No, Black people may not be joining all of your protests. But they are still resisting
No, Black people may not be joining all of your protests. But they are still resisting
Black Americans call to sit out of Trump protests and marches post-election hasnt exactly translated to inaction
By Tatyana Tandanpolie
Staff Reporter
Published July 5, 2025 6:30AM (EDT)
(Salon) Monica Wilson was so devastated by the result of the 2024 presidential election, she couldnt even move the day after. She had cast her ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris but became disillusioned when she learned a plurality of Americans ultimately chose Donald Trump.
I actually was one of those Black women that said, To hell with it. You do what you want. Its your issue. You created it, Wilson, who serves as a Parma, Ohio, city councilwoman, recalled in a phone interview.
Wilson wasnt alone in her anger. Black voters carried the Democratic vote in 2024, voting for Harris at 83%, split between 89% of Black women and 75% of Black men, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center report. When Harris lost to Trump, members of those majorities declared that they would not participate in any and all anti-Trump protests. But just under six months into Trumps presidency, that declaration hasnt exactly translated to inaction.
....(snip)....
That commitment to sitting out abstaining from anti-Trump demonstrations in favor of staying home was apparent in the Hands Off protests against the administration. Reports noted that crowds were largely made up of older white people, pointing to photos from the actions across the country as evidence. That was in contrast with the diverse, Black-led protests that erupted in 2020 and galvanized thousands of Americans against police brutality and anti-Black racism.
....(snip)....
Marcus Anthony Hunter, professor of sociology and African American Studies at UCLA, echoed that sentiment. Black people, he added, also must weigh the risk of engaging in demonstrations and the potential for violent encounters with law enforcement against their safety and livelihoods. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/07/05/no-black-people-may-not-be-joining-all-of-your-protests-but-they-are-still-resisting/

Freddie
(9,914 posts)We ALL know who would be the first people arrested and subject to police beatings and worse. Its not old white people.
1WorldHope
(1,440 posts)As it has always been, division makes us easier to conquer. But, I totally get it. I don't blame them one iota.
In the words of John Trudell:
Now you want us
To cry your tears for you
After weve already bled for you
Already been dead to you
Now you want us
To cry your tears for you
Chapters of a democracy story
Descendants of genocide
Twelve score and more years ago
We went from being the majority
To being the smallest minority
Now you want us
To cry your tears for you....
This song keeps getting better. I recommend looking it up. He was a once in a millennium poet of pure wisdom gained from suffering under our Great American Values.
Black people have suffered enough and they still kept fighting. That's how I try to get through each day by remembering that black and brown and indigenous peoples have had it far worse than we will ever know. Now, it's our turn to see what it's like to fear your government and your neighbors. And I fully understand that, even now, they will suffer far more than we will.
America needs truth and reconciliation hearings to wake white people the fuck up.
pecosbob
(8,033 posts)But then they will no longer be able to vote, or protest. Anyone that thinks they're safe from being included in that list is gravely mistaken.