A dramatic circle of events disturbed Americans in the midst of a pandemic situation: police violence that led to protests, which led to more violence, retaliation, and looting. The situation quickly expanded through different cities and it was finally clear: the black rights movement could no longer be ignored.
The wave of protests seemed familiar in many ways. It came out of the same issues that have been burdening American citizens for centuries. This time, however, the anger exploded and lasted more than ever before. It created the impression that it could only be stopped after real changes in our society.
Is this mere civil disobedience, or is the BLM movement a real factor for political and social change?
What Are the Common Causes of Civil Disobedience?
To someone from a third-world country, who still sees the USA as the land of opportunity, the fact that the system came at the edge of another civil war is strange. To someone who has been treated unfairly inside the system, civil disobedience seemed as an inevitable outcome after years of oppression.
The black rights movement started under a social media hashtag in 2013, after teenager Trayvon Martin was shot. The BLM movement was founded on the goals to eradicate white supremacy and combat all acts of violence. The protests were peaceful in most cases, but the voices were not heard. Consistent disappointment in the government is the main cause that led to disobedience. If you read any sample essay at https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/civil-disobedience/, you’ll see it mentioned among the main reasons for protests around the entire world. But it doesn’t take a free essay for us to understand that George Floyd was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The victim of police violence became the face of the protests, which grew into a movement of civil disobedience.
When society consistently underestimates people’s rights and doesn’t give them the resources to thrive, protests are inevitable. It’s the typical human response to unbearable circumstances after years of attempts for a peaceful solution. Social transformation has always occurred after rebellion.
The government and certain media tried to draw people’s attention to bad protesters, in an attempt to shift the focus from the real problem: the social oppression that provoked the protests in the first place.
How the Black Rights Movement Escalated to Civil Disobedience
In 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech that became a highlight of the 20th century civil rights movement. He associated two important issues that the society faced back then: communism and racism. In his words, unless the nation did something about the condition in America, it wouldn’t be able to defeat communism. Today, we face a similar situation. There’s an intensifying impatience towards China, which is tackled separately from police violence. King’s popular speech serves as a reminder: we cannot solve international issues if we don’t focus on the wellbeing in our own country.
China’s argument is different to the one that the U.S.S.R. represented during the Cold War. China is not trying to impose an alternative ideology to America’s democracy. Its primary point is to show that democracy doesn’t work in the U.S. With the administration’s response to COVID-19 and the protests that emerged after the murder of George Floyd, we cannot help but wonder: is that true?
Several issues with the American political and social system undermine the ideal of fair democracy: inequality in income and treatment, improper health care, gun violence, and ongoing racism that hasn’t been completely solved. The civil disobedience did not occur out of the blue. It grew from a mass movement that’s been trying to make changes in the system for decades. When the dissatisfaction continues for so long without an obvious solution, citizens see no other option but to disobey the system to make the Government listen and react.
The murder of George Floyd was the final straw that sparked the disobedience. We shouldn’t forget about the burden of years of anti-black racism, violence, police harassment, and economic oppression.
Where Will This Situation Take Us?
In the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic, the civil disobedience sparked by the murder of George Floyd has to be put in context. People of color have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. We’re going back to what Martin Luther King said in 1956: we cannot solve a new issue without tackling the foundational problems in our society.
BIO: James Collins reads, writes, and takes part in social activism. His life revolves around learning and trying to understand people from all backgrounds. James focuses on blog posts around civil rights movements and social activism. His only intention is to learn more through the comments he gets.
