Protesting: Then and Now

    These two videos were frustrating to watch together. As though current events surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement aren't cause enough for frustration, these videos serve as a startling reminder that the same fight has been going on for decades. Just about any American can easily make connections between the children's protest in Alabama and the current BLM protests; protesters, regardless of their age or cause, have been forcefully and aggressively beaten back by police officers and people in power. Whether sprayed with pressurized water or tear gas, black people and their allies have been repeatedly told that their cause isn't worth the fight. How much longer will it take? 

    The protests today make me think people are finished waiting. Just like in the video about the children's march, young people have come together in an incredible way in order to rally, teach, and define their own generation as one who speaks up and out. Participants from that protest in Birmingham talk about organizing young people in order to enact change; young people are full of emotional energy and are excited to define a new society for their generation. As one of the participants comments, "We were born black in Alabama, and we were going to get hurt if we didn't so something." Fear is such a viable impetus for change, which was clearly demonstrated in the children's march as well as in more recent protests. When your safety is threatened by the very institutions who were designed to keep you safe, there needs to be a change.

    In the second video about the journey of the BLM movement, the co-founders talk about what happens when protesting does more harm than good. They discuss the value in organizing a movement that will persist and succeed even without specific leaders. As mentioned in the video, many protests, especially high-energy ones, "[struggle] to head off violence." We have seen protests turn violent right here in Providence as confrontations between protesters and police officers got out of hand. "How do we learn how to organize? How do we learn how to create a set of demands?" These questions are critical for protesting well and achieving successful change. I hope that as my students set forth and make these demands themselves, they will remember to look towards leaders who are trying their best to protest productively. In doing so, I believe they can be the change they seek.