Oakland has become a national and international center of protest, and so much so that someone should think of a new kind of defensible and sustainable protest-proof urban design and architecture. The frequency of these human marches and attacks on property in Oakland is around an at every-other-year-rate. Consider that we had riots and protests after the Oscar Grant Murder, Trayvon Martin Murder, Alan Blueford Murder, Michael Brown Murder, and now the Eric Garner and Tamir Rice Murders.
One could counter that if there weren’t so many black boys being killed by cops, particularly white cops, there would be no protests. Oakland’s bad memory from the Oscar Grant Murder hasn’t had time to heal because of all of these other incidents. Moreover, social media, which has not existed prior to 2005 in any meaningful way, has served to take what were once actions of police brutality isolated to one city or town, and rapidly make them national issues and at a rate of speed that’s never been seen before, and beyond anything traditional media can deal with.
So, the new social media eye is turned to Oakland:
Do Protests Help?
After so many of these demonstrations, the time has come to ask if they help. Considering that the number of black kids killed by the police seems to be continuing, the answer is no. The problem is the chant the protestors use “The whole damn system is guilty as hell” is right on: the folks out protesting are part of the same system that keeps everything the way it is.
What protestors should do is file class-action lawsuits against the New York and Ferguson Police Departments, as was done in the town of Ronan, Montana in August, and against that city’s police department. Protestors should boycott any business seen to be hostile to people of color. Protestors should conduct their own investigations of police departments to out anyone who’s a white supremacist. Protestors should demand action from the Democratic Party, and start promoting candidates who will make change, then raising money for them. Protestors should get people to the polls to vote.
The point is, in a democracy, protest has to be more than walking and throwing bottles because that’s what our system expects them to do, so that feeds the media beast, and the rest of the system goes on violating civil rights unchecked.
This cycle needs to stop. Protestors need to look in the mirror, and get smart, and change the system.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.