ABOUT CHARLES BELK

Entertainment Industry Executive, Producer and Active Citizen

Charles Belk is an entertainment industry executive, producer and active citizen. He grew up in Durham, North Carolina (USA), and graduated from Hillside High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1985, an MBA from Indiana University, and an Executive Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School.

He began his career as an IBM engineer, then worked in community affairs for the Atlanta Hawks and served as Deputy Director of Olympic Village Operations for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In Los Angeles he led a talent management firm and a production company. His producing credits include the films The Greatest Song (2009) and Douglass U (2013), and the NAACP Image Awards, where he has produced the Trophy Lounge and Distribution since 2025.

On August 22, 2014, on his way to a pre-Emmy event, he walked to his car to feed the parking meter while waiting for a friend. Police searching for a bank robbery suspect stopped him because he “fit the description” of a tall, bald Black man. He was handcuffed, held for about six hours on $100,000 bail and released without charges. The department said it deeply regretted the arrest, acknowledged breakdowns, adopted new protocols for reviewing alibi evidence, and worked with Belk on a police training video. The full 2014 story →

The arrest record remained, so he started #AutoErase™: when an agency arrests the wrong person, the agency, not the person, should erase the record automatically and at no cost. North Carolina was first, with Gov. Pat McCrory signing S.B. 233 in 2015 and crediting Belk as its inspiration. Illinois, Colorado, Rhode Island, Kansas and Missouri followed, and South Carolina enacted Act 248 in 2026 after an 11-year effort. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators both endorsed the campaign. He has testified in person in Connecticut, Kansas and Maryland and submitted written testimony in Oregon, Ohio and other states.

He was a 2016 finalist for the national Ford Freedom Unsung Award, and Durham proclaimed “Charles Belk and Justified AutoErasure Day” that year. He has given more than 300 speeches and presentations, visited 86 countries and resided in 13. He is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.