Explained: The Protests for Racial Justice

June 2, 2020

On May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes as he lay face-down and handcuffed. In a now-viral video, Floyd repeatedly tells the officer that he cannot breathe before going motionless.

This news came on the heels of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, two other unarmed Black individuals whose deaths have drawn public attention and widespread outcry. See our previous response for more information about Floyd, Arbery, and Taylor.

What began as a single protest in Minneapolis over the killing of George Floyd has since evolved into multiple days of demonstrations around the world asserting that Black lives matter. What’s happening right now is much bigger than these three individuals: their deaths brought attention to oppression -- and the movement against it -- that have been ongoing for centuries.

Read DoSomething.org’s official statement on the protests.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• What Are the Protests About?
• Is Discrimination in Policing Really a Problem?
• How Big Are These Protests?
• But What About Looting and Rioting?
• But Why Are the Protests Getting Destructive?

What Are the Protests About?

Primarily, they’re about police brutality -- specifically, the way that Black people are disproportionately victimized by law enforcement.

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that the protests are more broadly about white supremacy and the systems that uphold it. In this context, white supremacy doesn’t just refer to hate groups who consciously believe that white people are superior to other races. Rather, as explained by critical-race-theorists, white supremacy is also associated with “the operation of forces... that shape the world in the interests of white people” (whether it’s done consciously or not). There are lots of systems in place in the US that were historically built and currently operate to the advantage of white people and disadvantage of people of color (primarily Black people).

For example, the public education system was delayed over centuries in serving Black students, and to this day, the majority of non-white students attend schools with unequal educational experiences.

You can find similar patterns within the healthcare system. Western biomedical science had foundations in anti-Blackness, and today, Black individuals have lower health outcomes than their white peers.

The example that’s front-and-center during these protests is that of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, which currently holds 2.3 million people incarcerated (40% of whom are Black Americans, despite only making up 13% of the population).

Is Discrimination in Policing Really a Problem?

Yes, undeniably so.

Beyond Floyd, Arbery, and Taylor, there is a greater pattern of police violence within this country. Research shows that Black individuals are more likely to die at the hands of law enforcement than their white counterparts, and 1 in every 1,000 Black men and boys can expect to be killed by police.

People of color (primarily Black individuals) are also more likely to be stopped, searched, given citations, and arrested by police even while exhibiting similar behavior to their white counterparts.

The history of American law enforcement is also rooted in maintaining white supremacy, going as far back as the early “slave patrols” of the 1700s and eventually evolving into municipal police departments that would go on to enforce racist Jim Crow laws. While a lot of our laws have since modernized, echoes of this history are still felt today in the way law enforcement operates towards people of color.

Beyond the systemic and unconscious racism within law enforcement, there’s also evidence of individual and conscious racism too. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have previously warned of white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement. White supremacists groups have been known to actively recruit members of law enforcement to their ranks, and some members of law enforcement in the past decade have been revealed to be members of white supremacists groups.

How Big Are These Protests?

Very big. They’ve been going on for seven nights so far, with more planned for the coming days.

Protests have been held in several cities across the US, including New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and, of course, the source of it all: Minneapolis. A lot of cities outside of the country are also rallying behind George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Similar demonstrations are happening in London, Paris, Toronto, and Berlin.

That means that this movement is resonating with a lot of people inside and outside the US -- a testament to how deeply white supremacy and anti-Blackness has embedded itself into so many different communities around the globe.

But What About Looting and Rioting?

There have been instances of vandalism, looting, and other disruptive acts during the course of the protests, and it’s important to frame them within the context of what’s going on.

At the heart of these protests is the loss of life -- most recently George Floyd, but also informed by the countless other Black lives lost to police violence each year. These unjust deaths and seeming disregard for human lives will (rightfully) surface a lot of feelings: anger, sadness, frustration, unrest, etc. Disruptive behavior like looting, vandalism, and violence are the byproduct of years and years and years of injustice and inaction.

Historically, they’re also some of the most effective tactics for driving attention to that injustice and inaction because they’re disruptive. Rebellion, resistance, and protest have long been a part of the American identity, and not always in ways that appear agreeable to all. Let’s not forget that the Stonewall Uprising was a series of riots that catalyzed the LGBTQ rights movement, or that the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed in response to the riots following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assasination.

Ultimately, there is no “right” way to protest. If history tells us anything, it’s that detractors will find fault in all forms of resistance. After all, Colin Kaepernick received harsh backlash for silently kneeling in protest of police brutality. If criticism and scrutiny are to be expected regardless of the method, then it’s understandable that some protesters feel like disruptive acts are the best way to call attention to the issues.

Also, let’s acknowledge that not all protestors are employing these tactics. The majority of people are demonstrating peacefully and encouraging others to do the same -- though it isn’t necessarily stopping law enforcement from targeting them. There also may be evidence of people from outside these communities (potentially including white supremacists and far-right accelerators) acting in bad-faith to incite violence.

But Why Are the Protests Getting Destructive?

In the simplest terms: this is a response to long-held pain.

There is a history of violence against Black people in a lot of the communities currently erupting in protest. Baltimore saw this kind of grief following the death of Freddie Gray, who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury while under police custody in 2016. Cleveland is still reeling from the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot by a police officer while playing with a toy pellet gun. Even the state of Minnesota (ground zero for the events of the past week) is no stranger to police violence. In 2017, the state saw the killing of Philando Castille, who was shot in front of his girlfriend and daughter while reaching for his wallet during a traffic stop.

These are just some of the most recent and widely circulated instances of police violence against Black individuals -- we can’t account for the countless more that go unreported. That is to say, that white supremacy and the systems that uphold it are consistently violent and destructive.

What’s happening is an expression of frustration and a reaction to trauma built up over lifetimes of injustice, and it’s only being compounded by law enforcement’s increased use of force against those protesting it.