PHOTO/TROY HULL

Participants in the Black on Black Love March walked Saturday from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters to the Square, EpiCenter and the Transit Center. The procession was a protest against police-involved shootings of African Americans.

Charlotte’s response to recent civilian-police fatalities is to humanize relationships.

About 100 people marched in Saturday’s Black on Black Love procession in Center City to raise awareness of the value of African American life. Organizers promoted the rally as an opportunity to launch a conversation on race relations amid increased attention on police-involved fatal shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Five Dallas, Texas, police officers were killed and seven others injured by a black assailant Thursday during a march to protest those shootings.

“The decision to come here was not based on what happened in Dallas or what happened prior to that, which was unfortunate,” said Brishay, a Waddell High School alumnus who lives in Maryland. “This is to show (police) that unity. People think about it as a myth: ‘Oh, they say they’re calm, but we see the stats.’ I have black parents. I have black family. I have black friends. We don’t go around just shooting each other, but that’s not America’s reality.”

A Service of Healing is scheduled for July 10 at 4 p.m. at St. Luke Baptist Church, 1600 Norris Ave., with Charlotte City Council members, Mecklenburg County commissioners and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney meeting with faith leaders to start a dialogue and begin the process of healing.

A new organization, We need a Solution, will gather for a town hall meeting at Crystal on the Plaza, 3018 The Plaza. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP will host a rally July 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Marshall Park and a forum with CMPD July 13 at Little Rock AME Zion Church, 401 N. McDowell St.

Saturday’s procession started at CMPD headquarters on East Trade Street, with marchers clad in black and carrying signs. They walked westward past the Transportation Center to the Square and EpiCenter, chanting “You can’t stop the revolution” and “No justice, no peace.”

The procession was peaceful as police on bicycles accompanied the marchers. CMPD Major Gerald Smith spoke to the protesters beforehand, asking them to use the sidewalk for their safety and to display a closing activity, such as a prayer, to end the march. They complied.

“The police need to see we love each other,” Brishay said. “Maybe if they see we love each other, maybe it’s OK for us to love you too.”

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