Do protests even work? Why does it take so long to see results? In an article from The Atlantic, Zeynep Tufekci analyzes these questions and, more importantly, explains how and why protests work. Movements don’t always spark immediate change; there are short-term and long-term effects of protesting, but both are important in accomplishing the overall goal.

Protests are signals that bring attention to injustice. They send a message to authorities and communities, letting them know people will not put up with the current conditions any longer. Tufekci points out “credibility” in these statements, and how its presence or lack thereof can determine if the issue is taken seriously. Nowadays, social media and accessible news make planning, gathering, and enacting a large protest much easier than in the past. The March on Washington in 1963, for example, took over 10 years to organize and pull off. In 2017, the Women’s March took only a few weeks. Low-effort protests don’t illustrate as much credibility, even if the people are just as passionate. In the short term, these gatherings may not result in an immediate change, but they’re still a meaningful step.

Activists magnify their impacts when they are willing to fight for their cause in high-risk situations. Authorities may use lawful or physical actions to put an end to a protest. The 2020 Black Lives Matter protest wave was high-risk due to the brutal police response (rubber bullets, tear gas, arrests, or physical force) and the danger of the pandemic. Continuing these protests for weeks under dangerous conditions provided credibility and created some immediate results.

However, authorities do have the power to make protests, no matter how large, even higher-risk until people give up. In Egypt, tens of thousands of protestors gathered in Cairo to protest a military coup in 2013. The military and police responded with open fire, shooting almost 1,000 people. Consequently, the protests were mostly discontinued.

So why do protests work? Why don’t authorities shut down every protest against them until the people give up? The most important pillar of governmental power is “legitimacy”, or when authorities rule through understanding and consent, not force. Repression can keep protests under control for a little while, but it isn’t sustainable over a long period of time. Governments would lose legitimacy and therefore lose the safety and support of the people if repression were used as a long-term strategy.

In the long-term, “protests change the minds of people, including those who may not even be participating in them,” Tufekci writes. They spark conversations on both sides of the argument. Protests liberate those involved; casual participants evolve into lifelong activists, and communities come together to bond in an empowering way. Protestors don’t simply march down the street. They gather with a purpose, undergo dangerous conditions for their cause, and leave their mark on history.

Protesting against injustice is not new, and neither is backlash against those who do so. Marcus Garvey, a Black businessman and activist who was born in Jamaica, was deported as an “undesirable alien” almost 100 years ago, ostensibly due to a conviction for fraud. In truth, Garvey was deported because of his activities as leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an organization he founded and led. Garvey is renowned for promoting Black pride, economic independence, and unity. His 1923 fraud conviction was politically motivated - the FBI has acknowledged Garvey was investigated with the goal of deporting him. On February 1, 2022, The Grio reports, a new effort to obtain a posthumous Presidential pardon for Garvey was launched to coincide with Black History Month.

The campaign hopes for 100,000 signatures during the month of February in order to elicit an official White House response. Garvey’s descendants and supporters have worked toward a pardon for many years, but have not yet been successful. Their hope is that by concentrating the effort in a 30-day time period, they may finally be heard. Dr. Julius Garvey, Marcus Garvey’s son, is 88 years old. The Grio quoted Dr. Garvey’s remarks to a Washington Post reporter, referring to President Biden’s commitment to racial justice: “We will take him at his word. Racial injustice was done to my father more than 100 years ago. He committed no crime. What he was trying to do was elevate the status of African Americans and Africans across the world.”

The petition may be signed here. Signatures will be accepted through March 2, 2022. The campaign also encourages students of all ages to write President Biden letters in support of pardoning Garvey. Letters can be sent to President Biden, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., 20500, or submitted online at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Housing Matters, an Urban Institute Initiative, released an article by Katherine Fallon discussing the importance of housing as a human right. Access to housing is necessary for physical and mental health, quality of life, access to education, economic outcomes, and overall security, the article states.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights first recognized housing as a human right in 1948. It has since been reaffirmed, but having a safe, stable, and affordable place to live is still treated as a commodity. There are no federal laws enforcing the right to housing, only a bundle of protections like those against discrimination in the Fair Housing Act. Americans are suffering without security from the government. Fallon shares in the article, “There is a shortage of more than 7 million affordable homes, hundreds of thousands of Americans experience homelessness each year, and a growing number of households spend more than half of their income on housing.” 

Housing advocates are making the necessity known, hoping federal acknowledgment will hold landlords and governments responsible for evictions, lack of affordable housing, and criminalizing the homeless. Developing efforts, like the Housing is a Human Right Act, Moms 4 Housing, and discussions by Mayor Darrell Steinberg, are working to commit funds and support current gaps in American housing.  

Internationally, Scotland has already taken further steps by certifying the right to housing. A series of acts between 1987 and 2003 made local governments responsible and allows those experiencing homelessness to sue if their right is not respected. Added policies have improved homeless services, but Scotland still struggles with housing access due to economic downturns. Varied results are shown to be common in other places globally, like France and South Africa, mostly due to the lack of adequate resources and funding. 

Naming housing as a human right is an important first step towards safety and security, but it must be paired with federally enforced policies, support, and sufficient resources. 

As reports of anti-Asian attacks and hate continue, the White House has announced a new task force focused on Asian and Pacific Islander visibility. Formally titled the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, it is composed of 23 leaders from the private, public, academic, and non-profit sectors, including actor Daniel Day Kim. Kim, best known for his role on the tv series Lost, has been an active advocate for the Asian-American community.

The purpose of the Commission is to advise President Biden on the needs of the Asian-American community, with the goal of advancing equity and opportunity. According to the White House press release, this focus includes “anti-Asian xenophobia and violence, ways to build capacity in AANHPI [Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander] communities through federal grantmaking and policies to address the intersectional barriers that AANHPI women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities face.” Additional priorities include adding more language options for federal documents and disaggregating data.

Disaggregating data is especially important, since the term “Asian,” as defined by the Census Bureau, includes anyone “having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.” This includes people of vastly different cultures, languages and heritages. In the U.S., it includes groups of people with vastly different socio-economic circumstances and historical relationships with oppression, prejudice, and stereotyping.

These differing circumstances lead to differing outcomes in areas of concern such as poverty. While Asian-Americans, in the aggregate, are the wealthiest ethnic group in the nation, Mongolians living in the U.S. have a poverty rate of 25%. Similarly, education level varies widely among Asians. While 54% of Asian-Americans aged 25 and over hold a bachelor’s degree, substantially higher than the overall U.S. average of 33%, only 15% of Bhutanese-American adults have a bachelor’s degree. Therefore, disaggregated date collection will lead to more equitable outcomes for sub-groups within the very large “Asian” umbrella.

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