PROTEST MARCH WED. DEC. 23, 2015
Even though a judge handed down a ruling saying that the mall has the right to ban the protestors from holding their protest march INSIDE the mall, they plan to do it anyway, on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The group says it will rally at the mall Wednesday to protest the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man who died after he was shot by Minneapolis police last month.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/21/mall-america-tries-blocking-black-lives-matter-protest.html
I saw a CNN interview with Miski Noor, one of the Black Lives Matter Organizers and when asked why they need to do the protest inside the mall she explained that it's no more business as usual. People have to be inconvenienced in order for anything to be changed. Their Facebook page says
"we do not want our children to be exempt from the law or above the law,
what we are saying is we don't want them to be tried on the sidewalk"
Referencing the deaths of black people who come under police suspicion, and get shot or killed while being arrested or in police custody. They believe the Constitution gives them the right to protest anywhere including in the mall. 700 protesters are expected, it should be quite a day. The Judge says they cannot have the protest, but they feel they must have it.
[Edited on 12/23/2015 by gina]
[Edited on 12/23/2015 by gina]
Let them have it. But, i wouldn't want to be them if they get in the way of parents hearing "We just got in a shipment of (name most sought after toy this year), there are only a few and are first come, first served.
Think of the movie "Jingle All The Way".
I don't think protesting inside malls or other places where people go is the way to raise consciousness winning people over to their side and way of thinking. When the justice system fails a group or a city, the protests should be at police headquarters, or the courts depending on who created the most unfairness of the situation.
In the cases of death, who caused the death? It wasn't shoppers at the mall so protesting to them is not going to rally them to join the greater protest. Back in the days where protest marches were common, they picked cities, applied for permts, planned speeches and rallying points, everybody enjoyed them. Nowadays people feel scared by the protesters and inconvenienced. Protests have become viewed as a threat by police and the public at large. They are not accomplishing their goal.
The Occupy Wall Street group had a chance to actually change things, people were originally interested in what they had to say, until there were no leaders, or official spokespeople, no one taking responsibility for the movement, they spent $5,000 a week printing handbills letting their members and others know where meetings would be held. They burned through $500,000 without effecting change.
Black Lives Matter truly want to change things within the justice system, but blocking people from shopping in a mall, or the protests they have held at Grand Central (train and subway) terminal in NYC have not generated any support for their movement. They need to INVITE people to join them, which means having boundaries. They have not gotten beyond the 'here we are, right in your face, you have to hear us and listen to us now' phase. If they protested outside the mall, people could stop and say, hey who are you guys, what are you protesting, let me think about it. People will not join a movement they feel threatened by and that is one of the barriers they are facing as a movement.
Yes it's wrong for people to care more about shopping than injustice, but they need to raise public consciousness differently otherwise there could be one incident with the police and then they are mis-branded as being troublemakers or worse. Again, they need to let people know they are there, provide information, and invite people to join them rather than trying to force an awakening on people.
I don't think protesting inside malls or other places where people go is the way to raise consciousness winning people over to their side and way of thinking.
If they weren't inside the mall you wouldn't be talking about it, or even know about it. Effective protests are not polite.
I will agree that the news usually goes to the scenes of incidents where something bad has happened, but I do not agree that an "effective protests are not polite".
I protested with 1199 in the late 1980's to help get more equitable contracts for hospital workers, we were loud, but not disorderly, we did not make people feel trapped. We even had boxed lunches and took our garbage with us. I remember one protest regarding a nursing home on Long Island and they sent the police mounted unit to watch over it. The organizer said, when they send the mounted unit out, they expect trouble, are they really that afraid of us? I told him, hell yeah, we've got a bunch of black people protesting in a wealthy white neighborhood, they are terrified. He realized I was right but was sad that the racial divide was still so great. Those horses were so tall, the protesters were afraid of them!
