I am a 33 year old white male that has grown up all my life not worried about oppression. I am not going to pretend to understand or act like I know what many in the black community feel. Having said that, I truly believe, what Charlotte has is a leadership problem.
It’s time for leaders to act from the the front lines. During the first few nights of riots in downtown Charlotte, Public defender Toussaint Romain did just that. He parked himself right in the middle of a wall of policemen and an amorphous crowd of demonstrators. Unfortunately he was one of the few leaders on the Charlotte streets those nights. Many other city leaders had taken that time to talk to media outlets like CNN and Fox News seemly focused on publicity. There certainly are times for such publicity but it seemed ill timed. The only way this attention on Charlotte ends up being any good is if this creates a better environment than before and results in the creation of more leaders, not less.
Tags: charlotte • Development • leadership • North Carolina