Riots. Angry protesters flood the streets with the sewage of hatred and anger, bursting apart towns and neighborhoods with outlashes of violence. The fires of discontent boil in the murky velvet of their blood and in vexed passion they gather in hordes of fury to shatter and destroy in the name of freedom and prosperity. Why have we turned so barbaric? Why is it that whenever I turn on the news and I expect to see the words “protest,” what I hear is “riot”?
I thought Americans were better than this. We have the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and to petition, but not like this. There’s nothing peaceful about the riots, which seem to be permanent fixture in daily news reports. Recently, St. Louis was under siege from this unquenchable rage people harbor. What started as a non-violent protest over the acquittal of a police officer involved in the death of a black man in 2011 has devolved, forcing peace officers to be at odds with disruptive rioters. Riots like these aren’t helping anyone.
Charlottesville, Berkeley, Anaheim—all within 2017, and now St. Louis can be added to the protest pandemonium. We have a right to have our voices heard, to fuel the gears of democracy in our republic and create change where we see it needed. However, rioters like these are abusing that right through acts of violence, believing that the end justifies the means and that civil discourse and petition is hogwash in the grand scheme.
However, history remembers. History remembers the tumultuous civil conflicts of the 1960s: the ghastly images of smoke plumes and streams of water surrounding police and protesters, Malcolm X’s calls of “any means necessary” but it cherishes the achievements of peaceful movements like those of Martin Luther King Jr.’s.
Point is, violence isn’t what gets us change.
We have a political system that allows our voice to be heard. If you feel yours is being drowned out in an ocean of political turmoil, yell louder. There’s no need for unnecessary damage, as your cause will be condemned rather than considered. As soon as you breach the rights of expression by harming others, you aren’t exercising anything but a cause for arrest.
The cycle of police versus people, wars through city streets and the news playing the same tired story like a broken record isn’t getting us anywhere. We like to think that at the end of these riots there’ll be some bright outcome from the blackened abyss, but the truth is that all of these riots are a stalemate. If we truly live in an age where we think the best way to build up society is to tear it down brick by brick and cast it into fire alongside cities set ablaze, then I have lost some faith in our country.
I understand there are very significant issues such as racial conflicts that frustrate us, but using violence to root it out will only make matters worse. How can you expect a more civil America in the future if you aren’t being civil in protest?
If you feel something needs to be fixed in our nation, then use the tools the Constitution offers . Abusing the sacred securities that were amended into the Constitution for the sake of the people makes you no less an injustice than the one you seek to fix. In future, I hope I won’t have to automatically translate “protest” into “riot,” and that Americans can learn to grow up and take matters into their own hands, and shape our nation with a new level of self-discipline and responsibility.
jen • Oct 9, 2017 at 8:28 am
http://angiethomas.com/books here’s a really great book that I think you should read to be able to get a better understanding on the nuances of this issue and the emotions that run on the other side.
max • Oct 4, 2017 at 1:22 pm
damn i know youre in high school but this is some trash.
if you like analyzing maybe next time start with looking at yourself. idk why you feel entitled to write an opinion about those who riot in conditions you will never, ever experience in your life. maybe start understanding why people who live in a neighborhood where cops make you feel more scared than safe feel frustrated when a cop murders somebody and is let off free (again). then maybe ask yourself why you feel so inclined to patronize these people. because im sure if you were in those conditions youd feel satisfied walking down the street holding some sign that says love trumps hate
Shane Walden • Oct 11, 2017 at 8:05 pm
Right max, because if it’s one thing we learned from Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, is that rioting is the key to political activism.
What’s trash is to actually believe anyone is in the right to destroy their communities, riot, and hurt people to send a message. Additionally, cops risk their lives every single day in gang infested communities to protect women and children who have nothing to do with it. Your whole comment is your emotions opposing logic and reason.
max • Oct 12, 2017 at 5:46 am
nowhere did i write that rioting is the key to political activism. i critiqued the author for a completely unilateral understanding of a complex issue.
its funny that you – like all white americans who choose to believe in the fiction of a meritocratic and universalist society – would invoke martin luther king and civil rights. if you learned anything from mlk or the civil rights movement you might remember this quote of his:
“….But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity…” – M.L.K. 1968.
dont blindly dismiss what you dont understand. it isn’t logical or reasonable to have a myopic perspective and jump to judgements on a reality you don’t engage with and don’t understand. luckily there are a couple words that describe that approach for us though : arrogance and stupidity.
youd be a fool to think that all cops “risk their lives” protecting women and children in “gang infested communities.” do you really think that a reductive statement like this can be true? are you really trying to defend all cops in the usa right now? every country in the world knows that the united states has a police problem and they laugh at us because somehow some of us have convinced ourselves that there’s no issue.
try going to the hood and asking who people are more scared of: gangs or the police. because ill tell you, you have some sort of good fortune to be able to occupy an identity and live in a place where you’re able to call the police without fearing the safety of you and/or your children. just because cops might protect you doesnt mean theyre not f***ing over other people.
quit masking your own refusal/inability to understand another reality for people in this country as “emotions logic and reason.” all that does is place you among those forces which would rather see a continuation of the same intolerable conditions for those who protest and refuse to accept them.
and before you start lecturing people online about civil rights and martin luther king again do yourself a favor and read some more. i suggest starting with letter from a birmingham jail.
Shane Walden • Oct 13, 2017 at 4:17 pm
You’re assumption that I’m white is your first issue. My grandfather is a Mexican immigrant and half of my family is Mexican. White guilt doesn’t work on me, so I’m going to go ahead and ignore the rest of that considering you think it’s wrong of me to invoke an African American civil rights leader because I’m white. The point is, protesting has been, and always will be more effective than rioting.
Regarding, “try going to the hood and asking what people are mor afraid of.” Why not simply look at the statistics? Whose more dangerous to African American male? Cops, or other African American males? Cops are forced to police black communities more because it’s literally their job. Most of the crime happens there, obviously there is going to be more incidents. Cops risk their lives everyday. Not just white ones, black cops and Mexican cops have children at home as well, who wonder if they’re dads/moms are going to come at night, because they too, have to go into gang infested communities. Again, your emotions aren’t supported. All you’re doing is trying to undermine my point so by saying how “I don’t live in that reality”, and how you know better. Good luck with that strategy in future arguments. I get it, everyone that disagrees with you is ignorant, and doesn’t understand the enlightenment you’re trying to shed on us. You’re truly an intellectual.