This past Saturday, I offered up something, But It Is Still There, that all but stated my intent. It was an initial attempt at summing up this summer, the summer of 2020. In the essay, I chose to point to what I was focused upon as opposed to explicitly asserting it.
I thought that such was more appropriate as I felt that for many what I was pointing at was in fact not there. Many, I believe are either unable to recognize it or have chosen to ignore what I was pointing at. Many I believe simply want to deny what I pointed to. And with that, I wanted to all but state its presence. I wanted in that essay to not only point to it, but point to its disregard. Highlight that it was largely not seen.
What I was pointing to, however, needs to be named. It needs to be identified. To hint and suggest at it is not sufficient, regardless of the situation around it.
What I point to are the peaceful protests that have gone on throughout this summer in the United States. Peaceful protests were what this summer was about. Protesting was for many the one thing they did with others. It was for many perhaps the one thing they had.
We did not have the 4th of July fireworks. We did not have ballgames. There were no street fairs. No state fairs. No carnivals. Great Adventure was closed. We did not check out any concerts or music festivals. No Concerts at Jones Beach, no Summer at Lincoln Center, nor anything at the local park. We did not run to the mall. There simply was none of that this summer. Again, the one thing we did collectively was protest.
We, or many of us, protested what we witnessed in Darnella Frazier's 8 minute and 46 second video of a Minneapolis policeman taking the life of George Floyd. That was the one thing we had, courtesy of our TVs, phones, laptops, tablets and computers. The two things we shared prior to these protests were our devices and that video. And that video viewed so many times on those devices, drove us into the streets.
That and COVID. COVID and the loss, the fear, and the uncertainty that came with it. Many had lost loved ones due to COVID. Many had lost jobs due to COVID. And for many who did still work, they pondered for how long? Or whether their work puts them at risk of catching the virus. It was a country in lock down - told to stay in place. Frozen.
It was from this backdrop that we watched a Minneapolis police officer kill George Floyd. We watched it again and again as we navigated and dealt with the frustration and tension of staying in place. It was from this, that people left their homes and joined others in the street and marched. Hopefully, socially distanced and masked, but many were not. Regardless, the outcome was literally thousands of marches across the country, and millions of marchers. That was what Americans did this summer.
And yes, there was violence. Sadly it looks like thirty plus people were killed in relation to some of these protests during the course of the summer. Those killed included protestors, police, property owners, counter-protestors, and those who simply got caught up in the chaos. And yes, there was looting and property damage, entailing losses in the hundreds of millions and most likely ending with the destruction of too many businesses.
That said, if you just look at the number of protests that took place, the number of protestors estimated at these protests. These numbers, these protests are unique. There has been nothing like this in our history. One accounting estimates that there was between May 24th and August 24th roughly 10,600 protests. Basically, more than 10,000 protests took place in the United States between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2020. The New York Times asserts that in mid-June alone, contingent upon which of the four polls they detailed you go with, there were between 15 million and 26 million people who had participated in these protests or at least claimed such.
The Times goes on to point out that the Women's March in 2017 involved between 3 and 5 million, and granted that happened on one day, it was engineered; it was organized. The Civil Rights Marches of the sixties involved hundreds of thousands as opposed to millions. What happened this summer was purely organic. There was no political engineering, no planning. Perhaps some tweeting the night before, but no permits, no planning of an itinerary, no staging areas, no map or path for the protest to follow through the cities and towns they proceeded through. There were no press releases, no coordination among national organizations that would typically sponsor such events. What happened this summer is unprecedented.
We need to acknowledge this. We need to acknowledge that this summer millions protested in thousands of cities and towns across the US like we have never seen before. We need to acknowledge that these protests were in support of the idea that black lives matter. That is what drove these protests. The protestors who made up these protests were of diverse origins. Yet, all of them acknowledged that black lives matter.
That means something. Yes, there was violence. There was loss of life. There was destruction of property. Yes, there was the unauthorized removal and destruction of Confederate statues, among others. All of that happened, but that does not take away from the size and the scale of these spontaneous largely-peaceful protests. It does not take away from the fact that all of these people across the country just came together. All acknowledging that what happened to George Floyd should not happen to anyone. Further, they seem to assert or acknowledge that this happens all too often in America, and needs to stop. What happened to George Floyd should not happen.
Lastly, a final thought or nod to my earlier essay where I only alluded to these peaceful protests, as if they were not there. As if they were not fact. To not acknowledge the peaceful protests that happened this summer in the US is perhaps to also not acknowledge what happened to George Floyd. It is also to not acknowledge, it is in fact to deny that what happened to George Floyd continues to happen all too often in the United States, and again needs to stop.
"Violence and controversies during the George Floyd protests", Wikipedia
