I kind of called it way back when this started and I hope I am not jinxing it by talking about it but I had previously said that I think the Eastern part of North Carolina has "cooler heads" that a vast majority of the rest of the state, and also the rest of the country.
The protests began when Andrew Brown was shot by police when they were serving a warrant to search his vehicle, his house, or perhaps both. While I am sure these details were released, it was all kind of overshadowed by the fear that there was going to be mass rioting and other violence in this otherwise peaceful and small city on near the coast.
I have to say that I am extremely proud of my Eastern North Carolinian compatriots that every was remained cool, calm, and has also exercised their right to protest without hurting anyone, breaking any windows, or even vandalizing anything.
There were a few moments where it appeared as though it was about to turn ugly when protesters started blocking streets and bridges, but a few arrests were made and the people calmed down before things could get nasty. Also, a curfew was put in place and lo' and behold, a vast majority of the people in attendance complied and therefore nearly all violence was averted.
For me, I am a lot more likely to listen to these protesters, or any protesters, if they can conduct themselves in a civil yet organized fashion. This is in stark contrast to what I have seen in Portland and Minneapolis (among other places) where as soon as the protests become an opportunistic moment for people to become animalistic and wreck and burn and attack everything in sight. When the latter happens, I tend to be against whatever it is that they are pushing for, no matter what it is. Whether or not that is a good call on my part or not is done on a case-by-case basis, but while I am sure some reforms are necessary in government and justice, Target, Wal-Mart, and other retailers don't have anything to do with it and the people that are running out of there with free TV's are not protesting, they are looking for an opportunity to steal with impunity.
It doesn't do much for their cause.
It is refreshing to see the people not engage in violence against officers (for the most part) and to see that as far as I know zero businesses have been looted or had their windows randomly bashed through. Cooler heads have prevailed to the point where the city is actually rolling back the curfew because the protests remain peaceful unlike what we have seen in many other places in the United States where BLM was making some sort of stand against the police.
This isn't to say that I necessarily agree with the protestors. Andrew Brown had a criminal record longer than a lot of novels and biographies and also had a history of being violent and resisting arrest. Did he need to be shot though? It's hard to say and I like to think that this is why the people in the protests want the entirety of the bodycam footage to be released. Not much in the way of an explanation has been given for WHY they wont release it but I suspect it is to protect the identities of the officers who fired the shots.
Not many people have seen the footage at all. From what I have heard and read only the family members of Andrew Brown have been allowed to see any of it. According to an attorney that has had access to the video, Brown "made contact" with several officers with his car and Brown ignored orders to turn off the vehicle, later fleeing the scene after officers tried to open the door. Does this justify shooting him? Well, I don't think so but we also don't know the full story yet.
Riot police were actually brought out, but for the most part it was unnecessary since for once, any claims by the media about this being "mostly peaceful" would be true.
I am proud of my North Carolina people keeping their cool and waiting until we have all the details before we over-react.
There is something special about this part of the country that I live in and I have said many times before that I think we are just "different" than other parts of the country. The fact that we can have protests, get national and international attention to the cause while not senselessly wrecking stuff speaks volumes about this wonderful part of the country that I call home.
EDIT: There is still a curfew in affect but it was rolled back to midnight instead of 8pm, which honestly, if you work you should probably be home by then anyway.