September 21st Justin Carr was killed by CMPD, too. His death was then pinned on Rayquan Borum.

CMPD, you do not have the right to kill Black people.

CMPD, you do not have the right to frame Black people.

CMPD, you do not have the right to show up in our communities armed and militarized, under the guise of being peacekeepers.

CMPD, you do not have the right to use violent, repressive tactics on our Freedom Fighters.

CMPD, you do not have the right to treat our city like a warzone.

Of our demands, we’d like to highlight a few in particular:

The release of all the names of the officers involved in the killing of Keith l. Scott to the public followed by their firing, arrest and prosecution.

A release of the police report and body camera footage connected with the killing of Keith l. Scott & all other killings to the public and immediately repeal of HB 972, which restricts the ability of the public to access police body camera footage.

The immediate and unconditional release of all those arrested in connection with the uprising resulting from the killing of Keith l. Scott & the dropping of all charges.

An end to the repression & targeting of protestors and all those engaged in the charlotte uprising.

We will continue until our demands are met."

~Charlotte Uprising

#charlotteuprisng #blacklivesmatter #JustinCarr #KeithLamontScot

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Thoughts from the Ground: Day 2 #CharlotteUprising

By: Hamilton Bennett, Red Gate Media Correspondent

#KeithLamontScott #BlackLivesMatter #CharlotteUprising #NoJusticeNoPeace #NoRacistPolice

DAY 2: September 21, 2016

The sun rose on another day of resistance. The air was cool and the sky was overcast for the earlier part of the morning. As many of the folx in the house I stayed in check the news and their Facebook and Twitter feeds, we knew that more resistance was to come that night. A die-in was staged at UNC-Charlotte’s Black Student Union that afternoon, where hundreds of students lay on the floor in an act of resistance to the state and its murder of black and brown bodies. Charlotte organizers held a meeting at a local community center to strategize about the next move and how to support and resist in multiple ways (in regards to bringing supplies, requesting donations, changing the narrative of the media and putting bodies on the ground to fight the state).

As the day turned into night there was a rally at Marshall Park in downtown Charlotte where thousands gathered to share their voice on the events that occurred previously regarding the murder of Keith Lamont Scott and the aftermath following his death. Soon folx decided to march, taking to the streets once again to disrupt the quiet streets of downtown Charlotte to advocate for change by whatever means necessary. Armed with milk of magnesia and water, several of us were ready to go to the front lines and help with those who were to be tear gassed by the trigger-happy police force. We knew that they would be armed again with the tactics of fear, rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, and concussion grenades against those who had none of those things but their willingness to advocate to the end of state sanctioned violence.

Thousands of community members and organizers from across the city and region of North Carolina occupied Trade and Tryon, the Charlotte Bus Depot, the Epicentre, and the front of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. Chants from “Release the tape!” of Keith Lamont Scott, “Indict! Convict! Send them killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” and of course “Black Lives Matter!” rang through the night sky! They echoed in our hearts and in our minds. As we continued to march folx decided to go to the front of the Omni Hotel as an act of resistance.

What’s interesting about downtown Charlotte and many metropolitan areas is the amount of condos in contrast to the homeless population that occupy the streets of the area. In Charlotte, throughout the day you see folx walking the streets, asleep on benches, or asleep on the concrete as they are just trying to survive the post industrial world we live in. While there are fancy young and old professionals walking around in their suits, ties, and business attire, displaced folx are begging, sleeping, and just trying to get their basic needs met in the city with the least likely chance for economic mobility. So why occupy the Omni hotel? The answer is simple. When folx are not able to find secure housing, meanwhile a million dollar company exists right in front of them, that makes folx angry because that capital is needed for shelter. It is sickening when folx do not have the right to have their basic needs met because they don’t have the capital or “ability” to do so.

So folx advanced in front of the Omni Hotel to demand that black lives matter, that black homeless lives matter and that the current system of domination, capitalism and oppression is in need of a drastic change. The police were there with their guns, equipped with rubber bullets. People began to get antsy and push in justification, as the police have not only pushed us, but have beaten, brutalized and killed others all in the name of “security” and “safety”. After several bouts of pushing, a shot rang out from a police officer armed with a gun filled with rubber bullets.

Protesters and observers ran. They ran out of the fear that they too could be shot. Tear gas and sound cannons were shot and released into the street. Blood was on the ground. A black body had once again been killed. Folx around the victim immediately tried to help him yet officers and members of SWAT shielded him and pushed the protesters away. The police and SWAT were responsible for the murder of this individual (which reports later identified as a man named Justin Carr). After that the mood of the whole protest changed. Once again we witnessed another murder. Once again another black life was taken by the hands of the police. This is not what we wanted and we were angry.

People reacted in anger and shock by breaking the capitalist store fronts. To disrupt the chains of capitalism and commodity, goods were stolen. Property was destroyed out of the grief we felt as we had just witnessed another life taken. We began to shout and cry and grieve in whatever way possible. There was pain, fear and confusion. We could not believe that someone had just died right in front of us. Yet we had to swallow that disbelief and anger for our safety as a group.

In the interest of protecting property, the armed apparatus of the state decided to beat, to gas, and to shoot rubber bullets into the crowd when faced with adversity. They too were scared and realized the mistake they made by agitating the already disturb hornets’ nest. The air was full of anger and peace was turned into violence. Was it justified? There is no answer to that question, however in regards to witnessing a murder when everything we advocated for was peace shows how the state responds to peace. The police and SWAT responded first with violence by shooting and killing another unarmed black man. This was unreasonable and folx were fed up.

After a while destruction of property continued to take place and we were out of supplies. Many folx had been tear gassed and we had run out of milk of magnesia and water. We had also suffered from the tear gas and our burns were not just in our eyes but on our skin as well. There was physical and emotional pain running throughout the streets. We decided the next best move was to go back, recuperate, and gather more supplies as we knew this would burn into the night. The officers’ new tactics were to gas the crowd, create confusion and then brutalize and arrest people who had splintered off from the crowd in the midst of all the confusion. This tactic of divide and conquer is not new. In order to help we had to go back and bring as much chemical combatant as possible so folx could be prepared for this tactic and have medical assistance when necessary.

CONCLUSION

Overall the #CharlotteUprising voices the pain of our communities. We have been physically suppressed, economically silenced, and our children are suffering due to discriminatory schooling. Our lives have been taken by the police and by those in support of the white supremacist state we live in. This is not new. This takes place in all of our communities, whether we are black, brown, yellow, or working class. The elite profit off of our suffering by incarcerating folx due to racist laws, practices, and implicit biases from police officers in the name of “protection”. The Charlotte Uprising brought these issues to light as we are tired of having to live in this classist and racist state. 

Keith Lamont Scott will never be forgotten. He is in our heart as well as Justin Carr. Their unfortunate deaths are with us as we operate our daily lives and protest this unjust world we live in. In the words of the late great Chairman Fred Hampton “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution!”