Econ_Sep_22

The Economist

September 22nd 2018

United States 27

RUMPLED paper roses, a broken vase

and a brass plaque mark the spot in

Ferguson, Missouri, where a policeman

shot dead Michael Brown four years ago.

Kesha Burnett, a resident of a nearby hous-

ing block, gives it a glance and hurries

along Canfield Drive to her bus. Has any-

thing changed for her since the black teen-

agerwas killed andmass protests erupted?

“No improvement, there’s a lot of gun vio-

lence all over,” she says. “Police are trying,”

she adds, “but police still harass”. “Police?

They still act the same,” complains a

youngster in a grey

-shirt. He draws on an

e-cigarette by a McDonald’s restaurant

nearby. “Nothing going to change, they’ll

still be killing. They just mess with you, for

real,” he says, declining to give his name.

As patrol cars pass back and forth, resi-

dents offer contradictory views on how

Ferguson has changed since the protests in

2014. Cornelius Washington, who has

lived there for 20years, says “angerbuilt up

over time” and remains. “It was so corrupt,

people were jailed for four months over a

traffic ticket,” says Jamala Rogers, an activ-

ist and author of a book on the protests.

She says harassment goes on. Others de-

mur, claiming too much has changed. The

owner ofa liquor shop, ofSouthAsianher-

itage, stomps from behind a thick glass

cage over to his parking lot to showwhere

chanting protesters spent two weeks last

month trying to close his business. (Their

motives were unclear.) He “called police

100 times” to shift them but officials dith-

ered. “They don’t dare take action now,” he

says. Nobodywill riskanother spark.

Ms Burnett does see one clear improve-

ment over the years: “Black Lives Matter, I

do think they help the community,” she

says, referring to the grassroots activist

group that made its name in the protests.

MrWashington says thename alone gave a

welcome sense ofpride. Activists first used

the

BLM

hashtag on social media before

Brown’s death—it has been deployed 30m

times, says the Pew Research Centre. More

important,

BLM

is growing into a substan-

tial rightsmovement.

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of

BLM

also set up its associated Global Network

to co-ordinate groups in the “larger move-

ment for black lives”. Members shun cen-

tralised decision-making, she says, prefer-

ring “distributed leadership” among some

BLM

chapters nationwide. Still, a few

founders, including Ms Cullors and Alicia

Garza, earn most attention: Ms Garza this

month called

BLM

“the civil rights move-

ment of our generation”.

The activists say it has notched up tan-

gible success. Ms Cullors sees rising social

consciousness about black concerns, for

example inmore numerous and appealing

depictions of black characters by Holly-

wood. The groups’ focus on police vio-

lence has also led to “a clear conversation

about state repression”, she says.

Official responses to police killings, in

some places, are also changing. Ms Rogers

notes that St Louis, which contains Fergu-

son, has elected its first two blackprosecut-

ing attorneys in the past two years. They

promise closer scrutiny of police behav-

iour. That approach has spread. In Chicago

a policeman is being tried for killing a

black teenager he shot 16 times while on

duty. This is the first such murder trial of a

policeman there since the 1970s.

Barbara Ransby, an academic in Chica-

go who just published a history of

BLM

calls it a movement in transition. Its focus

has widened from police violence to di-

verse social concerns, notably sexual poli-

tics and feminism. That has proved popu-

lar. Civil-rights groups used to be led by

overbearing and middle-aged men, usual-

ly preachers, who hold little appeal for

youngsters today. The new outfit’s ap-

proach is proving farmore exciting.

Still, the movement has conventional

problems. Ms Rogers describes having to

manage a surge in donations for her orga-

nisation in Ferguson, whereas Ms Cullors

says “we don’t have anywhere near

enough funding” overall. The many

groups nationally get by on less than $2m

in total, she estimates.

BLM

lacks a slickme-

dia operation and is rather chaotic.

This is partly because its activists dis-

agree over strategy. An “abolitionist” fac-

tion wants campaigns to shut all prisons,

even disbanding police forces. Moderates,

such as those at the Ella Baker centre in

Oakland, want a focus on pressing local

municipalities to spend more on public

health. The biggest doubt is the “burning

question, whether to participate in this fal-

lacy of a democracy in America”, by get-

ting involved in elections, saysMs Rogers.

Radical members, especially those dis-

appointed by Barack Obama’s presidency,

argue for sticking to “direct action” such as

blockades ofbridges and roads. Ms Ransby

recalls how activists early on scorned “re-

spectability” and “representative politics”.

Nor were activists ready at first. DeRay

Mckesson, who is popular on Twitter, ran

formayor of Baltimore in 2016. He flopped,

winning just 2.5%.

Moderates in favour of elections, how-

ever, nowhave the upper hand. Ms Rogers

says the elected lawyers in St Louis prove

that meaningful gains can be made. Za-

chary Norris of Ella Baker points to elected

officials who have been persuaded to help

both ethnic minorities and immigrants in

“freedomcities”, such as Austin, Texas.

Does that mean backing down from

previously strident protests? Ms Cullors

denies it, promising electoral politics to go

with “building power of the most vulner-

able” through education, campaigns and

direct action. Ms Rogers, whose Organisa-

tion for Black Struggle in St Louis has been

active since the1980s, says BlackLivesMat-

ter is the latest example of a long, two-

pronged struggle: for electoral change and

more “power outside the arena” for black

people. Bothwill come, she says.

Activism

Beyond the hashtag

FERGUSON

BlackLivesMatter is becomingmore like a conventional political movement

Campaign strategist