A Fight for Progress in the 'New South'

Weeks after the September 20th police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and a subsequent uprising, a sense that local leadership must immediately focus on the city’s most pressing social issues persists. Protests, resident upheaval at city council meetings, and ongoing public discourse on the state of Charlotte’s division among class and race, have dominated the city since Scott was killed. But how did Charlotte’s local leaders—who pride themselves on fostering a progressive political environment as much as a competitive corporate landscape—miss so many signs of displeasure for so long?

Despite Charlotte’s notable economic rebound compared to the rest of the country following the Great Recession, gains have not been felt across racial lines. Black unemployment stands at 8.8 percent, nearly twice that of the city’s white population. A dive into Charlotte’s socioeconomic disparity reveals an increase in concentrated poverty in majority black and brown communities. According to a study conducted by the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund at the University of North Carolina School of Law, over 70 percent of black households earn less than $60,000 per year compared to 59 percent of white households who earn $60,000 or more annually.