Last week, riots erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina after Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed by police.
The protests and riots continued for multiple days and continued on into the weekend. A curfew was finally imposed by Charlotte’s Mayor Roberts.
Dozens of arrests were logged in relation to these protests and riots, including the apprehension of one protester who shot another protester in the head.
Image via WCCB Charlotte
The News and Observer reported on September 22nd that ‘Black Lives Matter’ leaders from Ferguson to Baltimore were “flying in” for the protests that would be taking place over the weekend.
Charlotte police told media that somewhere close to 70% of the arrests made were of individuals from out-of-state.
While the publicly available records at from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s office do show some arrestees from out-of-state, the majority of those thus far appear to have given a North Carolina address at the time of their arrest.
Video from both body and police dash cams was released on Saturday, September 24th. This footage follows cell phone video taken by Scott’s wife, which the family gave to The NY Times exclusively.
This past weekend, a website called “Charlotte Uprising” was created, which has a list of protester demands similar to what has been seen in other city occupations of Black Lives Matter.
The Charlotte Uprising website is attempting to raise money for bail and ‘supplies’ through another North Carolina based organization known as the Durham Solidarity Center.
According to the Durham Solidarity Center website they, “oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, and violence. We agree not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others.”
The Durham Solidarity Center donation page says that they are a project of another organization known as “Action For Community” which was originallyy called “Action for Community In Raleigh” or ACRe for short. Both organizations are non-profits.
ACRe’s records show that the organization is also doing business as the name Youth Organizing Institute.
ACRe’s creation documents on file with the North Carolina Secretary of State show the organization was originally founded in 2005 and the registered agent was Attila Nemecz with the point of contact for ACRe is Elena Everett.
ACRe was a 501(c)3 at one point, however the North Carolina Secretary of State lists the organization as “expired”. The expiration date listed is 5/15/2014. ACRe dropped ‘Raleigh’ from it’s name in June 2016 and became “Action for Community”. This incarnation of ACRe is listed by the North Carolina Secretary of State as active.
In 2013, records indicate four board members were added: Elena Everett, Cathy Stanley, Bryan Proffitt and Ben Carroll. The same records indicated Everett was in charge of solicitations. Of the four listed board members, two have extensive activism backgrounds.
Elena Everett is also affiliated with radical elements including World Workers Party of Durham, Blueprint NC, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Ignite NC, Youth Organizing Institute, Institute for Southern Studies, Wake Youth Organizing Institute, Southern Vision Alliance, Fair Vote NC, Durham Solidarity Center and the NC Green Party.
Bryan Proffitt is a teacher in Durham, North Carolina who has been involved with a group called Organize202o, which is the Social Justice Caucus of the North Carolina Association of Educators. In June, Proffitt was arrested with Organize2020 members for sitting in the middle of traffic in front of the Old State Capitol building. Proffitt has also been a notable attendee of Moral Monday.
An attempt to locate the required IRS 990 filings for the organization yielded zero results in the ProPublica Non-Profit database. The IRS Charitable organization database, however, did contain limited information on ACRe.
According to the IRS, ACRe would not have to file a 990 if their income was less than $50,000. Based on the information recorded by the IRS, ACRe reported they received less than $50,000 for years 2009 through 2015.
However, records filed with the North Carolina Secretary of State in 2013 show the group reported over $125,000 in “support and revenue.” Nearly $77,000 of the revenue was in the form of grants.
By tracing ACRe’s tax ID number (20-2921055), multiple funding sources were located:
- Southern Partners Fund (2012) -$7,500
- Network for Good (2012) -$8,025
- Neo-Philanthropy (2013) – $36,600
- Tides Foundation (2014) – $41,392 for ‘Moral Summer Freedom Program’
Any monies collected by ACRe or it’s sub-organizations after ACRe’s tax exemption status expired on 5/15/14 may be in violation of the law.
There are updates to this article:
Update 2017: ACRe attempted to obtain a new charitable license in 2016, but was denied and an insufficiency letter was issued to them by the Secretary of State’s office. ACRe finally obtained a new charitable license establishing themselves as a 501(c)3 from the NC Secretary of state on Nov. 11, 2017. Among the documents submitted by ACRe for the 2017 renewal was a verification that ACRe was also doing business as “Durham Solidarity Center.”
There is no additional renewal documentation on NC Secretary of State’s website, so it is therefore unclear whether or not ACRe’s 2017 license has lapsed.
It should also be noted that at some point after July 10, 2020, the Durham Solidarity Center took its website offline, including the donation page which Charlotte Uprising had linked to in 2016 for “donations.”)
Update 2019: The dozens of documents once listed on the Secretary of State website for ACRe are inexplicably missing and no longer available. As part of this article’s research, all documentation was downloaded and this site will make those documents available upon request. Please contact: TheLL1885@gmail.com.
Update 2020: The IRS is missing 990 filings from ACRe for 2016 and 2017. The 2016 filing showing $193,827 in gross receipts can be found at ProPublica.
The board on the 2016 filing lists Durham Attorney Phillip Hausman, Democracy NC staffer Alissa Ellis and Cathey Stanley, a branch organizer for the Communist Workers World Party, who is also a former Carborro schools teacher and as of at least 2020-21, an Orange County middle school social studies teacher.
Related Reading: The Basics of North Carolina’s New Police Body Camera Law
Over the last year, there have been mixed messages on the subject by the Wake County School Board and the Wake County Schools Communications department.
LL1885 
You must be logged in to post a comment.