There was looting, violence, and protests in Charlotte, North Carolina:

September 22, 2016
There are conflicting reports about the shooting, which happened during a second night of unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse angry demonstrators. …
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory later declared a state of emergency in Charlotte due to the unrest, a statement from his office said.
Clashes repeated
Wednesday’s protest got out of control after several hundred demonstrators approached a downtown intersection and began to surround and taunt groups of police and their patrol cars.
Some protesters banged on glass windows, others threw objects at police and stood on cars as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, prompting demonstrators to run. Protesters were also seen looting a convenience store after smashing its windows. …
A string of fatal police shootings in recent months – from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to St. Paul, Minnesota – has left many Americans demanding law enforcement reforms and greater police accountability.http://www.dw.com/en/charlotte-police-shooting-state-of-emergency-declared-after-violence/a-19567210
September 22, 2016One person was shot late Wednesday in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, as protesters rallied for a second night in response to the police killing of an African-American man.
The governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency in Charlotte and deployed National Guard troops in the city.
Early in the night there were peaceful marches, but they later turned violent with clashes erupting between police in riot gear and protesters. Officers fired tear gas to try to disperse crowds. Some people smashed store windows and set small fires in streets.
The situation was largely calm by the early hours of Thursday. …
Clinton, Trump weigh in
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the killings are “unbearable and need to become intolerable.”
She said the country needs strength, love and kindness and that “we are safer when communities respect police and police respect communities.”
Republican Donald Trump tweeted “the situations in Tulsa and Charlotte are tragic. We must come together to make America safe again.” He said he hopes the violence and unrest in Charlotte comes to an immediate end. http://www.voanews.com/a/police-shootings-sparks-protest-in-charlotte/3518072.html
Charlotte workers asked to stay home after night of violence
September 22, 2016
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Streets appeared calm early Thursday in downtown Charlotte after a second night of violent protests over the deadly police shooting of a black man, although at least three major businesses were asking their employees to stay home for the day as the city remained on edge. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy all told employees not to venture into North Carolina’s largest city after Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency Wednesday night and called in the National Guard after Charlotte’s police chief said he needed the help.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHARLOTTE_POLICE_FATAL_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-22-07-49-52
September 22, 2016
according to the Charlotte Observer.
The scene was total chaos, according to the report headlined, “1 shot during uptown protests over officer-involved shooting.”
“Moments earlier, police fired tear gas at protesters at the entrance to the Omni Hotel in uptown Charlotte. Loud booms sounded, and police said explosives had been used,” the newspaper reported.
“Your life is in danger, you need to move!” shouted police in riot gear. …
Officers fired rubber bullets into the crowd around 9:45 p.m., according to the report. Fox News reported rioters were “lobbing bottles and lobbing rocks at police,” who set up a barrier outside the Omni hotel. …
Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was killed at an apartment complex on the city’s northeast side while police were trying to serve a warrant for a different man in the same complex.
Charlotte police warned Scott again and again to drop his handgun, said Police Chief Kerr Putney during a news conference on Wednesday.
“The officers gave loud, clear verbal commands which were also heard by many of the witnesses. They were instructing the subject, once he got out of the vehicle, to drop the weapon … Mr. Scott exited his vehicle armed with a handgun as the officers continued to yell at him to drop it.”
Scott’s family members said he was simply sitting in his car, reading a book while waiting to pick up his son from school.
Officers did not find a book where Scott was shot, said Putney.
The violence began after Scott’s daughter posted a profanity-laced, hour-long video on Facebook, saying her father had an unspecified disability and was unarmed.
A man described as the brother of Scott is heard calling all white people “f––ing devils” in a video captured shortly after Scott was killed.
“I just know that all white people are f—ing devils.” Then he adds, “All white cops are f—ing devils, and white people.”
The officer who killed Scott, Brentley Vinson, is also black….
“We out like the Taliban!” one rioter could be heard yelling on a Facebook Live broadcast of the protests, reported the Daily Caller. http://www.wnd.com/2016/09/riots-in-charlotte-after-fatal-police-shooting/#Avldb58VXZEvisDP.99
September 22, 2016
We have one simple question – how is beating, dragging, stripping, and laughing-at an innocent white man going to help the discourse about police violence against black men? …
But that was not all… As Mediaite notes, among the many reports of violence from the Charlotte, North Carolina unrest Wednesday night was one particular shocking example: rioters tried to throw a news photographer into a burning fire. Local CW affiliate WCCB was on the scene and tweeted out images of the fire and their initial report. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-22/do-whitelivesmatter-charlotte

Last night, I watched a lot of what was reported live from Charlotte. The news showed looting in progress as well as various ones taunting police officers.

One columnist had a horrific idea on how to end the protests:

September 21, 2016
As protests in Charlotte descended into chaos and violent outbreaks on Wednesday night, a conservative columnist forUSA Today put out a provocative tweet that seems to have led to his suspension on social media.
University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds is creator of the Instapundit blog, and he was following along with the protests being held after the fatal police shootingKeith Lamont Scott. As the night progressed, his @instapundit Twitter account posted quite the message as he linked to a protest live-stream: Run them down. http://www.mediaite.com/online/usa-today-columnist-suspended-on-twitter-for-charlotte-protest-post-run-them-down/

More violence and injuries is not the solution to the problems in Charlotte. This call to ‘run them down’ will further inflame many of the protesters.

Last night, the police used a lot of tear gas, and the protesters often threw the tear gas canisters back at the police.

As far as tear gas goes, some might find the following anti-tear gas information of interest:

What is tear gas? What are “lachrymatory agents”?
The term “tear gas” is applied to numerous substances, although the most common one currently in use internationally is what is called “CS gas.” CS is one of many so-called “nonlethal” chemical weapons referred to as “lachrymatory agents” (which comes from “lacrima,” the latin word for “tear.”) The category “lachrymatory agents” also includes chemicals commonly known as pepper spray (OC, PAVA) and mace (CN). Technically, tear gas and pepper spray are thought of as different substances. (For instance, most people probably think of tear gas as a gas and pepper spray as a liquid, however either chemical can come in various forms depending on how it is prepared.) However, they are both lachrymatory agents used by the state to stifle dissent and to terrorize prisoners, and they are often manufactured by the same companies (sometimes they are also combined in the same product.)
The term “tear gas” is a misnomer. For one thing, “tear gas” seems to imply something innocuous— you would think it’s just a chemical that makes you tear up. In fact, tear gas is a dangerous, potentially lethal chemical agent which is outlawed under the Chemical Weapons Conventionfor use during wartime. As the Omega Research Foundation argues: “Less-lethal weapons are presented as more acceptable alternatives to guns. But these weapons augment rather than replace the more lethal weapons. Euphemistic labels are used to create the impression that these weapons represent soft and gentle forms of control. CS is never referred to by the authorities as vomit gas, in spite of its capacity to cause violent retching.” NGO Physicians for Human Rights believes that “ ‘tear gas’ is a misnomer for a group of poisonous gases which, far from being innocuous, have serious acute and longer-term adverse effects on the health of significant numbers of those exposed.” We aim to change the conversation on tear gas by calling this so-called “nonlethal” weapon what it is: a chemical weapon. http://facingteargas.org/bp/36/what-tear-gas

I do not believe that tear gas is the solution to crime (see Crime can be stopped…here’s how! and/or watch a related sermon: Crime and How it Will be Stopped!).

Nor did it appear that the protesters had the answers to it either (and that is ignoring the looters and the violent protesters who acted as criminals themselves).

Those involved with protests (including police) should consider that the Bible teaches:

2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil (Exodus 23:2)
31 Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways. (Proverbs 3:31, NLT)

I am not saying that peaceful protests are evil, but that sometimes people are influenced to do wrong things by crowds.

There was a lot of restrained hatred in Charlotte last night (from both the police and the protesters), though not all of it was restrained, and unneeded violence occurred.

Isaiah was inspired to write:

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6 Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. (Isaiah 59:2-8)

The USA clearly does have a problem with violence. Over the past many years, politicians have fanned the flames for this and I expect much worse violence in the future in the USA.

The Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21) will also come.

Yet the time will come when violence will end. Isaiah was also inspired to write:

15 “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
So that no one went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellence,
A joy of many generations.
16 You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles,
And milk the breast of kings;
You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 “Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
Instead of iron I will bring silver,
Instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace,
And your magistrates righteousness.
18 Violence shall no longer be heard in your land,
Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders;
But you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise.
19 “The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light,
And your God your glory. (Isaiah 60:15-19)