urban_dilettante wrote:DUDE, by definition the people who are being violent and vandalizing ARE NOT PEACEFUL PROTESTORS. but you're lumping together those people along with all the people who are just standing there chanting and holding signs. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. and guess what, although it involves breaking the law, civil disobedience is a time-tested form of peaceful protest. so breaking the law does not necessarily imply violence or malice. to expect those who are protesting peacefully to be bullied into submission by some criminal sh*t heads is absolutely unfair.
Forgive me if I am a bit tired of this brand of civil disobedience. I don't think I'm alone even if I am in the minority on this message board. Protesters don't have to lie down in streets, block traffic, and disrupt commerce to get their point across. For what it's worth, at least based on my anecdotal observations, I believe protesters have lost support with these antics.
Ferguson residents have also lost much in terms of quality of life. Everyday life was a struggle for some residents at times during the unrest. Some of the businesses along West Florissant Avenue aren't coming back. The stretch of North Florissant Road, through downtown and past police headquarters, was a fine example of a small suburb that invested in its community. How are the merchants there doing now? I suppose time will tell, but I believe we will see many residents and businesses leave.
Then, there's the message. Justice was served, and 'Hands up, don't shoot' was a fabrication, yet I still see people demanding justice for Michael Brown and repeating the mantra that even DOJ investigators acknowledged was false. I realize people are still upset about the loss of a young life, which is always tragic regardless of the circumstances, and they don't trust the way in which the aftermath was handled. However, I believe it will be difficult for protesters to build broader support if the message is not focused on the need for reforms and a way to move forward. Just my overvalued $.02.
Northside Neighbor makes a salient point about the lack of leadership among peaceful protesters. There is no doubt in my mind that many of the people who protest are peaceful with no intent of malice or violence. However, it is difficult to reign in the bad actors who inevitably show up and redefine the protesters' message. Is it acceptable to protesters for people like Louis Head to incite violence, or Bassem Masri, who has a nasty habit of getting in officers' faces and spewing tirades that many people would consider to be threats? What do the people with Guy Fawkes masks have to hide? I am sure some protesters would bristle at the idea of a free speech zone as NN suggested, but to me it should at least be considered to protect the 1A rights and safety of those who wish to protest peacefully, and to isolate people like Masri who are clearly up to no good.
As far as actual, i.e., elected leaders are concerned, do people like Maria Chappelle-Nadal and Jamiliah Nasheed represent the movement well? Do they represent their constituents well, given their propensity for inflammatory comments? Nasheed doesn't want to do interviews for now, yet, at times, she has acted as an agitator in public and on social media. Chappelle-Nadal is no better as her propensity for profanity-laced tirades doesn't exactly demonstrate leadership in my opinion. What should County Executive Stenger and Mayor Knowles do, especially since the latter doesn't seem interested in resigning? Better yet, are there Ferguson residents who are willing to be the change they seek in the next election? Do they become the 'leaders' that are needed? There are a lot of questions and few if any answers, because as NN correctly points out, politicians are hesitant to take controversial positions, and probably never imagined their leadership skills would be put to this kind of test.
