Boycotts and Protests

Following the outrage in Ferguson, Missouri that occurred when a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, numerous acts of civil disobedience and peaceful protests have taken place throughout the country.  These protests have persisted, gained many supporters, spread to more cities, and there is no indication that they will end any time soon.  They continue, in part, because more incidents of white police officers killing unarmed black men continue to occur, and such homicides continue to go unindicted.  

I think it is a very good thing that the protests have highlighted the issue of police violence and the racial inequities in which police “justice” is often meted out.  That said, I do have the following concerns.  Many attempts to bring about change through boycotts and protests fail because they lack two essential elements:  substantial planning and a preparedness by the participants to make significant, life-altering sacrifices.  For example, the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott, which started following Rosa Parks arrest in December of 1955, was in the works for months prior to its initiation (although the planning aspect of it is often overlooked when the history of the event is recounted).  Furthermore, those who participated had to prepare themselves to walk to their destinations for an indefinite amount of days, until their demands were heard and the system changed.  It lasted for 381 days!!!

Though it was successful, that boycott required both the mental fortitude and the physical strength to make it a success.  Do we, as a nation today, have the moxie to follow through with such a protest, knowing that it may cost us physically, financially, mentally?

I am also concerned that there be goals.  I believe that it is crucial the current protests do more than disrupt traffic, hamper businesses and merely make public spectacles.  It is important to me that any boycotts, protests or other civil disobedient actions pursue clearly defined goals.  Those goals can either be symbolic (to raise awareness of an issue), or they can be transformative (to change the nature of a particular grievance).  The United States’ boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow was a symbolic gesture that expressed the USA’s displeasure with the Soviet Union’s actions in Afghanistan (the favor was returned by the USSR in 1984 when the Games were held in Los Angeles).  The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a transformative boycott, meant to change the rule that Blacks had to give up their seats to Whites, and that Blacks had to sit at the back of the bus in deference to Whites.  

I’m convinced that the current protesters want to do more than just give a symbolic gesture; they want to see change to a system that allows for inequities and injustices by law enforcement toward people of color for the betterment of all US citizens.  So a set of goals and a way to see those goals implemented should be prominently featured at the heart of all the protest rallies and media mentions.   

Because this is a national movement with similar issues in play, I think there are some goals that we should all be pursuing in light of the recent court rulings and subsequent protests:

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      1.    The grand jury process needs to either have both sides of a case represented, or it needs to be done away with.  And it definitely needs to be a more transparent process.  It is not fair that a single prosecutor gets to decide what evidence is presented before a grand jury.  But this begs the question, why convene grand juries at all?!!

2.    The leeway and immunities that police are afforded need to be challenged.  It seems to me that police are legally allowed to mishandle some circumstances.  So those laws need to be changed.
 
3.    Police need to be better trained and/or held more accountable when they do not follow proper protocol.  If they can shoot indiscriminately when they have a “reasonable” fear for their life, then it should also be the case that they be prosecuted if they carry out an action (like murder) that could have been reasonably avoided had they followed proper protocol.  For example, it could be reasonably argued that the cop who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio should not have driven into so close of a range that he put himself in danger.  Similarly Darren Wilson backed his police vehicle up to confront Michael Brown instead of creating distance.  In either instance both could have avoided confrontation by creating space.  Instead they both did the opposite, and thus a more hostile atmosphere was created due (at least in part) to their actions.  The hostile environment they created then gave way to their (perhaps now reasonable) fear for their life.  Because they started the chain of events that led to them killing Rice and Brown, respectively, they should be held accountable…this should be punishable!!!

4.    Some people need to be voted out of office.  Specifically, the prosecuting attorneys who have fought so vigorously to not indict the officers, and feckless public officials (Like Missouri Governor Jay Nixon) who could have aided in making these processes more fair and/or transparent.

I was delighted to finally hear that the protesters in New York City came forth with specific demands in regard to the police actions that caused the death of Eric Garner.  In the coming days, I sincerely hope that more specific goals are proposed and vigorously sought after to correct the injustices that have occurred.

-Maelstrom