By day, Uptown Charlotte can be a pretty boring place.
Seriously, besides scores of roaming office workers, there ain’t much to see. When the lights go out, however, things get interesting.
After dark, city workers start their rounds, homeless people pound the pavement and bar crawlers bounce from club to club. After dark, the streets get a little less safe (though not dangerous by big-city standards) but downtown denizens get more sociable. After dark — in the words of the legendary hip-hop group Whodini — the freaks come out.
Thank God for the freaks.
Credit: Angus Lamond
Credit: Angus Lamond
TWO DOG NIGHT: Roxane Nickeo walks her wolfounds Gaeil (left) and Odysseus Credit: Catalina Kulczar
SK8TR: A boarder takes a break on Tryon and Fifth Credit: Katie Williams
Credit: Katie Williams
Credit: Angus Lamond
CLEANUP MAN: City employee Cald Welledward rides his sidewalk scrubber Credit: Catalina Kulczar
OVERTIME: Bankers Dave Weaver (right) and T.T. Barinath (who’s just visiting Charlotte) stroll down Tryon Street Credit: Catalina Kulczar
Credit: Angus Lamond
WAITING FOR THE DJ: Club kids stand in line for College Night at the Forum Credit: Katie Williams
CREATIVELY LOAFING: An unnamed downtown dweller takes a disco nap Credit: Katie Williams
WILD STYLE: Tyler Hull, 15, frequents Uptown just about every night to skateboard, hang out with friends and/or take photographs. Credit: Catalina Kulczar
If anything these pictures show the economic divide that plagues Charlotte and the world between the white haves and non-white have nots. White people tell themselves slavery is not their fault and then just go about their merry little lives like they earned every bit of their white privilege. That’s why Charlotte has so much crime. We have rich people living close to poor people. Naturally poor people are going take from the rich and give to themselves. That is actually expected human behavior.
BTW you say the freaks come out at night. I don’t see any freaks. I just see mostly black people going about their lives as third class citizens in a country that was founded on genocide and slavery.
That’s what’s so funny. White people have no authenticity at all to themselves. White people are bored with themselves because their lives are structured and full of fear. They long to have the “soul” of other races and seek it out at every opportunity. But you can never have cultural authenticity when your culture is based upon the exploitation of others.
I know this article wasn’t about racism but everything is about racism. Blacks need our own land within this country so we can fix our own problems without things getting worse under the yoke of white oppression. White people will never learn so non-whites are going to have to teach you the hard way.
Okay George, I’ll give you one thing: racism is still present. But at the same time, racism only affects those who allow it to. The fact of the matter is, you feel oppressed because you allow someone to make you feel inferior. In no way do the photos above depict racism, nor does it show cultural diversity or “soul”. What it shows is what any person walking down Trade or Tryon streets will see on any given night of the week. There isn’t one picture that symbolizes black inferiority, so it is an insult to those of us who are not culturally biased. It is also a shame that as a man, who seems to be somewhat educated, that you would contradict yourself by saying this article isn’t about racism, but also say that everything is about racism. One of the main reasons that this country remains so culturally divided is because for every person like me, there is a person like you. You want equality, but to what extent? You choose to separate yourself from the group as a whole, blaming everything that has happened to black people on white people, but what are you doing to solve the problem? Every culture is beautiful, and none is more important than the other, but for those blind to every culture’s influence on their own, that causes separation in races and cultures. What it all comes down to is that even with eyes wide open, no one can see with a closed mind…
Hey, George — do you know any slaves? Do you know anyone who owns one? Being slave to your own stupidity doesn’t count. Nor does being a slave to what happened more than 140 years ago.
My great-grandfather (an Irish immigrant who encountered more prejudice in this country than you’re capable of understanding) had a saying that has stuck with me for years:
“If you want to stop being treated like a second-class citizen, stop acting like one.”
If anything these pictures show the economic divide that plagues Charlotte and the world between the white haves and non-white have nots. White people tell themselves slavery is not their fault and then just go about their merry little lives like they earned every bit of their white privilege. That’s why Charlotte has so much crime. We have rich people living close to poor people. Naturally poor people are going take from the rich and give to themselves. That is actually expected human behavior.
BTW you say the freaks come out at night. I don’t see any freaks. I just see mostly black people going about their lives as third class citizens in a country that was founded on genocide and slavery.
That’s what’s so funny. White people have no authenticity at all to themselves. White people are bored with themselves because their lives are structured and full of fear. They long to have the “soul” of other races and seek it out at every opportunity. But you can never have cultural authenticity when your culture is based upon the exploitation of others.
I know this article wasn’t about racism but everything is about racism. Blacks need our own land within this country so we can fix our own problems without things getting worse under the yoke of white oppression. White people will never learn so non-whites are going to have to teach you the hard way.
You sir, George Thompson, are a MORON! “Everything” isnt about racism. You make it about racism. Grow up and get a job.
What ever you have been smoking, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF! We don’t want any!
Okay George, I’ll give you one thing: racism is still present. But at the same time, racism only affects those who allow it to. The fact of the matter is, you feel oppressed because you allow someone to make you feel inferior. In no way do the photos above depict racism, nor does it show cultural diversity or “soul”. What it shows is what any person walking down Trade or Tryon streets will see on any given night of the week. There isn’t one picture that symbolizes black inferiority, so it is an insult to those of us who are not culturally biased. It is also a shame that as a man, who seems to be somewhat educated, that you would contradict yourself by saying this article isn’t about racism, but also say that everything is about racism. One of the main reasons that this country remains so culturally divided is because for every person like me, there is a person like you. You want equality, but to what extent? You choose to separate yourself from the group as a whole, blaming everything that has happened to black people on white people, but what are you doing to solve the problem? Every culture is beautiful, and none is more important than the other, but for those blind to every culture’s influence on their own, that causes separation in races and cultures. What it all comes down to is that even with eyes wide open, no one can see with a closed mind…
Laugh of the Month: >
Hey, George — do you know any slaves? Do you know anyone who owns one? Being slave to your own stupidity doesn’t count. Nor does being a slave to what happened more than 140 years ago.
My great-grandfather (an Irish immigrant who encountered more prejudice in this country than you’re capable of understanding) had a saying that has stuck with me for years:
“If you want to stop being treated like a second-class citizen, stop acting like one.”
Read it. Learn it. Live it.