If you are: upset George Floyd was killed, but believe that violence and looting at protests isn't the answer…or are trying to have a conversation with someone who is upset that George Floyd was killed, and may even support Black Lives Matter, but is concerned about the violence and looting at protests…
Then this page is for you.
TL;DR
- Most protests are peaceful. In several cases, black protestors and organizers are asking people to not vandalize
- Peaceful protestors (such as Martin Luther King Jr.) aren't necessarily treated better
- Only after MLK Jr.'s assassination and the subsequent riots was the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (which makes racial discrimination illegal for housing) passed
- Focusing on violence, and characterizing protests as 'riots' —
- Happens more with protests associated with black and civil rights
- Delegitimizes the protests and shifts focus away from what is being protested (unjust deaths of black Americans at the hands of the police)
- Shifts the focus away from police violence against protestors (see Examples of: Police escalating violence against protestors for more)
- Bonus: A discussion of civil asset forfeiture, which permits police officers to seize people's assets even if they're not charged of wrongdoing
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Most protests are peaceful. In several situations, organizers and black protestors have asked vandals to stop
- Denver, CO:
- On May 31, Denver Post reporter Saja Hind observed (and posted a video) that "Fights are breaking out as more white people damage public buildings…Black people are asking their allies to stop." She later observed that "there is A LOT of anger toward people throwing things at cop, vandalizing. Other protesters pushing them out and asking them to leave."
- On June 3, Denver Westword staff writer Conor McCormick-Cavanagh observed "Some person launching fireworks into a nearby building. Protest leaders get upset. Start this chant" and posts a video of people chanting 'Peaceful protest'.
- Los Angeles, CA: LAist and NPR reporter Libby Denkmann described a peaceful protest outside Mayor Garcetti's home: "Organizers with @BLMLA kept this action under wraps all day. They held a training nearby to emphasize peaceful methods of resistance."
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Peaceful protests are still heavily criticized and opposed by people
Martin Luther King Jr. (assassinated after years of peaceful protest)
https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/status/1266963241424629760?s=20
Martin Luther King Jr. was a steadfast proponent of peaceful and nonviolent protests. However, he urged people to understand the causes of riots:
America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots…
Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating…But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?…as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention. (The Week)