Sorry to go on a Facebook rampage, but I feel the need to address this. Riots aside for now, it seems many people are angered by the nonviolent protests taking place as a result of the apparent impossibility of justice for Eric Garner. The protesters and activists in New York City have been particularly disruptive, staging die ins in Grand Central Station, shutting down streets, swarming highways, and powerfully wielding other approaches to nonviolent action. This has been perceived as an unfair inconvenience, because it seems to be punishing those who had nothing to do with the problem, rather than taking more targeted approach-- say, staging sit-ins on government property or directly facing authorities. I believe this perspective is flawed, and those who take such a stance are entirely missing the point of nonviolent action. Disruption, not an ineffective and timid longing for peace and love, is the crux of nonviolence. Anyone who claims a systemic issue such as racism or police brutality is not his or her problem is precisely the reason these protesters are taking action. The protests in New York are not specifically targeted at police, adjudicators, and government alone, because they are not simply the problems of police, adjudicators, and government alone. This is everyones problem. The disparities in power dynamics related to race and authority in this country are disgusting and should not be tolerated. Dismissing your part in the issue is tolerating the issue. If someone is late to work because the station has been shut down, it should be a small sacrifice he or she is willing to make as a citizen. The disruption of everyday civilians is laden with symbolism, forcing each and every person inconvenienced by the mass amounts of protesters to directly confront biases and complacency. I cant help but contrast these events and the resulting reactions with the recorded words of an abolitionist prior to the protests which stemmed from the shooting of Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1837: Thousands of our citizens who lately believed that they had nothing to do with slavery, now begin to discover their error. Our history is not far behind us. Is this not what nonviolent protesters today are fighting to achieve, yet through measures more powerful and humane than violent demonstration? Are they not purposefully attempting to disrupt the everyday citizen who cries, Not my problem, after watching a video of an unarmed man-- taking no move to harm anyone-- being murdered in a choke-hold, while the perpetrator apparently has no cause for indictment? Are they not purposefully attempting to disrupt the citizen who cries, Not my problem, that they are colorblind, that racism is dead, all while black and minority citizens face unequal treatment and fear on the basis of skin color every single day? Where is the sense of community and mutual responsibility in this country, beyond false-patriotism? Inactivity does not imply innocence. This is a multi-faceted issue deeply ingrained in our society, and often we are often simply numb to it. That numbness has to be ignited into wisely structured community passion, and nonviolent action is the most powerful weapon which can be wielded when seeking out social and political change. Nonviolent demonstrators active today deserve respect and support; America, after all, is supposed to be built upon our right to have our voices heard. The black citizens who have been murdered by our police are being heard even after death, suspended in the present by the brave people lining the streets of cities around the country. Eric Garner, who had six children, will not be silenced. Michael Brown, only eighteen years-old, will not be silenced. Rumain Brisbon, a father killed for holding a pill bottle, will not be silenced. Those who claim to be inconvenienced must consider how inconvenienced the families of these fallen men must feel. Those who claim this is not their problem are the root of the problem. This is everyones problem.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 14:19:38 +0000
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