2008 Woodie Awards
Protests are a dying breed
Issue date: 2/8/06 Section: Commentary
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It is now the second week of Black History Month, 2006. It is interesting, in times such as these to reflect on a time when the swelling waves of change in our nation swept onlookers and participants into a frenzy of passionate opinions of right and wrong. The era of the Civil Rights Movement was a time when people didn't hesitate to organize and take to the streets to express their passions to the public.
These days, we are exposed to significantly less organized protests. Not to say that there are less actual occurrences of such events, but they seem to have less impact on the public. Are the traditional forms of protesting--standing in a mass of faces waving signs and chanting slogans--giving way to yet another tide of change? If so, perhaps these methods of protest are being replaced by alternative tools.
Writing letters to your congressman or woman is often suggested as a way of expressing opinions and concerns to those people wielding a mightier sword than we mere citizens. But is this very effective? It lacks the same spread of public awareness and opinion that the impassioned imagery of the movement captured on tape and exposed to any who watched one of the three T.V. stations available at the time.
In modern times, we are inundated with novelty; news of the world is always close at hand. With the world literally at our fingertips thanks to technological advances, we have a lot more news to keep up on. Maybe we missed the headline that said "Ground-breaking protest," maybe it wasn't there.
If organized protests aren't declining, they are certainly attracting less news coverage. Perhaps this is reflective less of a change in the tools of protesting, and more in public attitude towards the very act of protesting.
At the President's State of the Union Address on Jan. 31, two women were asked to leave the congregation because of slogans on their t-shirts--a mere whisper in the concert hall of protests. One woman who is no stranger to news-watchers, Cindy Sheehan, was actually arrested and fingerprinted by police for her anti-war slogan. The other was simply escorted off the premises because her t-shirt said, "Support Our Troops."
These days, we are exposed to significantly less organized protests. Not to say that there are less actual occurrences of such events, but they seem to have less impact on the public. Are the traditional forms of protesting--standing in a mass of faces waving signs and chanting slogans--giving way to yet another tide of change? If so, perhaps these methods of protest are being replaced by alternative tools.
Writing letters to your congressman or woman is often suggested as a way of expressing opinions and concerns to those people wielding a mightier sword than we mere citizens. But is this very effective? It lacks the same spread of public awareness and opinion that the impassioned imagery of the movement captured on tape and exposed to any who watched one of the three T.V. stations available at the time.
In modern times, we are inundated with novelty; news of the world is always close at hand. With the world literally at our fingertips thanks to technological advances, we have a lot more news to keep up on. Maybe we missed the headline that said "Ground-breaking protest," maybe it wasn't there.
If organized protests aren't declining, they are certainly attracting less news coverage. Perhaps this is reflective less of a change in the tools of protesting, and more in public attitude towards the very act of protesting.
At the President's State of the Union Address on Jan. 31, two women were asked to leave the congregation because of slogans on their t-shirts--a mere whisper in the concert hall of protests. One woman who is no stranger to news-watchers, Cindy Sheehan, was actually arrested and fingerprinted by police for her anti-war slogan. The other was simply escorted off the premises because her t-shirt said, "Support Our Troops."