The "Right" Way to Protest

One of the things I have had to adjust to in my understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and our contemporary moment is the idea of the “right way to protest.” Because there have been numerous protests against police brutality and anti-black bias in legal proceedings since the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, many Americans have formed their own conception about the correct way to make a change or to bring up an injustice for public acknowledgement. Unfortunately, those conceptions have led a great number of people to believe that nonviolent protest is the “correct” way to protest, and that conclusion has led to a great deal of shaming towards those protesting. Since those protesting have been members and allies of the black community in a great deal of these cases, the shame has also perpetuated anti-black sentiments and stereotypes among whites that have persisted across centuries in the US.

One of the things I struggle with is my personal opinion on the most effective way to protest. I have come to realize that my opinion on the right way to protest should have no effect on those actually protesting, but I also consider the nonviolent movement led by Dr. King and other affiliated organizations to be both tactfully brilliant and morally conscious. I have read a good deal of Dr. King’s speeches and writings, and am very moved by the philosophical basis in Gandhi’s work and biblical scripture. The movement’s basis in principles understood and accepted by white and black Americans appealed to internal morality rather than fear or anger. While it is obvious that there are flaws in this, especially that the entire movement appeals to the oppressor rather than purely expressing the sentiments of the oppressed, I do think that the appeal to white morality through media and scripture was brilliantly executed. It may take away the element of empowerment and expression from protest that is so vital to the protest’s momentum, but the nonviolent movement had considerable successes in law if not in practice.

I absolutely think that the Civil Rights Movement orchestrated in the 1960s was circumstantial as well, and that this type of movement would be less effective today because the mass broadcasting of both the movement and the Vietnam War normalized coverage of war and violence in the media. There has also been somewhat of a shift away from widespread Christianity in the progressive social climate of the 2000s, which would take away much of the movement’s audience and white allies. I understand that assigning a “correct” way to protest can be circumstantially implausible or problematic to those protesting, but it is difficult to reconcile this understanding with my personal love of Dr. King’s nonviolent principles employed in the Civil Rights Movement.