So I live in Charlotte. Actually, I am a half of a mile away from where they road blocked I-85. I live near the university, and work in "uptown." I rarely watch local news so I had no idea what happened until I read about the incident and the first night of riots online.
The first morning after the riots, I noticed that going into work was easier. I-85 was still blocked up obviously. Since that riot was so close to me, I did start to be concerned for my safety. I was not outright worried and thinking of leaving the area, but I was going to be more self aware than usual. We were let out early in order to get home safely. As I was catching the bus out of uptown, I did see some protesters (<50) near the center of the city. They had some reporters covering it but it was not that big of a deal. I have seen this before so I thought nothing of it. I went home and secured my apartment.
The second night of riots happened and I was watching it on the TV like everyone else. I had no incidents happen near me. All of the damage happened in uptown from what I can determine. Where they protested is right at the center of town, and is just at the central for anyone to go out to.(Trying to pick up girls during a riot was not on my "to do" list, sorry to disappoint) I was mentioning that night to my parents that the Governor needs to step in time, call in the NG, and bring in the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to investigate this. We are looking at less that 1000 protestors who did all of that damage.
I went into work the next morning on Thursday, and drove in as I expected to be let off very early that day, and that was assuming that they even opened the doors. Biggest thing is that you could feel the tension as I was walking in. Everyone appeared to be going about their normal thing in the morning, but there was a feeling that everyone had their guard up. No one was listening to their ear-phones, no one was talking in their groups. It was an eerie quiet all morning.
During my mid-day walk around town, I did see some of the damage that happened. Some I did not see on the TV, and not near where the damage that was reported. There was a few cops downtown but LESS than what you would normally see during the day. We left early and you could see everyone batten down the hatches for more protesting.
I came home and secured my apartment once again, and started to watch the news. They announced that Governor McCrory declared a state of emergency, deployed the National Guard during the day to a staging area, and brought in the SBI. You may declare me as the next Nostradamus later.(Obviously I know when that will happen
![[Image: dodgy.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/dodgy.gif)
) They did the protest that you saw on TV, and once again a quiet night at my location. This time they went more towards where I work in their meandering. We had a city-wide curfew between midnight and 6:00.
The police released a still picture of the incident, and you did see a hand gun next to him. I am not going to say how accurate this is, but the picture is of a different vantage point from the video that the wife has put out. I am going to wait to pass judgement until I see the cameras on the police as there is a lot more to this. This investigation is now with the SBI.
This morning it is more or less back to a normal day in the center of town. The same places that were boarded up were there and nothing new as far as damage goes. Right now we do have three areas of protest. You have a choir and clergy at the place where the riots started on Wednesday Night singing and doing basically a peace rally with about 50 to 100. I commend this group on what they are doing as long as they continue. You have a mobile group walking around the center of town of about 100 and an angry group in front of the Police Station.
I am not a fan of our mayor but she did something particularly foolish. She went out to visit with the National Guard members guarding the Government Center(Police HQ, Courts, City Hall etc.) That is not the problem. She went out and said "I'm out saying hi and asking where they are from in this state, and thanking them for being in Charlotte." It reminded me of this scene from "The Dirty Dozen:"
"Never Heard of It"
Looking dumb and acting stupid indeed.
What I think so far?
1: The Governor did the right thing in taking charge on this. I am sure that the Mayor has a Voodoo doll of our Governor and is doing all kinds of unspeakable things to it. Likewise Governor McCrory is throwing darts at her picture in my mind as well. He used to be Mayor here and Charlotte is Ground Zero for the Transgender issue here in the state. Deploying the National Guard may look bad to some, but you don't want to have a Baltimore week of riots going on. That looks worse. Having the SBI take charge creates a check and balance that CMPD needs badly. This is his election year, so this may a lot to do with the politics season but I tend to think that the Governor handled things well.
2: This has been a surreal week seeing places where I have walked by and went to on the National News with their window being broken. As the weekend is coming along, we may have more protests. We will have a curfew in place from midnight to 6:00 AM for the weekend. Sunday the Panthers are supposed to play in town, and these folks down here are trying to be the next Green Bay for over a decade, so I would be surprised they riot during the game.
I will retain what I think right now until further developments.