Civil Rights Demonstrations and the Subjectivity of Chaos
For the past several days, Americans have been witnessing a level of civil protest and unrest that we have not seen for decades. People have been unable to ignore the visceral accounts of the conditions that Black people face everyday in America, and thousands of civil rights demonstrations* have occurred in response. The form of these demonstrations have varied, most have been peaceful and have resulted in increased solidarity and connection among communities across the country.
Many civil rights demonstrations have taken place online; social media posts and press releases have come out acknowledging the existence of white supremacy and institutional racism. For centuries, Black people have been creating resources intended to educate people on the inequitable and brutal state of affairs in America, and the steps we can take to build a better society. These books, blog posts, and guides are finally getting some of the recognition that they deserve, selling out across bookstores and online retailers. Most visible have been the protesters in the streets of America, spanning from San Diego to Rhode Island. (Providence was lit last night.)
Unfortunately, it bears repeating that most of these protests have been peaceful and have served to bring communities together. If someone exclusively watched network or cable news, they might believe that the country is falling apart and that these civil rights demonstrations are not goal-oriented, which is itself a tone-deaf critique, rooted in the capitalist belief that value is tied to concrete achievements rather than the connection, awareness, and catharsis that the protests have already provided to millions of people across the country.
Video cameras are incredibly accessible today, most of us have them on our cell phones and this undoubtedly has a role in revealing the white supremacy that continues to be prevalent in America. We are fortunate to have people on the ground live streaming their accounts. (This is a Twitch account that goes live every evening and shows multiple streams of protests across the country.) They have revealed that the protests are mostly peaceful, and that when they have turned violent it has often been incited by the police themselves. It has also revealed the bully-ish, authoritarian culture that lies within law enforcement. It’s clear that in many cases, law enforcement officers are not there to protect and serve but instead see themselves as an oppositional force to the protesters, us vs. them. Finally, it has revealed the thicc blue line that maintains this culture, most recently evidenced by the lack of bodycam footage in the Louisville police murders.
Unfortunately, most American’s do not access Twitch or Youtube as a news source, and this side of what’s happening continues to be overshadowed by the zoomed out, overhead views broadcast from network and cable news stations’ helicopters. News anchors sit on the outskirts, sometimes behind law enforcement. While this perspective might seem broad, it is in fact very narrow.
In response to the narrow perspective that ends up being displayed on millions of TV sets every night, many people have expressed discomfort with the civil rights demonstrations.
“Is this the kind of America we want?” “We need Law and Order!” “I’m afraid for my children’s lives!” are among some of the responses I’ve seen from people who are outraged by what they are seeing on TV every night.
These are ironic responses, and most Black Americans would respond to the first question by saying, “This is America.” We would respond to the second statement by asking, “For who?” And our response to the last one would be “Welcome to our everyday life.”
Many people are uncomfortable with the fact that they might not be able to go downtown and can see themselves in that person who turned down the wrong block at the wrong time and got their windows smashed in. (This is actually quite rare, but it’s shown on the news all the time.) They don’t like the idea that Target might close their stores and their freedom to go where they want and consume products and services in peace has been interrupted. They don’t like the lack of control that they have.
What they don’t understand is that this America is not too far off from the America that Black people experience every day, an America that most people have been ignorant about for decades. We fear for ourselves and our families being murdered by the police every day that we drive in the streets. We fear doing things in public such as running or walking our dog because we know there’s a possibility that someone will interpret these basic tasks as a threat. In our professional lives we move carefully and strategically, knowing that regardless of its origin, if a conflict occurs we are likely to be blamed and face consequences. We hope that we don’t get sick or hurt ourselves, because we know the medical care that we receive is subpar and often harmful to our bodies.
Inherent to the state of being Black in America is the lack of control that we have over our everyday existence. For many of us, these protests represent an opportunity to take control and force people to reckon with the white supremacy that inundates every aspect of our lives. Many people wonder why someone would put themselves in front of police in riot gear and within clouds of tear gas. They don’t understand that even in the presence of police with riot gear, being in a televised mob of protesters committed to a cause is far safer for us than driving alone down the highway. They don’t understand that many of us grew up in over-criminalized places and regularly had police in riot gear showing up at our schools. They think that is chaos. Chaos is being murdered because you went for a run. Chaos is being detained, abused, and killed because a cop didn’t like the way you talked to him after he stopped you on your way to a job interview. Chaos is watching your reality slowly fade to black over the course of 9 minutes while dozens of people watch, knowing that if they try to interrupt your murder it will lead to their own. Chaos is knowing that any day of the week, you can wake up and you, your child, your sibling, your parent, or your cousin can be the next hashtag. Chaos is an entire lifetime of this existence, not a few days of discomfort.
*Note: I have used the term Civil Rights Demonstrations intentionally, as these current events represent a continuation of Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights. Those who are opposed to our goals will portray it as separate and without relation to the historic civil rights movement that occurred in response to the same overall dynamics of white supremacy that we are currently witnessing.
