Rob Horowitz: Violent Protest Undermines a Just Cause
Tuesday, June 02, 2020
The constructive peaceful protest of the overwhelming majority of people flooding the streets of America’s cities to express their outrage over the cold-blooded killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, by a white Minneapolis police officer, while several other police officers stood by and watched, is in grave danger of being hijacked by a small group of violent protesters.
At least partially organized and certainly spurred by extreme far left-wing and right-wing national groups, these violent protesters are breaking windows, destroying neighborhood small businesses, and lighting buildings on fire. These destructive acts are predictably capturing an outsized share of media attention, taking the focus away from the wrongful death of George Floyd as well as the demands for appropriate criminal punishments for the offending officers and fundamental reforms of policing.
Research by Omar Wasow, Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University, among others, shows that non-violent protest can attract broader public support for a cause or issue, while violent protest significantly reduces support. The disciplined strategy of non-violence led by Martin Luther King Jr, for example, in the face of brutal police treatment in a number of strategically selected Southern cities, significantly increased support from white moderates for action on civil rights, leading to the adoption of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and the defeat of Jim Crow.
On the other hand, the riots of the late sixties, which burst across the nation’s television screens and stayed on the evening news night after night, resulted in a substantial portion of these same white moderates, who were also concerned about restoring order, curtailing their support of further civil rights action and voting Republican, helping to elect Richard Nixon--- the “law and order” candidate --in 1968.
That is why it is so essential that African-American leaders from with-in the impacted cities and ones with national reach are forcefully speaking out and unequivocally condemning the violence. ‘Protest makes change possible. But these idiots on the street destroying things have no intention of protesting inequality,” former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted on Saturday. “They are co-opting the righteous anger of those who truly suffer. That anger can — and must — be channeled into efforts to make positive change a reality.”
Similarly, Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms hammered home the point that the destructive property damage caused by a few is only hurting the people that live in the community: “You’re not honoring a legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. You are not protesting anything running out with brown liquor in your hands, breaking windows in this city. T.I., Killer Mike owned half the West side, so when you burn down this city, you’re burning down our community.”
Through more widespread de-escalation training, diversifying the composition of police forces and other reforms, there has been progress in lessening the inappropriate use of force in many police departments throughout the nation. But, the unfortunately, not isolated enough example of George Floyd, demonstrates that we still have a long way to go. The battle to reform all of our police departments and our court system so that finally all of our citizens realize equal treatment and justice under the law remains a difficult, long-term one. To succeed requires attracting and maintaining public support and keeping attention on the issue at hand.
To accomplish this important goal, we must draw a hard line against the small percentage of protesters committing violent acts and make sure that organizers and community leaders scheduling and participating in protests take all necessary precautions to discourage and limit the possibility of violence.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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