The city of Charlotte, N.C., erupted in protest after a jury failed to reach a verdict in Wes Kerrick’s voluntary manslaughter trial. Now, with the failure to retry Kerrick, awesome activists throughout Charlotte and surrounding areas will make our voices heard.
Therefore, I am writing to inform the country that Charlotte will NOT let up. We will NOT stop, even though Attorney General Roy Cooper decided not to retry Kerrick because justice for Jonathan Ferrell is more than a chant or rallying cry. It is a demand. I have become great friends with my fellow activists and I want people to know that we are spectacular, awesome, inspiring and any other positive word one can think of. We are NOT violent. Kerrick is violent. We come in peace, but we will interrupt your nice dinner to remind you of what happened right here in our city.
Charlotte has been having daily protests in Uptown to remind people that we want a retrial for Kerrick. Activists have been protesting at the courthouse during lunch hours and marching around Uptown during dinner hours. While many may be becoming somewhat fatigued physically, the yearning for justice carries them onward. An important part of the protesting has been mic checks. These have been led by Jessi Nakamura, an activist with the NYC ShutItDown group. She is from Charlotte, though, and came back for the closing of the trial. She shouts facts about this case and police brutality in America while the rest of the protesters repeat them. This is powerful and forces citizens, including many of the elites around Uptown, to hear the truth about what happened to Jonathan Ferrell.
There has also been a lot of work done by T.H.U.G, the Charlotte NAACP, The SAFE Coalition, Showing Up For Racial Justice, Justice Together members, and many more. Spiritual and theological support have come in many forms, too, from the Nation of Islam to Pastor Dunlap and his tremendous wife, Theresa. It is important to note that numerous people do not belong to any organization but have been truly exceptional in this protest movement.
Aside from the marches and demonstrations mentioned previously, there will be a big action on September 14, 2015, to mark the two-year anniversary of Jonathan’s killing. The family wants to keep Jonathan’s memory alive as they fight for justice. They have publicly said that they want us to keep fighting for justice and we will do just that.
We have been marching a lot since the initial mistrial and will keep reminding the country of our anger, sadness and concern with Kerrick possibly being a free man for the rest of his life. But why should we keep up this fight? Why do we care?
Local activist, Kassandra Ottley, sums up why we are doing this quite well. She says:
“It matters because they want us to just keep going on like all of these black lives lost at the hand of law enforcement doesn’t matter. It does, and Jonathan was killed in our backyard. So we are doing this to keep his memory alive and to continue to fight for justice.”
Community organizer Gloria Merriweather has a clear and profound understanding of the implications from this [non] verdict:
“The Kerrick mistrial is clear indication that the judicial process does not work to protect the lives of people of color from the police. The fact that a jury of twelve could not, unanimously, agree that the killing of and unarmed, Black man was unlawful, is clear evidence that our justice and judicial system is in need of structural change.”
We have many white allies and they are very important to the movement. One of them, Lexa Rice, notes why she fights for justice:
“Nothing that satisfies the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement won’t ultimately help all Americans. It will end police brutality. We should be uniting to stop police from killing us.”
We will continue to disrupt and peacefully assemble to demand justice for Jonathan Ferrell. What happened on September 14, 2013, when Wes Kerrick fired at unarmed Jonathan 12 times, was a disgrace to our city. Charlotte will NOT stand for this. We will not stand for a mistrial. We will not stand by while the sociopath Kerrick walks freely about his life after having shot down Jonathan like a wild animal. We will continue to shut it down until Jonathan and his loved ones receive justice.
To sign the petition in support of Jonathan Ferrell, go here.
Featured image courtesy of the author
