Christopher Chong, Lucius Seo and I went to see “Zero Tolerance” at MOMA PS1. This exhibit took a look at many protests and demonstrations that have taken place across the world in order to fight many forms of oppression. However, since the exhibit has opened, many major protests have taken place over the country, mainly related to the ongoing racism throughout America. We have already written about the exhibit itself, and another group that went and has given a great in-depth look at the show’s features, so we will do something a little different. So, it is time for an addendum to the exhibit that will include these new protests.
Mike Brown Protests
These new protests were sparked by the multiple killings of unarmed black individuals by white police officers, in which the officers received no punishment through the judicial system. In the two most significant and enraging cases across the country, Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner was suffocated to death by an officer who put him in a chokehold in order to arrest him in Staten Island, New York.
The Mike Brown case was the first of these incidents to really ignite protests throughout the country, although the most significant protests were in the surrounding areas of Ferguson. These demonstrations focused on raising awareness to a judicial system that is racially biased and allowed for an officer to kill an unarmed African American man without receiving any charges. Many of these protests were peaceful and well organized as the first image in this post shows; however, others took the form of riots, as the photo below shows.
Ferguson Riots
These riots were usually poorly organized and often involved violence towards individuals and businesses that were not involved in the killing of Michael Brown. The riots largely drew scorn from those not involved, as it seemed to detract from the efforts of the peaceful protests. In contrast, the peaceful protests in Ferguson spread throughout the country, as many people supported their cause.
The protests in New York followed the decision not to indict the officer responsible for killing Eric Garner by chokehold. This case, unlike Michael Brown’s, was caught on film, so it was shocking for many people when the grand jury decided not to indict the officer. In the Michael Brown case, it was always unclear what the exact events were that led to the shooting, but in this case, the circumstances and actions were very clear. With many people around the country already protesting the grand jury decision of the Michael Brown case, the protests grew, especially in the amount of people that supported and participated in them. Many of these protests are well organized and often involve blocking very public areas. They have stopped traffic on numerous occasions for their protests. These protests have also seen people have “Die-ins”, where protesters lie down on the floor and act dead, usually in public spaces:
Eric Garner Protests
These protests have been widespread and recognized throughout the country, but in order to be considered successful, they will need to lead to new dialogue and change. These demonstrations have the potential to raise awareness about many issues that have been difficult to speak about in the past. The protesters are most concerned with the constant racism throughout the country, excessive force used by police and the judicial system that seems biased towards whites and those with money. However, in order to do this, they need to have a clearer message and set of goals. While the protests in Ferguson mostly focused on the issue of race, many of the protests about Eric Garner’s death crossed the boundaries of race and focused more heavily on police use of force and concerns over the judicial system. While raising all these topics is valid, some argue that merely blaming racism is the wrong course to take. Nevertheless, it is still a conversation that we must have, but something that many people agree on is that the police force must held accountable when they use excessive force, as we saw in these cases, especially with Eric Garner. A positive response to this would be to see reforms made to how oversight of police shootings are handled, such as taking the case away from the prosecutor and giving it to an independent review board.
