Millions of champions worldwide will not be silenced

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2020 (2235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There hasn’t been a moment like this in a generation, or maybe more.

It is both like and unlike waves of change that have swept the world before: echoes of the past in its broader themes, but a song of the moment in its particulars. It is led by black youth, supported by legions, and has captured the eyes of the world.

It has also captured the world’s minds, voices, and feet.

From Minneapolis, where George Floyd was so coldly killed by police, it spread at a lightning-fast pace, as a tsunami radiates outward from a quake: west to Seattle and east to London; north to Ottawa, and south to Houston.

The scope of it demands attention. It speaks to phenomena both practical (the connective power of social media) and generational (youth hungry for change). It speaks to an injustice that can no longer be ignored by those who for so long were able to look away; it speaks now with the collective voice of millions.

Even retail brands have followed the call, which in a mass consumer society is more effective than a windsock to know which way the wind is blowing. Everything from makeup companies to fast-food restaurants have put out a statement; some have pledged hefty donations to the Black Lives Matter movement and similar organizations.

Change has followed swiftly.

In less than two weeks, the mass demonstrations have had an indelible effect on the course of our world, and this is only the beginning. It will be a subject of much research, in years to come, to explore just how quickly the protests shaped public discourse and government reactions.

Consider how, for instance, the movement’s call to defund police has gained a level of mainstream traction that was unimaginable just two weeks ago. It’s not a new idea — many have written and advocated for it over the years — but it is now being rushed into the broader political dialogue by the voices of protesters.

This week, outlets from Rolling Stone to the New York Times ran primers on what “defund police” means. The Guardian published a piece by sociology Prof. Alex Vitale, author of the widely cited 2017 book, The End of Policing.

The time is coming close for a full public examination of the proposal’s merits.

Or consider how, again in a matter of days, the protests have spurred concrete action. This week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced US$150 million in cuts to the LAPD budget — about five per cent of its funding. That money will be directed to social and community needs.

Virginia announced it would take down a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Minneapolis moved to ban the use of chokeholds by police, and will require officers to report and intervene when they see colleagues using unauthorized force. If they don’t, they can be disciplined as if they had enacted such force themselves.

These are just a few of the concessions thus far; more will come.

For the most part, these are incremental reforms, not the sea change many are demanding. But if the movement can move the needle this far in a matter of days, the potential for more meaningful shifts is enormous.

Meanwhile, even in cities that have not had mass protests, elected officials seem nervous. Clearly, they are watching. They should be nervous: not of protesters, but of how they will answer calls to take action.

The marches will not last forever, but the questions they raise will not go away.

In Winnipeg, Mayor Brian Bowman said he would be at Friday night’s rally at the Manitoba legislature, not to speak, but to listen. That’s how it must start, with elected officials hearing the full cries of the people: not just the ones who carry their pain, but also those full of their hope, love and most aspirational ideas.

A riot, as Martin Luther King Jr. so famously said, is the language of the unheard. Listening alone is not enough, but no meaningful collective action can happen without it.

It can be easy, when news and social media are so full of scenes of chaos, to get distracted from what is being said, and what change is needed. This time, it seems, that message will not be drowned out.

The winds of change are blowing, because countless people stood up and demanded to be heard. To protest can be a heavy thing, and not only when facing tear gas and truncheons; on their shoulders, the protesters carry the weight of the history they are making.

Yet, they will not stop; by now, that much is clear. Every day, the protests are galvanized by more incidents of the police abuse they are rejecting.

Over the last week, hundreds of videos have surfaced of police brutality against protesters and bystanders, meted out on camera in public.

Those videos are painful and often distressing to view. Once, enough of the world might have looked away, not wanting to see the full scope of the problem, but that time is over. We haven’t seen a moment like this in years, or maybe even generations, and we should be proud of those who raised it up from the ground.

Where some might have despaired, they found hope. They saw a chance to make change, where they could have stayed home.

Change doesn’t often come easy and hope needs strong champions; it’s a beautiful thing to see, across the world, it has millions.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca