Over the past few years, I've seen a bit of a cycle; it's typically gone, unarmed black man is killed in police custody ----> protests happen ----> riots happen ----> nothing changes. All throughout highscool, I had heard about the Ferguson Riots, the Baltimore riots, and the Charlotte riots. Despite being in highschool, I wasn't developed enough to actually understand, In fact I think I remember my opinion most of the time being "that's stupid, why are they burning and destroying things?" Even at first glance now, I thought to myself, "I completely understand being angry and frustrated, by why are people destroying things? What will that do?" and I've thought about it more and more, and I questioned it a lot. Are the protesters the good guys and the violence being incited by people who want to delegitimize the movement? Are people unaffected by the injustices using them as an opportunity for personal gain? Are the police the real source of violence, with the media painting their actions as a response to violence instead of the cause for the violence? It's hard to say what the absolute truth is, I believe it's a combination of all of the above, however there's something else that must be kept in mind, something that was said by perhaps the most famous civil rights activists in modern history, Martin Luther King Jr. once said "A Riot Is The Language Of The Unheard"
Unheard they are indeed. Of all the mainstream news coverage I've seen, I haven't seen anything treating these people as what they are, people, people that are upset, people that are hurting, people that want change. Earlier this week I came across a video by an independant YouTuber called All Gas No Brakes that finally gave these people in pain a voice.
Minneapolis Protestwww.youtube.com
If you have 5 minutes, I highly recommend watching it, he goes directly into the chaos in Minneapolis and interviews those at the heart of it, getting all sorts of different perspectives and showing us the human side of those at the heart of all this mayhem. It is also important to listen and see what can be gained from listening to these people, if "A Riot Is The Language Of The Unheard", then the best way to quell the violence would be to listen and make them feel heard.
The first person he interviews points out that "this is how people are actually feeling", he acknowledges that it isn't the right way to go about it, and that he isn't perfect, but that "everyone feel like that". The next group of people to give their perspective points out in response to the building burning that "this is temporary" in comparison to the permanent loss of life that results when one is killed by police. He says their ancestors live through them, their ancestors that have been oppressed for all of american history. He then says that "We will be heard, y'all don't wanna listen? You gonna feel us", and I believe that quote right there gets at why they are doing what they are doing.
As humans we are generally emotional based thinkers and reactors, so when these people feel as though they are being targeted, and killed, and that any interaction with a cop could spiral into their demise, they will want to be heard, and if they aren't heard, then they will want others to feel what they feel, and that's where the destruction comes from.
The next person says that this is their last resort, and that they've tried peaceful protesting --- while I don't agree with how they are expressing themselves, I can understand why they are fed up, Collin Kapernick peacefully protested for years and was criticized for it. If silently protesting isn't the right way, then what is?
I can let the rest of the video speak for itself, those interviewed bring up things such as how when MLK peacefully protested he was assassinated, that someone with no money to their name should be able to change the world, and that people feel so fed up that they feel as though things will never change.
Something desperately needs to change here, starting with some sort of police reform and moving forward to ensure liberty and justice for ALL(ya know, like we used to pledge everyday until we graduated high school). This post I came across on instagram put it beautifully, it is far too easy to become a cop in our country compared to others, and the rate of deaths that we face per year are just unnecessary and unacceptable. Why is it that many professions which don't require life altering decisions, require way more time than to become a police officer? Something is wrong there, and we must demand change, if we stay silent, as has happened in the past, then history is bound to repeat itself, and those angered by the injustice they face will grow more and more and more angry.
What is happening now, has happened all throughout history, and something NEEDS to change NOW. Not the next time this happens, but NOW. At the end of the latest John Oliver episode, (another video, packed with information and worth 33 minutes of your time) he points out that a commission was setup in the 1960s to come to a conclusion on the riots and conflicts going on, and that Committee ended up advising for things such as demilitarizing police and reinvesting into marginalized communities. A social scientist read the report, and compared it to reports of many different riots dating back to 1919, over 100 years ago, and that each report had the same events, recommendations, and nothing happened. Oliver also gives the end of his episode to a powerful snippet of Kimberly Jones explaining how black Americans have been mistreated for hundreds of years, and even when they have pulled themselves up, they have just been pushed back down.
I in no way condone violence as a means of solving problems, however I understand why people are fed up and angry, and beyond caring, and I hope that I have illuminated a different way of viewing the current situation.
