At the height of the civil rights movement, SGATO Director Gary Manka remembers waking up one Christmas morning to find his parents nowhere to be found.
Manka, who comes from a family of protesters and activists, said on Christmas Eve that her parents challenged Jim Crow’s compulsion at a local coffee shop by sitting with her black friends to serve .
“In the age of civil rights [era]they went to an immaculate coffee shop in Huntsville, Texas. [Black people] I wasn’t allowed to order coffee from that shop. They went with their black friends and sat in the store and they were all arrested and it was Christmas Eve,” Manka said. “I spent Christmas without my parents one year. So when I’m talking about passion [protestors], that’s what I mean. “
According to Manca, the difference between today’s protests and those decades ago is passion. With so many protests and issues flooding social media pages, people sometimes use the platform for selfish purposes without committing to a specific cause.
“In the ’60s and ’70s, there was a charismatic group of people who recognized a problem that needed fixing, and were willing to spend years fixing it, whatever the outcome,” Manka said. Told.
“Now it’s more superficial and not as deep. People might give up easily. ‘That’s me. I’m as important as the cause and I want to prove it.’ ’ You want people to know that, right? “I want people to follow me.” [the motivations were] just against. “
In addition to the thinly spread attention of modern protesters, Manka believes today’s protests lack the charismatic leadership to hold the movement together. When things got tough, people could turn to figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Manka said previous protests were more bureaucratic, resulting in more effective leadership and organization. Social media engages more people, but the lack of clear leadership affects efficiency and effectiveness.
“At the time, the only added incentive was to be arrested and put in jail. It’s not active,” Manka said. “But the flattened hierarchy is [social media]so i don’t think [protests are] Well organized as possible. ”
Manka said protests were previously spread verbally and over the phone, but are now being shared through social media posts.
Today, more information is shared more quickly, making it easier to see who wants to join a protest, said sophomore Sustainability Studies student Lauren Chrisien. increase. People upset about recent political decisions can now find protest forums and get information about when and where.
While social media provides information about protests, it can also misinform about their focus, requiring further investigation, said former state senator Artenia Joyner.
“Social media has revolutionized the world. Everyone knows everything within minutes,” she said. “But a lot of the information that comes out on social media is misinformation, so it’s your responsibility to find out if most of what you’re seeing is true.”
Chrisien said social media also allowed negative press coverage of the protests to spread.
“I [Black Lives Matter] Left-wing protesters were labeled as violent or unpredictable, especially in right-leaning news, under the influence of the movement,” said Crissian. “I think it took away a lot of the sincerity that some people were watching the protests with. It took away their values.”
Chrisien has been participating in protests for the past five years, but she said she’s noticed a shift in the crowd’s energy from powerful to fear and cowardice in recent times.
While attending a protest outside the Youth Conservative Conference, Crissian faced violence from attendees who yelled at protesters, pushed some people, and even took autographs. She witnessed someone getting an autograph from an older couple, and she got an autograph too. Due to the violence, she and her friend had to leave after 30 minutes.
Joyner said the energy and attitudes have changed, but the underlying emotions are still there and the protests are changing for the better. They are more diverse in terms of race, gender and age.
“We have to sit at the table and find a way to get things done without people getting sick,” Joyner said. We have to recognize and understand that we are not there yet.”
Citizens continue to demand equality and justice for all, so it’s important to learn about the past and be open to change, Joyner said.
“The dash between life and death, you decide what it becomes for you, and it’s what you leave behind,” Joyner said. It is very important to have respect for, this is missing and life depends on relationships and people need to understand that.”
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