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Since so many of you are concerned, here are some helpful things you can do to fight injustice:
1. Speak up and speak loudly when you see unjust behavior
I've been doing that all my life. The protests make my words fall on unsympathetic ears, because the protests make it easy to dismiss efforts at social justice.
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Originally Posted by jade408
2. At work encourage your hr department to look outside the usual schools for candidates: recruit at the Cal State schools and community colleges
I've been doing that at my university/employer. The protests make people reluctant to venture outside the norm, for fear of hiring a zealot who wants to throw bombs instead of work productively together to make it better for everyone.
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Originally Posted by jade408
3. Notice all the attacks on voting rights? Vote against those.
I do that. Interesting, if protesters get felony convictions their voting rights may be eliminated in some places, sometimes forever. So, the protests can make my efforts to support voting rights that much harder.
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Originally Posted by jade408
4. Get to know other parts of your community
I'm an explorer of human ways, so I've been doing that my whole life. The protests make people more insular as they try to protect themselves.
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Originally Posted by jade408
5. Support your local businesses
I shop locally. Too bad local merchants had their storefronts damaged and broken by protesters. Some closed because of it, costing local jobs. The protesters, like locusts, just moved on to other targets.
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Originally Posted by jade408
I am sure there are way more thinks but these are top of mind.
There are. And the A NUMBER ONE way is to protest only after you first THINK of a way to construct a savvy, compelling protest method, not something that alienates even your allies.
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Originally Posted by jade408
I hope the Bay Bridge protests show you that people are really sick of business as usual. And if your concern is genuine you'd do your part to help out. Whether it is a moral imperative for you or you are motivated by other reasons.
"Hope" something works is no substitute for STRATEGY and TACTICS to produce something that will work! Even people with genuine concern have finite time, attention, and patience. The savvy protester does not test those limits of the very people they need on their side.
I notice the comparison with Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott has been dropped in favor of a less relevant comparison with AIDS activists who were battling for research money and attention, not seeking a wholesale change in the racialized economic structure of the nation. I guess the realization dawned that while BLM sympathizers may see a connection, to 99% of the people BLM looks totally destructive compared to Rosa Parks not blocking anyone and the MBB simply withholding their money. I'll take that as a sign that MAYBE the BLM sympathizers might be able to learn something (even though they resist which is why the switch to an inapplicable comparison). I have no strategy to make them apply that knowledge, but I hope they'll take it in and adjust accordingly. Otherwise, their tactics just make real social justice work that much harder.
Blocking the Bridge and imprisoning innocent normal people will only hurt the BLM movement. If this becomes more of a common occurrence, I would imagine there will be a laws proposed to give heavy charges against the people involved. Right now it's just a slap on the wrist and the attorneys will be too chicken to prosecute.
The only way to make lasting change is through the political system. BLM should organized themselves and vote. Identify changes that can help make a meaningful difference that the majority of ppl could support. (ie more cameras on police officers, better ways to bring down suspects without a gun (ie .. lasso? net? ), etc )
Disruptive tactics have always been in the playbook for justice movements. Are you saying it was all sunshine and roses when the march on Washington happened?
At this stage there is a goal to create some urgency. I have no idea what the right tactics are, I am not an "activist." But convenience should not be a factor if the goal is for change to happen. At this point in time, 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, there is still a long way to go. Why should people settle for being "nice"'and "accommodating?" Clearly that hasn't worked for the past 50 years. It is time for something else.
Disruptive tactics have always been in the playbook for justice movements. Are you saying it was all sunshine and roses when the march on Washington happened?
At this stage there is a goal to create some urgency. I have no idea what the right tactics are, I am not an "activist." But convenience should not be a factor if the goal is for change to happen. At this point in time, 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, there is still a long way to go. Why should people settle for being "nice"'and "accommodating?" Clearly that hasn't worked for the past 50 years. It is time for something else.
OK, I get your point. Can you explain to me how blocking a bridge creates a sense of urgency?
At this stage there is a goal to create some urgency.
Okay, the bridge has been blocked and everyone knows there is a major sense of injustice. What exactly needs to happen now?
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Why should people settle for being "nice"'and "accommodating?" Clearly that hasn't worked for the past 50 years. It is time for something else.
Yes, for starters, the 'something else' is for young people to be put on a path to higher education and/or the skills necessary to have a meaningful career. That is how future generations are set on a completely different trajectory, for the better. I have seen it with my own two eyes and I have seen it in the lives of countless loved ones of many different races, ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes.
Education=Empowerment. It's not just a catchy term, it's real life change.
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Originally Posted by SocSciProf
Look, protest will NEVER succeed if people can't see distinctions between situations so they can plan appropriate protests. Flint, MI had 3-4 easily identifiable actors to approach. Those actors had total decision-making power. Yet, they did nothing.
Exactly. The Bay Bridge protest has absolutely nothing to do with the gripes of BLM. Neither does blocking BART trains or protesting in Union Square.
How about taking their grievance directly to police headquarters? Why not lobby city council members demand that the police force reflect the diversity of the communities they serve? That's not unreasonable to me. Why not set up community oversight over police acitivity. Im all for that. Those are solutions that would help imo but the Bay Bridge is not the place to demand those kinds of changes.
Furthermore, Why not address the internal issues that plague the Black community by getting to the crux of the matter. Yes, Whites has oppressed Blacks for generations, yes it's wrong, no one condones it, but Black-on-Black violence far outweighs Police-on-Black aggression and it's not even close. Why doesnt the BLM movement thrust itself into that cause?
Furthermore, Why not address the internal issues that plague the Black community by getting to the crux of the matter. Yes, Whites has oppressed Blacks for generations, yes it's wrong, no one condones it, but Black-on-Black violence far outweighs Police-on-Black aggression and it's not even close. Why doesnt the BLM movement thrust itself into that cause?
Oh no you didn't! How dare you suggest that there might be anything wrong with the black community.
Disruptive tactics have always been in the playbook for justice movements. Are you saying it was all sunshine and roses when the march on Washington happened?
Again you betray confusion. Do you really not see the difference between a march on Washington and a block of the bay bridge?
How many Presidents, Senators, Representatives, Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet ministers are "inconvenienced" by a block of the bay bridge? If you knew your history you'd know that the MoW was done to draw international attention. U.S. leaders were attempting to make alliances with newly decolonised nations of Africa and Asia. Soviet leaders pointed to black oppression as a warning against trusting the U.S.. The MoW put U.S. racial policy into international relief. The same thing as a March on the Bay Bridge would have been USELESS, just as it is useless today, and it would have been useless and is useless today because it does not target the people who have the power to make a different decision.
MoW people marched from all over the country to get to Washington. They knew that a single site was key to change, and that the people in power were the people they needed to pressure. Today's protesters seem to roll out of bed, head to the nearest "hot spot," and act, oblivious to whether it hurts their own allies or not.
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Originally Posted by jade408
At this stage there is a goal to create some urgency. I have no idea what the right tactics are, I am not an "activist."
Then maybe you should stop defending stupid actions. I was an activist in the past and now work in other ways to make a difference. All the experienced activists on the left I know are saddened by the brain dead tactics of some of BLM.
First off I think this thread is clear evidence that a: we as a society are very quick to assume groups are of one hive mind and are all the same. B: we don't want to give movements space to learn, grow and figure out what is effective. We have a movement made up of young people when aren't experts on everything and are trying to figure out how to make progress. Yet all of these experienced "activists" are like "well I hate this hashtag initiated movement, so I am going to complain." Instead of offering mentorship, advice, whatever.
People are happy to tweet or share and not take action. And right now there is some sorting out on the right actions. I was in convenienced by the Bridge protest as I was in Emeryvile at the lead up. And the roads were blocked and it took 30 minutes to go from Bay Street to Target. And I went on with my day, and continued on with the stuff I know how to do.
So yes. I don't have issues with a Bridge protest because I saw a bunch of great conversation in my own circles and some new people are taking action they would not have in the past.
From what I've read and understood, neither Jade408 or SocSciProf is wrong.
But the likelihood of disenfranchised groups being able to break into mainstream news on favorable and positive terms is well, unlikely. In a society that promotes and holds sentiments of being post racial and meritocratic (as fallacious as those beliefs are), it is then difficult to break through attitudes of indifference and/or antipathy to highlight social and political injustices. Civil disobedience has always been about disruptive power, and continuous disruption is harder for a society to withstand, which serves to produce expeditious results. There's always the risk of inviting negative attention and responses, which can be counterproductive. Without a doubt, blockades on a bridge is both a powerful image and display of disruptive power, which galvanizes people and draws widespread attention. Black Lives Matter has put some injustices in the national and international conversation through its disruptive power.
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Originally Posted by 18Montclair
Furthermore, Why not address the internal issues that plague the Black community by getting to the crux of the matter. Yes, Whites has oppressed Blacks for generations, yes it's wrong, no one condones it, but Black-on-Black violence far outweighs Police-on-Black aggression and it's not even close. Why doesnt the BLM movement thrust itself into that cause?
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Originally Posted by zitsky
Oh no you didn't! How dare you suggest that there might be anything wrong with the black community.
/s
Polling shows that there is concern and organization regarding crime and safety within these vulnerable communities. There are many groups and organizations that address these issues, and more. Black Lives Matter does acknowledge these issues, but to suggest that their primary focus should be squarely on these issues, suggests that they don't have the right to be outraged about state violence.
It's important to acknowledge that most crime is intra-racial: 93% of black victims are killed by blacks, 84% of whites are killed by whites. Therefore, the root of the problem isn't a problem of black pathology or inherent criminality, like diversionary narratives would suggest, but is attributed to a history of state violence and racism that produce, promotes, and preserves the social conditions that create and contribute to these issues.
Last edited by the happy guy; 01-21-2016 at 03:40 PM..
Polling shows that there is concern and organization regarding crime and safety within these vulnerable communities. There are many groups and organizations that address these issues, and more.
Likewise, improvements such as body cameras on officers, and sensitivity training has been implemented in many police departments, and racial profiling is now closely watched in many departments.
And yet we still see incidents such as what occurred in Ferguson, Baltimore and SF---we still have a ways to go.
I just dont get why BLM people arent at least just as vocal and at least just as angry on TV, in the news, on social media. All I see are devastated mothers crying when their son is gunned down calling for an end to the violence. Might I say again, those kinds of killings are by far the number 1 cause of Black homicides.
That should be the focal point in my extremely humble opinion.
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Black Lives Matter does acknowledge these issues, but to suggest that their primary focus should be squarely on these issues, suggests that they don't have the right to be outraged about state violence.
Yes, be outraged, but every local incident thus far Ive seen has really garnered very little sympathy and horribly bad PR for the movement, right?
People are NOT relating with the cause because they are so p*ssed off about being stuck in traffic.
Revenge is not blocking the freeway, revenge is graduating from college. IJS.
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The root of the problem isn't a problem of black pathology or inherent criminality, like diversionary narratives would suggest, but is attributed to a history of state violence and racism that produce, promotes, and preserves the social conditions that create and contribute to these issues.
Yeah, no one suggested that this is inherent or an issue of Black pathology.
How we got to this point is less important to me than what we need to do to fix it.
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