A Millennial/Boomer Dialectic: Part 1 - Protests & Civil Rights
What follows is an imagined conversation between two imaginary people. Alex is a Leftist Millennial and Blake is a Conservative Baby Boomer. The starting question:
Is America Racist?
Blake: No, America is not racist. America was founded on equality and liberty for all. What remained of Southern racism was fixed with the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s. Any remaining racial inequities are the result of poor choices on an individual and cultural level.
Alex: Okay, there's a lot that you just said that needs to be deconstructed and looked at individually. For starters, America was not founded on equality and liberty. Voting rights and even the right to testify in court were restricted to white male landowners.
Blake: Yes, and those rights were eventually granted to every citizen once that was realized to be an error. The system worked, and we're always seeking to make this nation more equal and more fair.
Alex: Those rights weren't granted willingly though. Every expansion of rights in this country was paid for with blood, and was opposed by those with power. We fought a Civil War to end slavery, women starved themselves and were tortured in the fight for suffrage, and Black people bled and died in the streets for equal protection under the law. The majority of rich white men have never been on the side of expansion of the democratic franchise.
Blake: All of those victories were codified into law by white men though. As long as some are willing to fight for what's right, justice will always prevail.
Alex: The legal backing for equality only comes after the social battle has been won. Abolitionists fought for decades before Lincoln even dreamt of the White House. Suffragettes had to convince the broader society that women were politically useful in order to be considered for suffrage. Black civil rights activists had to campaign, protest, and eventually riot before politicians would even listen to them. LBJ didn't pass Civil Rights because he had a moral calling. He did it because it was the only way to stop the riots that kept erupting across the nation.
Blake: Protests are part of the democratic process. Riots, on the other hand, are unacceptable. Violence is never the solution, and ends up hurting, rather than helping the cause.
Alex: Look at how the media covers peaceful protests vs riots and tell me that peaceful protests are covered fairly. Most protests are peaceful, until the cops show up and escalate to the point of violence. Riots don't happen out of thin air. Also, the fact that instances of counterproductive violence coincide with protests does not invalidate the peaceful protest itself. If 1 in 100 protesters participates in looting, does that invalidate the intent of the other 99?
Blake: Not just looting though, there have been murders too!
Alex: In every single instance during the latest round of Black Lives Matter protests, deaths have either been at the hands of cops, or far-right instigators who are interested in discrediting the protests and escalating conflicts. No one who is showing up to protest for Black Lives is going with the intention of getting free stuff or killing people. The cops on the other hand have been seen to cover up their badge numbers, take headshots at protesters with their less-lethal rubber bullets, surround and beat the hell out of people for just being in their way, or just generally escalating conflict for no reason.
Blake: Fine, sure. But the current protests are a bunch of Marxists looking to "Abolish the Police" and "Abolish Prisons." Both of which are nonsense! How can we expect to have a functioning society without enforcement of laws? You do believe in the rule of law, don't you?