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I was looking over that last post and I just laughed at the block of text. That was a long one. And emotionally exhausting.
So, I was thinking I was in need of a more hopeful take. Coincidentally, it seems like others have felt that need too. A YouTube channel and a podcast I follow released things that had an optimistic tint to them. I think they’re worth consuming (Cuck Philosophy [FYI, speed up the playback, he speaks kind of slow]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Kb9U6qFBA&t=0s; On the Media: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-2020-06-05).
I wanted to write about why I think these protests will succeed. Because I think they will succeed. My biggest worry is that these protests won’t go far enough with their demands.
There have been small victories won by the movement already. Protesters organizing to support the community, Seattle backing down from imposing curfew, and a bunch of cops resigning from the riot team—albeit for the wrong reasons.
But it is incredibly depressing to realize that these are un-unprecedented times. The police, from their inception, have been used to squash uprisings by the labour force or people of colour (remember the Unite the Right protests? Nazis doing Nazi salutes, chanting Nazi chants, holding Nazi flags and insignia? For today’s homework, compare and contrast the police response to those protests where one of those Nazis ran over a lady to the current protests where the police are doing the running over). They do this under the orders of elected officials while major media corporations try to whitewash the crimes of those officials while framing it as a necessary evil in the pursuit of being “fair and balanced.”
But what is new is the callout by journalists (mostly of colour) of the corporations they work for. The solidarity is widespread.
What is new is the immediate support of white America. One poll showed that seventy-one percent of white Americans supported the protests. I don’t know if Martin Luther King ever had that much support in white America while he was alive.
What is new is the average Joe has either come to realize or started to listen to their Black neighbours that:
No, racism didn’t end with Obama.
No, segregation didn’t end with Brown v. Board of Education.
No, racialized housing didn’t end with redlining.
No, racist jury selection didn’t end with Batson.
No, voter suppression didn’t end with the 15th Amendment.
No, sentencing disparities didn’t end with the Fair Sentencing Act.
There is an awareness of these systems in place used to subjugate a people. There is a growing awareness that it’s rotten apples all the way down. The cops might be beating the protesters, but who gave those orders? What system is protecting those police officers, those policy makers, those prosecutors, judges, and so on? People are becoming aware of what the actual job description of the police is—spoiler: it ain’t to protect and serve. They are becoming aware of how past progress has been undermined. And despite their differences and the beat downs, they aren’t being dissuaded, distracted, or dismayed.
Like CuckP says “human capacity to self-organiz[e]” is incredible. What will actually come of this, I’m not sure. But the state is running out of options. And as much disdain the people in power might have against the rest of us, killing the means of production is counter productive. Even if they got to that point, it’s a lot to ask of individuals to shoot at their fellow citizens. Giving their guards an ultimatum like that hasn’t worked out even in some of the most oppressive regimes.
But let’s chill. Back away from worst case scenarios. This is supposed to be a happy post.
These protests are incredibly disruptive. Some people might think that’s a bad thing. I’ve heard people ask variants of “Why can’t these protesters ask nicely?”. Apart from the obvious moral absurdity of asking victims of intense violence to ask the perpetrators nicely not to beat them—because Kaepernick was so well received—it’s just not the point. Protests are meant to disrupt. Otherwise it’s really easy to ignore; it’s how Canada gets away with our crimes against the First Nations. But once the people start to disrupt, the clock starts ticking.
These protests are incredibly disruptive, not just because of the number of people that have come together, but because of the timing. The time when the workers are most free happens to be the time when the state most needs them back to work as America groans to reopen their economy. It gives the people the ability to protest and more leverage to protest with.
But it’s more than just economics. More than three quarters of Americans in general support the protests. The officers that have been ordered to crack down on these protests are people of the community. They have parents, partners, children. They are members of clubs and religious institutions. More than three quarters of Americans support the protests. Sooner or later, it’s going to be their face on the front page of reddit shoving an old man. It’s hard to imagine what sort of conversations will follow.
Even if the cops feel justified in their actions, they might just take a sick day just to stop the nagging for a bit. Or their bosses, the ones who gave them the orders, will punish them for getting caught on camera. I doubt a bunch of beat cops are willing to continue to take the fall for their superiors. The pressure on both sides leads to the same outcome: the forced reintegration of the officers. Which hopefully will broaden who’s included in their understanding of community, reducing that emotional distance that has allowed them to be so brutal.
The clock is ticking. The coalition is growing. And the state is running out of options.
There will be more abuses of power as the people in power fight to maintain the status quo that got them there. Like Thanos, that’s inevitable. This is probably the part where I’m quote someone from the Civil Rights movement, but that feels a little antithetical to what I’m going for. Instead, I’ll quote a current world leader out of context. We’re headed towards a “new normal.” We just need to make sure that we’re not satisfied with superficial victories. We know better now, right?
Wake Up Sheeple! 