*nod* Yeah, there are so, so, so many people who are very new indeed to any kind of protesting, me included. (Frankly, and I've said it before on here--- we're sort of lucky that the other side jumped when they did, because we've still got people from John Lewis on down to more "everyperson" protesters who remember things like Vietnam and the civil rights movement who are there to show the new generation how to roll.)
I admit I kind of liked that they started with the idea of feeling out local law enforcement to find out where you and they actually stand with each other on the issue in a very direct way--- and possibly, if you've got a friendly "top cop" finding out ways that "we the people" can support them (which may or may not include getting in the streets). The group I watched with definitely felt like conversations with local law enforcement and other related local agencies/actors had the potential to bear at least a little fruit, so it's almost certain to vary by community.
I was also left with the sense that we might be working our way up to kind of a "dichotomous key" in the trainings, where the next round may involve one training for people whose law enforcement is amenable (on ways to and one for... well, doing the kinds of in-the-streets activism you're talking about, in situations where local authorities need, hmm, a little persuading, shall we say? ;) (And... frankly, if I'm going to be gloom-and-doom about it... a third possibility for the "next step" is that in situations where local law enforcement is less than persuadable, it's better to keep heads down and provide local safe spaces for vulnerable people under the radar than to have your faces splashed all over the local news. That's a doomsday scenario and I try to avoid those, but it's not impossible either.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2017-03-15 04:08 am (UTC)I admit I kind of liked that they started with the idea of feeling out local law enforcement to find out where you and they actually stand with each other on the issue in a very direct way--- and possibly, if you've got a friendly "top cop" finding out ways that "we the people" can support them (which may or may not include getting in the streets). The group I watched with definitely felt like conversations with local law enforcement and other related local agencies/actors had the potential to bear at least a little fruit, so it's almost certain to vary by community.
I was also left with the sense that we might be working our way up to kind of a "dichotomous key" in the trainings, where the next round may involve one training for people whose law enforcement is amenable (on ways to and one for... well, doing the kinds of in-the-streets activism you're talking about, in situations where local authorities need, hmm, a little persuading, shall we say? ;) (And... frankly, if I'm going to be gloom-and-doom about it... a third possibility for the "next step" is that in situations where local law enforcement is less than persuadable, it's better to keep heads down and provide local safe spaces for vulnerable people under the radar than to have your faces splashed all over the local news. That's a doomsday scenario and I try to avoid those, but it's not impossible either.)