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Linda Logan
Amanda Rapone
Language and Society
3 March 2015

The Language of Protest:

How does violence, rioting, looting and peaceful protest affect legislation, or is a world
revolution the only answer to affect lasting social change?

In these past two weeks as I contemplated what subject to write on, I sat down and
watched MSNBC newscasts regarding the days events on November 27th : persistent political
protests in China calling for the end of non- democratic elections, ongoing human rights protests
concerning the uncovering of mass graves in Mexico in connection with the search of 43 missing
Mexican students and sustained racial profiling/ racial discrimination/civil rights violation
protests regarding two more Grand Jury decisions in U.S cities for failing to indict white police
officers in the beatings and in the shooting deaths of unarmed African American male teenagers,
I experienced a series of mixed emotions and because I was so provoked in my heart and spirit I
decided to write about it for this project.
Once again, I was appalled and outraged by political and justice systems that devalue
and place at risk the lives of young people in the face of continued provocative actions initiated
and perpetrated by military-style police practices and oppressive governmental/military/warlord
regimes. As anger subsided, it was replaced by fear, disbelief, horror and then sorrow as
protests began to change from peaceful rallies into violent outbreaks as cars were overturned and
set on fire, public and private business properties in Ferguson, Missouri were looted and
destroyed, and hundreds arrested ; as officials assaulted, tear gassed, sprayed and arrested

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peaceful occupy student demonstrators in China; and as parents in Mexico (amid peaceful protest
that turned violent) searched for answers and the bodies of their children, as they uncovered
numerous unmarked mass graves filled with the tortured and mutilated bodies of other
unidentified missing children and young people.
However, as I felt all of these powerful emotions some, one at a time and others all at
once, I began to understand what it must really be like for our youth of today having to grow up
in a global society that has forgotten to value and safe guard their most precious natural resource,
the lives and the futures of our own children. Then amazingly, feelings of respect and pride
washed over me as I watched thousands of young people (including my own daughter) mobilize
all over the world as they stood in protest and marched, for the most part, peacefully, showing
strength, support and solidarity in fighting to abolish human and civil rights violations,
discrimination, inequality and unjust laws written, interpreted, and upheld to protect the
perpetrators and not the victims.
Again, as in the time of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movements of the 20th
century, the opportunity has come for our young people, activists, and ordinary citizens to step
up and take control of the reins that will create the change in the world that is needed and which
we all seek. However, will they choose a language that stems from acts of terrorism, violence,
rioting and looting which permeates the society in which they have grown up in or will it be
based on the historical perspectives found in the successful non-violent demonstrations 1960s;
or in the massive drive of voter education and registration in 2008; or has the time come for a
more hybrid form that meets somewhere in the middle; or is a world revolution necessary to
level the playing field between powerful governments and the people of the world. Moreover,

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after choosing, which one of these languages will lead to the necessary legislation needed to
create and achieve lasting worldwide social change?
In the mid 1980s, the Chinese government worked to attract more foreign investment
and foreign trade opportunity, thereby, Chinese students and anti-government officials began
working on political change and in April of 1989 began peaceful protests against repressive
government policies that called for the reform of the countrys communist dominated political
system (2). As the world watched, a few months later on June 3rd , students marched through the
capital city of Beijing and gathered in the center and as they sang songs, carried banners and
chanted slogans calling for a more democratic political atmosphere, the Chinese Army was
directed to crush the movement as it sought to create chaos under the heavens(3). As
estimated, thousands of student protestors were killed, 10,000 more were arrested and hundreds
of anti-government officials were executed for their parts in the demonstrations in what has
become known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the true number of death and casualties from
that day have never been released (4).
Today China has emerged as the fastest growing economy in the world within the last 20
years and it is estimated that roughly 300 million citizens have been lifted out of poverty as a
result, and by doing so, leaders attribute their success to maintaining tight political and economic
control and making change difficult because of the new found wealth and prosperity of the
formerly impoverished, few in the Chinese population have an appetite for political change (5).
To add insult to injury, even though the 20th Anniversary of the protest was
commemorated in 2009, the newly renovated National Museum of China in Tiananmen Square,
which is open to the public, contains no exhibits mentioning the events (6), or the lives lost in
June of 1989. This is the Chinese Governments feeble attempt to wipe away the evidence of

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protest in this country, but to no avail. The history is still present around the world and exists
unforgettably within the minds of those young and old who lost loved ones that day and it beats
on in the hearts of those who continue to speak the language of protest in China today.

As hundreds of thousands of Mexicans migrate legally and illegally into the United
States every year to escape poverty, inadequate healthcare, overcrowding, pollution, organized
crime/drug cartels, massive human rights violations and the unequal distribution of wealth (7),
thousands more stay behind to protest and fight for their country, its history and future and for
the people they love.
In contrast to China, Mexico has a rich history steeped in protest, activism and
revolution, and the language of protest can be seen everywhere as artists (mostly students) depict
historical images of the Mexican Revolution and the more recent and current human rights
atrocities in murals, taggings and street drawings throughout the country and who have also
organized peaceful, artistic, protest demonstrations that directly engage leaders of violent drug
cartels and members of street gangs for participation in building a new national identity based on
their shared identity and love for the arts, history and music of their country.
Since the escalation of the war on drugs in 2007, roughly 100,000 Mexican citizens
have been killed, and 25,000 more have disappeared since 2011 and in 2012, it is reported that
10,000 more lives have been lost (8). The disappearance of the 43 students from a rural teachers
training college has convulsed Mexican society and sparked protests not seen in generations, and
which are calling for the resignation of President Pena Nieto and his cabinet members and the
arrest of the Mayor of Iguala, where the school is located, for ordering police to give the students
over to the street gangs, passing them off as rival gang members (9). Another reason behind this

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great outcry is the school was founded in the very roots of activism and protest which dates back
to the original organizers of the Mexican Revolution. The school and its students are held in high
regard and with high hopes of leading Mexico and her people into a new future.
In a statement issued earlier this year by Amnesty International condemning the inaction
of President Pena Nieto and the Mexican government, it read:
Reports of human rights abuses committed by police and security forces, including enforced
disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detention continue and impunity for all crimes remains
the norm the justice system continues to fail victims, the accused and society. Mexico
continues to face serious challenges to the rule of law and respect for human rights (10).
What other forms of protest language can Mexican citizens utilize in order to address and
redress a complicit government that places economic and political legislation, orchestrated and
controlled by organized crime, above the lives of its own countrymen? Is revolution the only
protest language understood by this constitution state and if so, will it be fought with guns and
war, or can victory be won with a pen and a paint brush?
For over two hundred years, America has been euphemized in song as the land of the
free and the home of the brave (11), and throughout those years our brave soldiers have been
called upon to fight and die in foreign lands for the freedom of those whose human rights /civil
rights /civil liberties have been violated. My questions are, who fights for the freedom and rights
of those violated right here at home and who fights for our men and women soldiers when they
return home broken, torn and scarred from the fight? Who fights for the rights of our children
and their childrens children to grow up in a society free of embedded racial hatred and
intolerance within laws that are meant to protect them? Laws that were created based on greed,
racism, violence, slavery and genocide and were meant to only preserve the constitutional rights

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of those that can pay, in positions of power or whose skin is lighter than the lightest brown paper
bag?
As African Americans we still know and feel that these laws were initially made without
us as equals in mind and America asks us to trust this, I dont think so! They were not made for
us and they are not made by us. What recourse do we have? What language of protest do we use?
Do we dust off our marching shoes, vote, protest, boycott, and sing songs again, 50 years after
the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 150 years of the Emancipation Proclamation; or do
we riot, loot, burn and destroy what our friends, neighbors, and families in our own communities
have built, out of rage and frustration? In a 1966 interview Dr. King stated that Rioting is the
language of the unheard (12), and what America has not heard or even cares to understand is the
plight of our young men living in communities with a lack of educational facilities, high
unemployment rates and poor recreational facilities, and because of this disconnect, the language
of protest involved within this struggle varies in several ways. It can be used to overcome it,
challenge it, adapt to it, or fall victim to it.. For those of us who think we are decades away
from this struggle because of age, education and business opportunities, we now have to
acknowledge that every option of protest exists. If not, then we are the ignorant ones (13).
The global process of lasting social change has begun and while the old Status Quo
chugged along feeling secure and comfortable in its outdated sense of hegemonic superiority
and self-righteousness, the young people have unleashed their secret weapon once again!
They have become fed up and they have harnessed the same power they have always
used to create world change - using what the establishment doesnt know against them.

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As I listened to President Obama addressed the world after the decision in Ferguson came
down, but more importantly, I listened to how he spoke to the young people who elected him to
office twice and who now needed their President to step in and lead them this night.
The President was very measured in his tone and precise in his words as he only had a
few moments to speak so that they may really hear what he told them, he said there are two
kinds of protest, one destructive and the other constructive and he didnt have to lay down
specifically what was required of them to do, but he told them what NOT to do, because in not so
many words, he spoke to them in a language of protest that they understood and after his
broadcast ended, with tears in my eyes, I watched all night as thousands flooded the streets
using the internet, social media, their language, their culture, their youth, their vitality, and their
strength to stop traffic in a peaceful protest, in unison, and with authority from the President of
the United States.. Kneeling down on major highways and byways ALL OVER THE WORLD
with their hands in the air chanting Hands up dont shoot, the rallying cry of our children as
they offer up their lives for what they believe in.

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Works Cited
2-4.Chinese Students protest against government, (2014). The History Channel Website: December 3, 2014.
< http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-students-protest-against-government >
5. Goldstein, Joshua, S., Pevehouse, John, C. International Relations, Boston: Pearson, 2011.
6. Chinese Students protest against government, (2014). The History Channel Website: December 3, 2014
< http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-students-protest-against-government >
7. People, Social Issues, Countries Quest: (?): Page 1. December 3, 2014
< http://www.countriesquest.com/north_america/mexico/people/social_issues.htm >
8-10. Lewis, Renee, US activist to protest over missing Mexico students, Al Jazeera America: (2014): Page 1.
December 3, 2014< http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/2/ustired2-mexico-protest.html >
11. Klein, Christopher, 9 Things You May Not know About The Star Spangled Banner, History In The Headlines:
(2014): Page 1. December 4, 2014< http://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-starspangled-banner >
12. MLK: A Riot is the Language of the Unheard, CBS Interactive, Inc: (2013): Page 1. December 3, 2014
< http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlk-a-riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard/>
13. Smith, Kenny, Kenny Smiths Open Letter to Charles Barkley about Ferguson, For the Win: (2014): Page 1.
December 3, 2014 < http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/12/kenny-smith-charles-barkley-ferguson-open-letter-exclusive