But let's start with the basics. Protest is fundamental to who we are, as a country. That's why the right to assemble and speak is guaranteed in our very first amendment.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Protests were designed to be a part of our nation; to keep us accountable for being the nation we claim to be. Since we have every right to protest, and ample good reason (that racists don’t want to out themselves by directly addressing), the protests can only be opposed indirectly by branding them as not protests at all, but violent rioting and terrorism.
While “doing it wrong” has long been used to justify not listening to the grievances of fellow residents, there’s something additional going on here. By branding the protests as dangerous lawlessness, Trump’s campaign is positioning him to take the opposite stance (to something that isn’t actually happening) and be heir to the authoritarian stance of “law and order”.
If you think this smacks of fascism, you’re not wrong,
but it’s more than that to the generations that preceded Millennials and Gen Z.
Utilized with great success by Nixon and echoed with similar success by Reagan, “law and order” messaging hitched anxieties over cultural change and a crime wave to their campaigns, and rode those anxieties to the White House. Anxieties over change persist today, but the crime wave is long gone. We're actually looking at the lowest levels of crime in 50 years. So what's a conservative reactionary to to do with historically low levels of crime? Ignore them!
In an effort to harness those same forces, Trump and his conservative base are creating a narrative of crime where there isn't one, and they're making it out of the (fully just) civil unrest and disobedience. That is why Trump, his administration and his supporters are making mobs out of marches, violence out of graffiti and calls for anarchy out of calls for justice.
Past “Law and Order” politics created the criminalization of Blackness that resulted in the cycles that we are fighting today. As the Black Codes that had been adapted into Jim Crow Laws were increasingly struck down under closer examination, new policies were crafted to have similar effect, but without clearly race-based wording.
These policies were created with the knowledge that they would disproportionately affect Black people and suppress their potential, exactly as those previous policies had. By making these policies ostensibly about “crime” or “drugs”, then their only remaining obstacle was the fact that their policies were not good at addressing those things.
In 1994, former Nixon aide John Ehrlichman revealed the truth about the war on drugs.
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
It’s gaslighting, plain and simple. And our nation bought it, and believed it for over 25 years, even after Watergate. Many of them still believe it.
Now, as then, protestors are being associated with violence so that they can be disrupted, harrassed, arrested and vilified on the evening news.
As with regular gaslighting, knowing that it’s what’s happening is the most important. And as with regular gaslighting, keeping the focus on facts, on the results of the policies, police and federal officers, instead of the excuses used to put them in place, can help stay on track.
If we play our cards right, not only can we deflect another “Law & Order” regime, but we might even be able to dismantle the poisonous policies from our past that have created so much suffering.
Sources:
Constitution
Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning
“Trump’s Phrase “Law and Order” is Racist” by Steve Jones
"Trump Is Reviving the Disgraceful Legacy of ‘Law-and-Order’ Politics"
By Ed Kilgore
Devon Carbado's model of how "Blue-On-Black" violence is produced (and reinforced) by a combination of factors illustrates that racist police violence is NOT a matter of rare "bad apples". If anything, our system is a machine that PRODUCES bad apples, and this is how.
The Carbado model is very useful in examining the many elements that factor into the cycle of police brutality. Those who wish to reduce (or abolish) these events may find it useful to consider. For example, if we replace one element of this cycle without changing the others, the cycle will change, but not necessarily stop. For example, social workers would assumably not shoot people so much, but factor 1 and 2 would still be in place, at the very least. CPS, which is staffed and operated largely by social workers, takes away the children of Black families more often than white families, and has mishandled cases drastically with minimal to no followup, so the cycle there is less lethal, but still largely intact. While saving lives is a priority, all systems that prey on Black communities must be dismantled.
Their diagram breaks the cycle down into 3 elements that lead to police violence disproportionately targeting black people, and the 3 elements of the legal system that exacerbate and intensify the behavior.
There's a lot to take in, so I thought it would be useful to sort what's available by specific topic, so that folks can get straight to what they need to address what is most pressing for them.
It seems obvious, but if you can pay for these, do so, preferably from a black-owned bookstore. But if you can't, don't sweat it until you can. Income inequality is one of the oldest and most effective means of subjugation, partially because to be informed takes both money and time. It is no mistake that chronically underpaid people are deprived of both.
This list is only of offers that last beyond the end of June, broken down by topic. Each work will have a separate link, and the various collections will be listed at the end.
Time-limited:
Cornell has made their collection of books on policing, inequality and Black history available for free for several months in order to contribute to discussions and growth on this issue.
The free ebooks on policing and police violence listed at BookRiot have various expirations, so get them while you can.
Consistantly available:
Project Gutenberg has long housed vast quantities of text, though by doing so it demonstrates how not all texts are equally valuable. This Index of Works on Black History includes works on white history and straight-up fiction that the indexer deemed relevant. I only recommend it for the many Black voices therein.
The Digital Book Index is also rather outdated, and more international in scope, so less specific, but still available if you're interested in perspectives across time and/or the globe
Libraries:
Also check your local, country or state public library system! Some libraries have adjusted their licensing in the last few weeks to make more digital or Audible copies of antiracist and related books available.
If you live in PA, the Free Library of Philly has a collection pulled together that includes books and resources for kids, which may be extra helpful with if camps are closed in your area for the summer, as they are here. DC Public Library adjusted their licenses for the summer, especially for antiracist texts.
Inexpensive:
IVP is offering 50% off a range of relevant ebooks until the end of June.
Initially free, Verso Books is offering The End of Policing by Alex Vitale, and Police: A Field Guide by David Correia and Tyler Wall for $3 each.
And that's it! I hope that this list helped you find the tools you need for your journey, and that these offers are all still good by the time you get here.
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Referenced Wikipedia, if you want to read about it yourself.