'People are turning to the streets:' UNC professor says protests are on the rise nationwide
The Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been tracking the wave of protests following the Parkland, Fla. shooting and throughout the past year, and what they have found is extraordinary, according to the department chairman.
When people want change, they often turn to lawmakers, but Dr. Kenneth Andrews, head of sociology at UNC, said people are taking to the streets because they don’t feel like their voices are being heard.
“People are turning to the streets. They are turning to activism because they don’t see, in the political system, people who are actively representing their positions on issues,” Andrews said.
Over the weekend, thousands participated in the “March for Our Lives” rally to call for stricter gun laws following the mass shooting at a Florida high school on Valentine’s Day that killed 17 people. Students across the country also participated in the National School Walkout earlier this month to call for similar changes.
UNC has been tracking protests as they have been occurring across the nation over the last year. Data shows that not only are protests happening more often, but they’re being held in places where they don’t usually take place, like the in the Midwest, and more people are getting involved.
“The wave of protests over the past year has been extraordinary,” Andrews said.
Andrews said that historically, there are three main elements that make a movement successful.
“One is that they have had really powerful ideas. I think another is that they have creative kinds of tactics that bring people out that may also make them disruptive by pushing against the boundaries of society,” he said.
“I think the third big factor is to take that momentum and energy and good ideas and put together a lasting organizational presence that will push the movement’s ideas and agenda for the long haul,” he added.
Changes spurred by the Civil Rights Movement took decades and Andrews said it will also take some time before people see if recent protests pay off.
