Hands Up, Don't Shoot by Cobbina Jennifer E.;

Author:Cobbina, Jennifer E.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York University Press

While some revolutionary demonstrators were willing to die for the cause, others were reluctant to put their lives on the line, yet remained wholly committed to protest participation. When asked where she would be in three to six months as it relates to community action, Devanta, a Black revolutionary Ferguson demonstrator, acknowledged the risk of protesting, stating, “I don’t want to see myself in jail or … dead or nothing like that [for protesting].” Nevertheless, Devanta had every intention of continuing to protest against police violence. Despite the personal costs of participation, some protesters responded to threats of repression by developing a greater resolve.60 Sometimes extreme repression has been observed to provoke stronger levels of protests among the organizations and hasten the formation of social movement.61 When repression is perceived as illegitimate, it is not uncommon for people to become more extreme in their approach.62

Four revolutionary demonstrators who were persons of color reported that, while they did not plan on continuing on with subsequent street protests, they intended to engage in various community efforts to effect change. Dyshelle, a Black Ferguson activist, stated that, in the next three to six months, “[I will be doing] less protesting but getting more into the community.” She said she planned to work with different organizations “to be an advocate [against] police brutality.” Consider Amber’s strong commitment to bring about change in the city of Baltimore:

I’m still here on the front line, I’m still doing the work. Like I said I’m working with the Downtown Cultural Art Center, we really are—we have some, some programs that are geared towards disadvantaged or disenfranchised young people.… I’m connected with a lot of different city leaders and stuff like that.… I have been doing the work prior to this, you know. I’ve been, you know, hanging in the hood and doing voter registration drives in 2010–2011, hosting back to school events and stuff like that. So I’ve been here doing the work and so I’m going to continue.

Amber planned to continue her community outreach endeavors. In addition, she emphasized the need to build political power for herself by voting. She was not alone in her efforts to foster political power. Jason, a mixed-race activist, also described his plans to work with politicians:

I’m working with currently the house majority whip Dwayne Haynes. Delegate Dwayne Haynes, he’s the house majority whip for Maryland and Antonio Hanes who’s the delegate for my neighborhood and I can see myself working on either one of their campaigns and whoever is running for mayor. I hope to work on one of their campaigns so that we can have someone inside of these positions of power somewhere that’s going to work for the people. And I’m not just saying to go to your office and work for them but be active in the community. [We need] to be talking to people, hanging out, eating with people, having fun with people, working with people, getting things done and bringing the community back together because it’s broken.

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