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CoolAbdul t1_j6f7de1 wrote

Reply to comment by your_city_councilor in Justice for Tyre Nichols Worcester, Massachusetts at Kelly Square at 4:00 PM Tomorrow by New_Analyst3510

Because it's a chronic situation and needs to change.

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your_city_councilor t1_j6g1v0o wrote

But what does a group of people holding signs and, likely, chanting do?

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Eve617 t1_j6g5mub wrote

Yeah, I get you, in a pessimistic state I'd say it will get us nothing. If instead I choose optimism and hope, then I have to say that demonstrations have caused change to happen. The older I get the more I realize that neutrality, or doing nothing or not having an opinion, is no longer an option.

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your_city_councilor t1_j6g7yuk wrote

But...isn't just going to a demonstration kind of neutral, if it doesn't accomplish anything?

Better to work to get good candidates elected or something along those lines. A bill enacted in the city/state/country, etc.

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k-squeez t1_j6giu3h wrote

It's never just about the protest. Protests are usually part of a larger effort. The efficacy of protests varies. They can yield immediate results, they can take years to build momentum, they can be quashed or quickly forgotten. but at the very least they let a community know that some of it's members care about something. It connects people and fosters further work on the issue. If anyone else in the community is concerned about this thing but isolated, now they know they have a community and path to doing work on the issue. It's a single part of many types of effort and activism that can bring eventual change.

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your_city_councilor t1_j6j9oxx wrote

Okay, but a protest doesn't really garner any more attention than a post on Facebook or something. What's the overall strategy?

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guybehindawall t1_j6i5fhz wrote

I mean, if people all over the country didn't come out and protest after George Floyd's murder, do you really think the officers involved in Tyre's murder would already be fired and arrested? Arrested even before the video came out?

The department's behavior was an acknowledgement that they were under public scrutiny, and protests should continue to remind governments that they are still under public scrutiny.

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your_city_councilor t1_j6irb72 wrote

>I mean, if people all over the country didn't come out and protest after George Floyd's murder, do you really think the officers involved in Tyre's murder would already be fired and arrested? Arrested even before the video came out?

Maybe?

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Cheap_Coffee t1_j6hveo9 wrote

So... charging the cops and taking them to trial is a bad start?

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CoolAbdul t1_j6hz6tt wrote

False premise. No one is saying charging the cops is a bad start. No one is suggesting that at all. What people are saying is that the problem is *institutional*, and this incident is merely a symptom of a larger problem.

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Cheap_Coffee t1_j6idl5m wrote

Agreed that it's a systemic problem. The question we're responding to is "
what's the point of a protest when the right things are happening.

It's not fast enough? We should skip the trial and just hang them?

The problem with protests is that there are so many of them that they have become effectively meaningless.

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CoolAbdul t1_j6j6jhq wrote

Protests sparked the Civil Rights Act.

Protests ended the misadventure in Vietnam.

Protests resulted in anti-discrimination laws.

Legit results.

Doesn't seem meaningless to me.

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Cheap_Coffee t1_j6miswo wrote

I notice you had to reach back 50 years for examples.

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CoolAbdul t1_j6mpp5i wrote

I used the most prominent examples, but if you want more recent examples that were brought about by public pressure, you can cite job discrimination on the basis of orientation, which has been banned nationwide since 2020, or the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (2012). But also, your response, citing the time frame, is a logical fallacy as it doesn't speak to the efficacy of public sentiment and public pressure.

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Cheap_Coffee t1_j6mqmkf wrote

How about Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter... oh, nevermind.

We each pick our beliefs.

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CoolAbdul t1_j6mqsau wrote

Well, the former definitely didn't take hold. The latter... it remains to be seen if any real change results.

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