Assignment 4 - Rachel Burns

Is peaceful protesting bad?

This question has always had me stumped for as long as I can remember. I remember learning about the Civil Rights Movement in elementary school. Everyone was talking about how revolutionary it was for these four men to sit down in a Greensboro diner, or how amazing it was for this group of people to walk across the Edmund Pettus bridge with their arms locked, singing We Shall Overcome. But then as I got older, the Black Lives Matter movement started kicking in and everyone was telling me how bad it was to protest and how people were only doing it for attention. For the first time ever, I was seeing the act of protesting in a negative light. I started to think protesting was bad. But once again, here comes Michigan giving me the heads up.

The day before the Fourth of July, we, as a group of 15/16 year olds, watched the documentary 13th on Netflix (I totally recommend for everyone to watch this). It really made us rethink everything that is going on in this country in terms of African American's lives and how they are being treated. We had a discussion immediately following the viewing and half of the room was crying. We all wanted to see a change in the way we are treated in America and we just didn't know how. The only thing we could think of doing is educate the people around the town and peacefully protest the next day during the Fourth of July parade.

It was risky. But most of us wanted to do it. I, on the other hand, was very reluctant. I was scared of protesting. I was afraid someone was going to shoot me down or try to run me over with their car. I was so terrified that I didn't even tell my mom I was going to protest because I thought she was going to come up to Michigan and take me home. But the next morning, we got up really early, dressed in all black, made signs, and marched across campus and tagged along to the end of the parade with our signs and started chanting. It was the most surreal experience of my life but it was great. Sure, we had people who opposed us, but we also had people who completely supported us and was cheering us on and that made me want to continue. The mayor of Ann Arbor even came up to us and said he'd love for us to be back in the parade next year.

That night, I talked to my mom on the phone about it and she went off on me. She didn't like that I went out and protested without telling her. But I explained to her why we did what we did and how it made us feel and I think I was able to get my message through to her. I know that she still doesn't agree with a lot of my thoughts and beliefs on things, but I think she should know where I stand on these topics. To this day, I am ready for another protest, whether that's for African Americans lives, women's lives, Hispanic lives, against Donald Trump, you name it. I'm ready.

Peaceful protesting isn't bad. It's a way of expressing your ideas and educating the people around you and taking advantage of your first amendment right to do so.