Let me paint you a picture. The year is 1963. It is the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is leading one of the most influential protests of the movement, and in American history. 200 to 300 thousand people participated, marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Despite widespread fears that the march could turn violent, it didn’t. And with MLKs passionate cry of “I have a dream!”, the country was forever changed. 11 months later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, leading to further laws and ending segregation in the South. America was ushered into a new age. This was all done without riots or acts of violence, without any large scale crime. This is the way political protest should be handled, large scale marches, acts of civil disobedience, and with public outcry.
But now things are not so similar. While the recent political protests have been largely peaceful (with some glaring exceptions), they are evermore becoming for violent and destructive. It largely started in the summer of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd. Within 2 weeks of Floyds death, the protests that ensued had killed 19 people (McEvoy). The protests, and the riots that followed, led to $500 million in property damage (Meitrodt). 617 people were arrested as a result (Pham). This is in stark contrast to the March on Washington, where only 3 people were arrested (Crowley).
But there are far more examples of violent protests in the aftermath of Floyds death. After Breonna Taylors death in Louisville, 2 police officers were shot by a protester (Yancey-Bragg). Kenosha, Wisconsin saw violence after a group of protesters attacked Kyle Rittenhouse, leading him to kill 2 of them in an act of self defense (“Jury Finds Rittenhouse Not Guilty in Kenosha Shootings”). After police were accused of killing Eddie Sole Jr. (who was caught on CCTV committing suicide), 77 businesses were vandalized or looted in the two days following the death of Sole, and 5 businesses were set on fire (Sinner et al.). 132 people were arrested (“132 Arrests Made during Unrest, Looting in Minneapolis Overnight”). There are countless more examples, notably protests during the trials of Derek Chauvin and Kyle Rittenhouse, after the shooting of Daunte Wright, and the aftermath of the shooting of Amir Locke.
But the breakdown of peace in political protest doesn’t just stop at racial protests. The most notable example is the recent violence surrounding the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. After the court ruled in Dobbs favor, overturning Roe v. Wade, mass protests followed, adding on to the protests leading up to the decision. The first of these acts of violence in result of protests was the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, where a man broke in planning to murder Kavanaugh and commit suicide (Wolfe). Also before the protests, there were protests held in every single U.S state (with some in Denmark, England, and Australia), which remained mostly peaceful with the only real violence happening in Portland, Oregon, leading to one arrest (Reaume), and in Los Angeles where an officer was attacked (“LAPD Issue Tactical Alert after Officer Injured at Downtown LA Protest for Abortion Rights”).
After the case was decided however, protests remained mostly peaceful with one glaring exception: the group called Janes Revenge, a group that has claimed responsibility to vandalism, firebombing, and attacking the congressional office of Tim Walberg (R-MI). (Noor). Perhaps one of their most notorious attacks was the firebombing of CompassCare’s Buffalo, a Pregnancy Center in Buffalo (Noor). The Department of Justice called the group "a network of loosely affiliated suspected violent extremists [which] has been linked to arson attacks against the buildings of ideological opponents", and they warned violence could continue for weeks (ABC News).
These are just a few examples of many over the last few years, with other examples including Anti-Semitic violence in the wake of tensions between Israel and Palestine, along with the incredibly notable January 6th riot (I’d mention that here in more detail but lets face it, we are all sick of hearing it). The bottom line here is that violence as a mean to reach your goals in unacceptable. We can all take a page out of the book of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement and instead of riot to reach our goals, peacefully protest. If you don’t agree with those in power, vote them out, use the tools that are built in our political system to spark change, instead of ruining the lives of innocent bystanders. In the riots of the past 2 years, the businesses getting destroyed weren’t owned by Nancy Pelosi or Ted Cruz, nor are they a Trump Hotel or a Amazon fulfillment center. They are the mom and pop shops, the dental offices, the stores that sustain people financially. If your business was destroyed in these riots, would you be for them?
One question still remains. How did we come to this? Well a discussion on the ideological shifts and temperament of both the everyday American and the people in political office, along with the birth of more widespread information is warranted for another time. Until then I ask one thing, when you disagree with something, please protest peacefully, and not burn down your local grocery store.
Thank you for reading! It means alot to me for you to even get this far, and it helps me realize my dream of becoming a writer. If you enjoyed this article feel free to read one of my other political pieces, like this one on the Overton Window. Or perhaps this piece about how Canada now has a land border with Denmark. If you want to see more, please subscribe below, it truly means a lot to me. Thanks again and have a great rest of your day.
Works Cited
“132 Arrests Made during Unrest, Looting in Minneapolis Overnight.” FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, 27 Aug. 2020, www.fox9.com/news/132-arrests-made-during-unrest-looting-in-minneapolis-overnight.
ABC News. “Violence by Extremists Could Occur ‘for Weeks’ in Wake of Supreme Court Decision: DHS.” ABC News, 25 June 2022, abcnews.go.com/Politics/violence-extremists-occur-weeks-wake-supreme-court-decision/story?id=85664462.
Crowley, Raymond. “Original AP Story on the 1963 March on Washington.” The Seattle Times, 28 Aug. 2013, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/original-ap-story-on-the-1963-march-on-washington.
“Jury Finds Rittenhouse Not Guilty in Kenosha Shootings.” AP NEWS, 20 Nov. 2021, apnews.com/article/jury-finds-kyle-rittenhouse-not-guilty-in-kenosha-shootings-27f812ba532d65c044617483c915e4de.
“LAPD Issue Tactical Alert after Officer Injured at Downtown LA Protest for Abortion Rights.” ABC7 Los Angeles, 4 May 2022, abc7.com/los-angeles-downtown-la-protests-lapd/11816177.
McEvoy, Jemima. “14 Days Of Protests, 19 Dead.” Forbes, 14 Apr. 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/06/08/14-days-of-protests-19-dead/?sh=785237294de4.
Meitrodt, Jeffrey. “Rebuilding Many Twin Cities Businesses Means Starting Over.” Star Tribune, 7 June 2020, www.startribune.com/twin-cities-rebuilding-begins-with-donations-pressure-on-government/571075592.
Noor, Poppy. “Pro-Choice Militants Are Targeting ‘Pregnancy Crisis Centers’ across US.” The Guardian, 11 June 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/11/pro-choice-militants-pregnancy-crisis-centers-attacks-us.
Pham, Scott. “Police Arrested More Than 11,000 People At Protests Across The US.” BuzzFeed News, 3 June 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scottpham/floyd-protests-number-of-police-arrests.
Reaume, Genevieve. “Mayor Wheeler Reacts to Damage Following Protest, ‘I’m Not Anti-Protest, I’m Anti-Stupid.’” KATU, 5 May 2022, katu.com/news/local/mayor-wheeler-reacts-to-damage-following-protest-im-not-anti-protest-im-anti-stupid.
Sinner, C., et al. “Map of Minneapolis Businesses Damaged, Looted after Night of Unrest.” Star Tribune, 3 Sept. 2020, www.startribune.com/map-minneapolis-businesses-damaged-fire-looted-after-night-of-unrest-august-26/571806821.
Wolfe, Jan. “Man Charged With Attempting to Assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh Pleads Not Guilty.” WSJ, 22 June 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/man-charged-with-attempting-to-assassinate-justice-brett-kavanaugh-pleads-not-guilty-11655931658.
Yancey-Bragg, N’Dea Usa Today. “Breonna Taylor Overnight Updates: 2 Officers Shot during Louisville Protests Expected to Recover; Indicted Cop Booked into Jail, Released.” USA TODAY, 25 Sept. 2020, eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/23/breonna-taylor-announcement-grand-jury-louisville-police-case-updates/5814876002.