Community Education

Black Lives Matter Charlotte

The Charlotte Post Foundation launched Black Lives Matter Charlotte in 2015 to create a space where black people and allies could gather to discuss the issues negatively and disproportionately affecting blacks in Charlotte.

We recognize that we have to do this for us. We also believe there is power in the collective, which is inclusive of allies who are interested in advancing what is in our collective best interest. We challenge those who gather with us to become informed, to engage in discussion, to shape decisions and to pursue action. For change to happen, we acknowledge the power of the individual, we acknowledge the need for community and we recognize that we have to address systems.

Crimes against blacks have reached attention-grabbing height--not because they are happening more frequently or because they are more horrific; they are just being publicized more often. These along with other inequities require examination and action--our access to healthcare, the miseducation of our children and our relegation to perpetual economic immobility. All of which are interrelated and for which race is antecedent. It is because of race that we have disproportionate access to healthcare, quality education, economic mobility and justice.

There is power in the collective. We recognize that we have to do this for us, which is inclusive of allies who are interested in advancing what is in our collective best interest. Many of us have left the community physically, philosophically, financially and emotionally. We hope to call us together for the sake of ourselves and our community.

We have heard the complaints that we are dialogic and not directive. We have expressed the same disappointments and missed opportunities. We can protest, rally and march. We must also take other actions. We ask each person who joins us to consider:

What must I do for myself?

What can I do to impact the community?

What must we do to change the system?