Do Peaceful Protests Work?

By Bob Cox

Just one day after the U.S. Presidential Inauguration, over 2.6 million people in over 670 cities around the globe came out to support a variety of human rights principles, according to the USA Today and the Sacramento Bee. In our nation’s capital, 500,000 demonstrators showed up, along with hundreds of thousands of others in cities across all 50 states and 32 countries. During these events, one question has been asked by many: What good can come of this, now that the presidential election is in the rear view mirror?

To answer that question, let’s take a brief stroll through the history books. One of the biggest movements in early American history began in 1848 when a small group of women, who were searching for an equal voice in society, gathered to discuss the conditions and rights of women on July 19-20 in Seneca Falls, New York. From those humble beginnings of the Seneca Falls Convention, a grass roots movement sprouted up behind Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, leaders of the women’s suffrage movement. It would take another 72 years of hard fought perseverance through numerous demonstrations for the group to accomplish its crowning achievement, when on August 26, 1920; U.S. Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

A century later, the power of peaceful demonstrations would change our country for the better again with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s. The seeds of this uprising were planted in the blood soaked battlefields of the Civil War when on January 1, 1863; President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which set free the slaves of all Confederate states. Within seven years, three important amendments (Thirteen-Fifteen) would pass, officially abolishing slavery, granting citizenship and voting rights to former slaves. So from there, we all lived happily ever after…right? Wrong!

The hypocritical horrors of institutional racism festered in America; however, as the unjust Jim Crow Laws were enacted in 1890 in former Confederate States; laws that enforced “separate but equal” public facilities that were proven to be consistently inferior for African Americans. It would take a number of spontaneous and organized protests to create and pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965), thus ending the Jim Crow era for good in 1965, exactly one hundred years after the conclusion of the Civil War.

So, what can come from the newest peaceful demonstrations that circled our globe on January 21, 2017? If history repeats itself as it often does, then profound social changes can happen. If the protests remain law abiding, peaceful and persistent; their message will have a better chance of appealing to the masses, which is the key to getting things done. Organized and peaceful demonstrations also provide individuals with the opportunity to creatively brainstorm with other like-minded people who are determined to stand up for the things they believe in. The initial protest can establish a strong foundation, but it is just the first step. Staying involved by participating in more protests, starting your own grass roots movement or even running for public office are the kinds of consistent actions that make change more likely to occur. If you are frustrated with the way things are, resist the urge to sit around griping. Get involved, do something positive and go for it!