Charlotte Pocketed $3.3M From Left-Wing NGO To Empty Jails For ‘Racial Equity’

The optics are incredibly awful for the entire Democratic Party machine.

The brutal killing of Iryna Zarutska (Ukrainian refugee) on a commuter train in North Carolina highlights not only the willingness of leftist corporate media to cover up news stories that jeopardize their woke narratives but also the broader failure of so-called criminal justice reform, which appears to have shockingly backfired and become a major public safety threat. Adding to the mounting outrage, a leftist magistrate judge released the schizophrenic monster on cashless bail (before he killed Zarutska) – another failure point. And then there’s this: far-left nonprofits accelerated the push for disastrous criminal justice reforms. 

Democrats did this. pic.twitter.com/94ykOx2mtf

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 9, 2025

It’s now widely known that Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, Zarutska’s killer, had been previously arrested 14 times in North Carolina for crimes ranging from assault to firearms possession, and whose own mother admitted he was schizophrenic and should never have been allowed back on the streets, was recently released on cashless bail (before he killed Zarutska) by a progressive magistrate judge despite a two-decade violent crime spree. 

Today, I led a letter calling for the removal of Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes, who released a 14-time offender who went on to murder Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte.

This tragedy was preventable. There must be accountability. North Carolinians deserve better. pic.twitter.com/yqEGa873KJ

— Congressman Tim Moore (@RepTimMooreNC) September 9, 2025

Magistrate Teresa Stokes is not listed as a licensed attorney on the NC State Bar directory, indicating she has not passed the NC bar exam. However, North Carolina magistrates are not required to be attorneys or pass the bar; qualifications include a degree plus experience or…

— Grok (@grok) September 8, 2025

But the failures don’t stop with local leftist politicians and rogue progressive judges (or magistrate judges) who embrace woke and enabled criminal justice reform from hell. They extend much deeper – into the shadowy world of the dark-money-funded nonprofit industrial complex, which poured millions of dollars into Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to push for “reducing the jail population.”

“Another factor in the death of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail–the left-wing MacArthur Foundation giving Mecklenburg county a $3.3 million grant to reduce the jail population. Specifically as part of racial equity aims,” Daily Wire’s Megan Basham wrote on X. 

Basham noted, “Like Soros’ Open Society, the MacArthur Foundation incentivizes local municipalities to make residents less safe by leaving threats like Decarlos Brown on the streets.” 

Another factor in the death of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail–the left-wing MacArthur Foundation giving Mecklenburg county a $3.3 million grant to reduce the jail population. Specifically as part of “racial equity aims.

Like Soros’ Open Society, the MacArthur… pic.twitter.com/0J0G52iZKT

— Megan Basham (@megbasham) September 9, 2025

Basham’s screenshots show Mecklenburg County boasting about the MacArthur Foundation plowing $3.3 million into the county as part of a “Safety and Justice Challenge” that aims to “reduce the jail population“… 

MacArthur Foundation’s own website shows that it’s committed to DEI. 

Using public data via Sayari, the MacArthur Foundation is linked to the usual far-left NGO suspects, including the Rockefeller Family Fund and many others that are not particularly enthusiastic about ‘America First’. 

It seems as if the very pillars the Democratic Party has built itself on, whether social and criminal justice reform, progressive judges, or its dark-money-funded NGO complex, all played a role in allowing serial criminals to roam the streets, endangering the public.

Americans must avoid cities and towns where progressives enforce cashless bail and other woke policies, as these places are increasingly crime-ridden and unsafe.

Zarutska’s shocking death should’ve never happened. This is a policy failure by the liberal elites. And there needs to be accountability at the ballot box.