Jetta Rae Robertson brings us the view from the front line of recent Berkeley protests on recent police violence against black people.
The black organizers of the protests have been rapidly racked with a two-front conflict; they crawl along reclaimed city streets to avoid being kettled in by a militarized police force as the ever-prying hands of jilted and restless white “activists” try to wrest control of the space and spirit of this movement so they can smash bike shops and kick police barricades (as some were reportedly doing at last night’s protest).
In her essay “Eyes or Ears, but Never the Voice: A Reminder To White Protestors From A White Ally”, Robertson expresses important concern about the appropriation of black anger about the deaths of Eric Garner, Mike Brown and countless others.
Our anger with the police is legitimate, but when white activists wrest control of protests against anti-black police violence from the hands of a still-grieving community, the message we send is clear: Civil unrest is a necessary formality for the white narrative to reassert itself over any and all political issues.