The murder of George Floyd is not the first time protests have erupted after the killing of an unarmed Black person in America. But this time is different.
More and more cities have found large numbers of protesters crowding their streets and confrontational tactics are not uncommon. Street actions are sustained for longer, and the diversity of the participants chanting in the streets is on the rise.
In fact, institutional actors and politicians are publicly choosing sides: in some cases, showing solidarity with the protesters and marching in the streets, and in other cases, declaring war on citizens who are engaging in peaceful expressions of democracy.
These protests were driven by events that are sadly similar to what we've seen before, but there are three reasons this time is different.
Pent up anxiety
Even before these protests swelled in size, we were living through a moment of heightened anxiety. Most Americans have spent more than two months under stay-at-home orders hiding from an invisible virus while the economy cratered and unemployment skyrocketed. Even with Friday's strong jobs report, unemployment is still at an historic 13.3% in the US and other measures of the labor market paint an even uglier picture.
It was against this backdrop that America witnessed the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis through bystander videos that were shared all over social media.
Citizen response was swift. Protests broke out in Minneapolis almost immediately, and the police answered with teargas and other aggressive tactics of crowd control. By Wednesday, there were protests in multiple cities with unrest and civil disobedience met by law enforcement wielding riot gear, teargas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets. Ubiquitous images of citizens harmed and property destroyed followed while the protests continued to spread and attracted support and involvement of Americans of all races and ethnicities.
A diversifying movement
The increased diversity of the protesters is notable.
For the past four years, I've been studying the people marching to protest the policies of President Trump and his administration. In American Resistance, I discuss the wave of contention that started on the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump with the Women's March.
Through surveys with over 2,000 protest participants at marches, I find that the majority of the Resistance — that is the counter-movement of organizations and individuals who rose up to push back against the Trump administration and its policies — is highly educated, middle-aged white women. Even with these demographics, Resisters report that racial justice and police brutality are motivations for their participation (along with a range of other issues).
Before the recent protests, the organizations that coordinated the Resistance were cultivating the embers of outrage and focused on channeling it into political work around the upcoming election. Now, not only have Resistance groups like Indivisible, MoveOn, Swing Left, and March On posted messages of solidarity, but many groups have provided instructions for safely joining the protests.
In fact, the leaders of Indivisible, one of the most well-known resistance groups, shared videos from their participation in the protests in Washington, DC last weekend. This show of support from progressive groups along with individual Resisters' concern for racial justice and police brutality has contributed to the increased diversity and growing sizes of the crowds in the streets.
The violent government response is adding to the urgency
At the same time, there is also clear evidence that the actions of the president and law enforcement across the country have created an outrage multiplier that has mobilized participants.
As I wrote in December 2019: "History shows us that when activism gets more disruptive and confrontational, institutional power responds. And that's when the distance between peaceful protest and violent protest narrows."
The president has weaponized the institutional political response to these confrontational but originally peaceful protests with tactics from the Hong Kong playbook—calling out the national guard, encouraging curfews, and using his language to stoke the outrage of the protesters and signal to his base.
As more acts of violence and repression are witnessed, the protests grow even larger. With more people taking to the streets in more places, it's important to remember that riots are the product of the actions of protesters and reactions by institutional political actors (e.g. the police, national guard, and other law enforcement).
Although it's too soon to say what will be the result of the protests, there's very little question that this is only the beginning. When anxiety meets moral outrage traveling at the speed of social media, an increasingly concerned and available populace becomes the match on the powder keg of America's social tensions.
Dana R. Fisher is a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. Her most recent book is American Resistance, which was published by Columbia University Press in November 2019
