unheard riots, or something like that.
I, as a true daughter of middle class white people, am made uncomfortable by both riots and some forms of "aggressive" protesting.
However, I, as a queer feminist with an interest in history, am aware that, for example, the gay liberation movement involved both slow and steady progress, pushed along by people like Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, *and also* things like the Stonewall Riots. That today's successes in HIV and AIDS treatment wouldn't have happened without people like Larry Kramer (RIP), who *would not shut up*, and would not allow the issue to go away.
Ditto with feminism, and absolutely ditto with the African-American civil rights movement.
I, as a religious activist with an interest in radical justice, am aware that (to quote the obvious person), "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
I, as a person who pays attention in these times, am aware that in fact the authorities are often provocateurs, that American police are often militarized beyond belief and unwilling to de-escalate situations, and that things like tear gas are weapons of torture.
So, I stand with the folks in Minneapolis, and elsewhere.
Me, I spent my day doing things other than protesting, but I also spent part of it coming out of the drug store and discovering a traffic stop in front of me, with what seemed like a perfectly polite interaction between a white cop and an African-American driver. No matter that it seemed polite; I sat down across the street, quite comfortably perched on some mulch, my back against a tree, and watched, and filmed. (Then, for privacy concerns, I deleted the file, unwatched, once they joked with each other at the end and the African-American gentleman drove off.)
More from Dr. King:
"…I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few 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, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."
That's from The Other America, in 1967. They most certainly do not develop from thin air. Crosposted from Dreamwidth. Current DW comments. Given the new LJ terms of service, you probably want to comment over there instead of on LJ. If you want to comment here, feel free, though.
over there.
However, I, as a queer feminist with an interest in history, am aware that, for example, the gay liberation movement involved both slow and steady progress, pushed along by people like Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, *and also* things like the Stonewall Riots. That today's successes in HIV and AIDS treatment wouldn't have happened without people like Larry Kramer (RIP), who *would not shut up*, and would not allow the issue to go away.
Ditto with feminism, and absolutely ditto with the African-American civil rights movement.
I, as a religious activist with an interest in radical justice, am aware that (to quote the obvious person), "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
I, as a person who pays attention in these times, am aware that in fact the authorities are often provocateurs, that American police are often militarized beyond belief and unwilling to de-escalate situations, and that things like tear gas are weapons of torture.
So, I stand with the folks in Minneapolis, and elsewhere.
Me, I spent my day doing things other than protesting, but I also spent part of it coming out of the drug store and discovering a traffic stop in front of me, with what seemed like a perfectly polite interaction between a white cop and an African-American driver. No matter that it seemed polite; I sat down across the street, quite comfortably perched on some mulch, my back against a tree, and watched, and filmed. (Then, for privacy concerns, I deleted the file, unwatched, once they joked with each other at the end and the African-American gentleman drove off.)
More from Dr. King:
"…I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few 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, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."
That's from The Other America, in 1967. They most certainly do not develop from thin air. Crosposted from Dreamwidth. Current DW comments. Given the new LJ terms of service, you probably want to comment over there instead of on LJ. If you want to comment here, feel free, though.
over there.