The protesters want to push their racism on to others. When people sit down to eat, it’s not to be annoyed by pushy, smelly, assholes, who demand that diners do something other than have a nice meal and discuss business, family, or just chat with friends. The protesters demand that everyone else ignore their own lives and join the not-so-great unwashed in the protest du jour.
If anything, the customers will go to other “places” to enjoy themselves. The businesses will see a reduction in the numbers of customers. The asshole protesters won’t be spending money in these so-called “WHITE SPACES” because, you know, white people go there. The businesses will call the police, or hire security, to keep peta, ows, and we-hate-the-police groups away.
I’m not at all sure this is true. Politics in America today is much less about class (and much more about culture, race, etc.) than it was in the past, but it’s still weakly class based. Rich white people, including in New York, are still a bit more likely to be Republicans (and thus presumably pro-police, anti-protester, etc.) than working class whites, though this trend has gotten much weaker over time and is getting weaker by the day.
Working class whites are more likely to be on the side of the cops in these cases than upper class whites are. Not to mention that the working class white guy is much more likely to have a friend or relative who is a cop. There is plenty of residual racism among working class white Democrats, especially men. Plus, there are a LOT more of them than there are rich folks.
It’s interesting that you have a problem with my referring to the protesters as dirty but you have no problem with the racist message of the protesters. The protesters seem to believe that white people are the problem or that the problem can’t be fixed without the help of white people. What’s that tactic called, “lets go annoy the white people and they’ll fix the problem for us”??? I believe people, all people, can work together. It’s not BLACK brunch, it’s not WHITE brunch. But that’s the dirty, ugly opinion of the protesters. And that seems to be the racist policy that you seem to support.
Do you want to actually fix the problem or do you prefer to promote a racial divide?
Suppose the protestors were pushing a cause you’re not so sympathetic to.
SUPPOSE the protestors were pro-life fanatics who were giving out gruesome photos of aborted fetuses at a restaurant you were eating at. You really think that kind of tactic would make ANYONE at the restaurant more receptive to the anti-abortion message?
I don’t endorse this tactic, but the truth of the matter is, blacks DO need to get whites involved and concerned if they want to change the system. That’s just simple math.
Here is a story about protesters disrupting a ceremony honoring a one-hundred year old World War II Navy veteran.
And here is a story about protesters performing a “die-in” at First Night, an event geared towards families and kids to ring in the New Year. You may note on this story that one of the participants in the protests helpfully noted that the civil rights movement took “ten-plus years.” Another noted that there would be controversy about staging such a protest in front of an audience with a lot of kids, and he responded that “kids can learn about civics as well.”
Clearly, these protests haven’t yet reached Westboro Church standards of obnoxiousness, but come on – I’m with the protesters on the substance, but what is wrong with letting a 100 year old veteran be awarded some medals in peace, or just letting kids enjoy a little festival?
Right or wrong, it’s rude, and it’s human nature to disagree with disagreeable people. I can’t imagine this form of protest being anything other than counterproductive.
As was said above, it cannot be fixed without white people. I don’t think anyone wants white people to fix the problem FOR black people, but WITH black people.
I don’t know why you are lobbing accusations of racism at me. That people are identified as Black or White (or neither, rarely both) in contemporary America is a fact. Racism is a problem that disproportionately affects black people. Blacks are an ethnic group as well as a racial one; I’m not going to deny a people’s existence because my culture’s systemic oppression of their makes me feel guilty. I do think they should be calling us out on our tacit acceptance of the status quo.
In short, I’m not sure what position you expect me to take that you wouldn’t consider racist. Protests are disruptive; that’s the whole point. You don’t like them? That’s no reason to slander the protestors with ad hominem attacks (“dirty”), nor me (just-shy-of “racist”).
Protests being disruptive is not, in fact, the point. Protests were historically aimed at government, go back far enough and they were more to make the ruling powers be afraid these protests could turn into something much more serious (also, the protests were more like riots that had a chance to turn in to bloody revolutions.) But as society got a little calmer they just became a way to show grave dissatisfaction toward political leaders. In most of the world where protests still actually seem to have meaningful impact on politics they seem to be used the same way. They aren’t directed at random citizens, most of whom don’t know about the issue and who certainly can’t learn about it in the kind of stunts described in this thread (which are filled with nonsensical protests that would leave a person ignorant of the issue totally confused as to who the protesters were or what they’re about.)
In America for some reason the theory seems to be that protests are supposed to annoy other citizens. Like other posters I’d be interested to hear of anyone who has said “man, these protesters are fucking annoying me, I want them to get what they want.” In fact in Hong Kong, the protesters shutting down traffic and causing disruptions to non-protesters caused many Hong Kong citizens to turn far more in favor of the government, the exact opposite of what those protests were really about.
Not all Civil Rights protests were aimed at the government. The most directly comparable ones to these “Black brunches” were the segregated lunch counter sit ins – I’m sure the white customers thought those protests were very annoying and disruptive as well.
I don’t think modern brunch-goers are comparable to the segregated lunch-counter customers of the past, nor are the restaurants comparable, but the idea of “annoying” customers who are eating to make a political point about racial injustice has at least some history of success in this country.
If these were conservative protesters, say making a statement about why abortion is wrong or gay marriage is evil, would people be as quick to support them? I’m for people being left alone while they eat, whether you’re saving the whales, keen on Jesus, or trying to make a statement about racism.
How dare people complain about unarmed non-violent people getting gunned down by the police? It’s just rude.
As we know, people being rude is an offensive and intolerable situation. The killing of minorities, not so much. It’s only polite that people sit down, shut up, and accept disproportionate and unjust death.
Sure, but isn’t it reasonable that there’s a time and a place? Like if someone comes into this thread angry that we’re not talking about the transgender kid who killed herself, it’s fair to say that there’s already a thread for that? It’s still a huge issue, even if not everyone is talking about it all the time. Similarly, when people are having a drink or eating brunch, they’re likely not talking about various injustices of the world. Is it so wrong that they’re not?
I’m not sure that’s true. In France, there’s a well-established tradition of protesters shutting down roads, trains, or public venues, seemingly just because that’s the French way of protesting. I don’t know whether that carries a lesson for American protesters or not. The French people seem much more willing to accept disruptive, and even destructive, protests as being just a normal part of how politics is done.
You’re right. In fact, what they should do is go to MOVIE THEATERS and do this. That will be even MORE effective! How dare people watch Bilbo Baggins when Black Lives Matter!!