Protests Are Near Constant. Do They Work? : Code Switch

Protests are near constant. Do they work? : Code Switch

To the casual observer, it might seem like the U.S. has been spent years in a constant state of protest, from the Women's March in 2017 to the racial uprisings in 2020 to the No Kings protests earlier in the summer. But some are starting to wonder: How effective are any of those protests? When it comes to achieving lasting social change, do any of them work?

Why do people protest?

With the first half of the year gone by, the U.S. witnessed 14,713 protests just in the first five months — 1,000 more protests than those that occurred in the same days of Trump’s previous administration. Participants at the “Funeral for Democracy” demonstration in Lansing explained why protests take place and their relevance in the present day. For those present at the demonstration, protest is about visibility, community building and organizi…

Protests are near constant. Do they work?

Protests are near constant. Do they work? To the casual observer, it might seem like the U.S. has been spent years and years in a constant state of protest, from the Women's March in 2017 to the racial uprisings in 2020 to the No Kings protests earlier in the summer. But some are starting to…