Protest Is American

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (1791):

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.

We have the Constitutional right to peacefully assemble, to petition the Government to listen to and respond to our grievances, and the right to say what we will without prohibition. (James Madison, primary author of the First Amendment. https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-i)

Non-Violent Protest Is Effective

Non-violent protest has been shown to be effective because it involves people where they are emotionally and socially, and it keeps the focus on the issue.

In America, we have the record of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. We have the record of the Antiwar Movement in the 1960s and 70s.

And in the 2020s, we have the record of the George Floyd Memorial protests.

All served to wake people up to see the injustice being done by government actions and government indifference.

All led to changes in how we govern ourselves and how we act as a nation in the name of the people.

By showing up and using our voices and banners of protest, the American people were influenced to push for change at the larger level, such as changing national laws and policies.

Non-violent protest works more effectively than violent protest to sway the opinion of people in America for several reasons:

It focuses on the reason for the protest. When we keep with non-violent protest, we are showing the people of the United States that we are deeply committed to a cause or point of view to such an extent as to put our bodies on the line. Fine words are great; speeches are great; but what gets across to people emotionally and socially is seeing and hearing people who show up united for a particular cause. People identify with those who look like them. Ordinary parents. Students. Kids. People with disabilities. Elderly people. By focusing on the non-violent part, we show the world that it is we the people who are just like them, who are deeply concerned about a topic.

There is no guarantee of this, of course, because every protest is interpreted both by those who share the protest and those who see the protest. Some people will see any form of protest as violence against the peace and quiet that they want for themselves. Some people will see the interference with day-to-day commerce as a threat to business and profit. Some will see it as only cranks trying to stir up trouble.

But the reality is that continued, repeated non-violent protest begins to affect how people see their own selves, and that leads to changes in their choices and voting patterns, changes in their conversations, changes in their interactions with people.

The non-violent protests of the Civil Rights Movement started more than a decade earlier. We can see the protests of the 1930s and 1940s blending right in with the protests of the 1950s and 1960s, protests repeated until public opinion and governing authorities understood that enough was enough.

It focuses on the words and meaning of the protest. By using non-violence as a method for protest, we keep the focus on what the protest is about. Maintaining consistency in messaging is critical to change the way people think about a topic. What are we protesting about? What do we want? How will we know when we get it? By keeping the focus on what we are saying, we keep the focus on the rational part of the human mind to consider what we say and want to be logical and necessary.

It avoids changing the subject to the destruction of property and “civil unrest.” Paradoxically, in an America that is awash in gun violence far beyond any other nation with comparable incomes and living standards, violent protests are not seen as “American” but become identified with people who simply want to trash property and burn things down. The focus switches to violence and property damage, and violence becomes the focus and not the reasons for the protest itself. And the reality of our humanness is that we often want to see something “exciting” so our emotions can be pushed to the forefront.

Keeping the protest non-violent even in the face of provocation shows people that we are not here to destroy or to hurt. We are here to ask for change, and we are putting our bodies on the line.

People with bad intent often use emotion and fear to stir up the masses to cause violence.

We acknowledge that and reject that.

We choose non-violent protest.

Political Violence Usually Doesn’t Work

American history shows us that people often have assembled for protest. Elections throughout the 1800s were often accompanied by strong opinions and dissent, and serious charges were thrown about in the attempt to convince people to vote for one person over another.

The early attempts by workers to gain their rights, which began in the late 1870s, began as peaceful protests gaining more and more support until the 1886 Haymarket Riot, which started out peacefully until unknown persons threw a bomb at the police during the protest. The protest turned into a riot where the police shot and killed many protesters, and the reason for the protest was lost in the discussions about the violence.

Violent protest turns the attention to the property damage and to those who come in to “restore order.” The heroes become the ones who put down the protest, and those who assembled peacefully are forgotten in the ceaseless repetition of the damage caused by the violence.

We can see this in the various protests that followed the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. The images were a mix of mourners and rioters burning down cities. Which was more interesting to people? Those riots became the topic of discussion, and still today, protests against racism are countered with images of burning cities, leading people to believe that entire cities were burning and not isolated areas.

We saw this happening during the movements after the deaths of George Floyd and others by the police or private citizens. What began as marches and assemblies, which were seen as peaceful, turned in some cases to violence, and the meaning of the protests was lost in the chaos of violence. Much of what was gained was reversed as people held on to the images of violent property destruction and not the lives of the people who were killed unjustly.

We acknowledge that political violence is becoming more widespread, but we reject violence as a tool of protest. We believe that with our non-violent approach to protest, we will encourage dialogue and respectful consideration of our viewpoints, even as we respectfully listen to the viewpoints of others.

We reject attempts to foment reactionary violence, and we reject attempts to use violence to shut down protest and to suppress free speech.

We Claim the Right to Assemble and Protest Without Violence

We assert the right to peacefully assemble and peacefully protest for the government to address our grievances.

We protest the increasing erosion of our civil rights by the federal government.

We protest the devolution of our government into a cult of a single person.

We protest the erasure of Black Americans’ contributions to our culture and our prosperity.

We protest the erasure of gay Americans’ contributions to our diversity and our humanity.

We protest the violent kidnappings and incarceration in prison camps of those who are even suspected of lacking proper documentation based on their skin color or appearance.

We protest the changes to our system of taxation to vastly increase the wealth and comfort of the already rich upon the backs of the poor and middle class.

We protest the use of violence against those suspected of crime without trial.

Organizations committed change want to make the voice of the people known to the community at large, to show that we do not want to see America become a failed nation led by a tyrant without accountability, to show that we want to make sure that we all are given our rights as Americans, and to show that the words of the Constitution are still in force:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Steps to Promote Non-Violent Protest

To make sure that protests are visible to the public but also centered on peaceful, non-violent actions, we take the following steps when engaged in protest:

We promote safety and respect. We appoint safety captains during protests to help make sure that protestors do not cause safety problems (such as blocking driveways or foot traffic). We work to peacefully assemble and acknowledge the need to cooperate as needed with agencies that protect the general public.

We promote free speech. We advocate for protestors to say what they want to say and to raise banners or signs with their own messages. We encourage respectful dialogue, and we ask those who protest with us to refrain from both provocation and from escalating provocation by others who oppose our messaging.

We promote the right of people to protest as they see fit. We do not censor signs or banners, but we ask that the protestors focus on our main grievances against the government.