It is also the case that the leaderas-infallible person is a hard sell now , especially for younger people . Younger generations know that if you have leaders or central figures , you can bring down the whole movement by bringing down its leaders , through personal flaws or assassinations . But one critique of more diffuse movements is that if there ’ s no central message , it ’ s harder for traditional media to tell the story and for policymakers to address change .
What hasn ’ t changed ? The narrative of “ good ” and “ bad ” protests is still very much influenced by who ’ s protesting and what they ’ re protesting about . Even before the American Revolution , American Indians and Africans were scapegoated to deflect blame for protests . People at the Boston Tea Party roughly disguised themselves as American Indians . British soldiers attempted to justify shooting into a crowd of Boston residents by blaming Crispus Attucks (“ the big guy of African and American Indian descent ”) and the Irish , who were considered non-white at the time . The deflections were intended , in part , to fault “ others ” for the pre-Revolutionary conflicts between the colonists and the British .
Those tropes have a long history and remain today . You have white people armed to the max seen as protecting property and First Amendment rights . They ’ re called “ militias ” or “ patriots ”— while Black and brown people protesting their right not to die are seen as violent “ rioters ,” even when unarmed . The difference in police response is stark , too . This country still protects whiteness .
Are protests effective ? Yes . They ’ re effective in that they can gain support for ideas from the public . They can also affect policy . My work finds that the groups protesting at the highest costs to themselves — people who have the most to lose by protesting , those who risk police repression , death , arrest or deportation for example — are more likely to get legislation in favor of their cause . When people are willing to protest , particularly when their protest may result in serious consequences , it suggests that they care enough about the protest issue to hold legislators accountable at the ballot box .
We saw a lot of this effectiveness in 2020 . Support for BLM has grown
with the racial justice protests in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death . There are also conversations now about reparations at a level of seriousness that hasn ’ t happened before and conversations about police reform .
In 2020 , we also saw protests against COVID-19 policies , then there was the Jan . 6 , 2021 attack on the U . S . Capitol . Would you say , on the whole , that protests are positive or negative for U . S . democracy ? Democracies are supposed to be full of people participating . It ’ s not a bad sign in a democracy that there are a lot of people voicing strong opinions , or even extreme views . It can be good . In a strong democracy , people can and should feel that it ’ s OK to say what ’ s on their minds . A more dangerous sign is when people try to overturn democratic processes — and try to suppress other people ’ s voices , rights and liberties .
Hear more from LaGina Gause and other political science experts on campus at : tritonmag . com / protest
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