Peaceful protest has helped America along on its journey to the better ages of our nature. Figures like Dr. King have advocated for civil rights and led much of their movements with the message of civil disobedience. The modern Civil Rights Movement of the sixties employed multiple nonviolent protest campaigns, like the Montgomery bus boycott and the March on Washington, all of which served to bolster the movement and further its potency. The Women’s Suffrage Movement of the early twentieth century included hunger strikes, marches, and picketing outside of the White House. Today, the Women’s March has become the largest protest in history, a peaceful demonstration held on all seven continents, and has helped to both unify activists worldwide and to illuminate the issues still plaguing marginalized groups. Peaceful protest is helpful and valued in part due to respectability politics. It
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King’s peaceful methods are praised in the present-day—usually to demonize today’s more radical activists—one should reflect upon the fact that he was considered a radical during the Civil Rights Era. Society is afraid of discomfort, of change, and of revolutions, and this has translated into the criticism and patronization faced by most of today’s protesters. There is no right way to protest in America. You cannot riot, demolishing public property in order to denounce the evils of capitalism; if you do, critics will ignore you or rebuke you for doing more harm for your community than good. You cannot march peacefully through the streets, holding signs with genuine grievances; if you do, critics will shame you for whininess and empty complaints. You cannot kneel silently during the National Anthem, showing your solidarity with activists on a widely viewed platform; if you do, critics will disown you and attack you for disrespecting the country that has provided so much for you. Protesters are vilified by the majority of America in any form, whether peaceful or
King’s peaceful methods are praised in the present-day—usually to demonize today’s more radical activists—one should reflect upon the fact that he was considered a radical during the Civil Rights Era. Society is afraid of discomfort, of change, and of revolutions, and this has translated into the criticism and patronization faced by most of today’s protesters. There is no right way to protest in America. You cannot riot, demolishing public property in order to denounce the evils of capitalism; if you do, critics will ignore you or rebuke you for doing more harm for your community than good. You cannot march peacefully through the streets, holding signs with genuine grievances; if you do, critics will shame you for whininess and empty complaints. You cannot kneel silently during the National Anthem, showing your solidarity with activists on a widely viewed platform; if you do, critics will disown you and attack you for disrespecting the country that has provided so much for you. Protesters are vilified by the majority of America in any form, whether peaceful or