Why Did the BLM Protests Decline by the Summer of 2021?
By June of 2021, it seemed like America had "gone back to normal". People were no longer taking to the streets in large numbers. Protests no longer made national headlines. But African Americans are still being killed by police.
Geneva Cole, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago interviewed white Americans of Twin Cities before and after the 2020 summer protests about topics such as their political views, racial identities, and opinions on Black Lives Matter. She interviewed 26 men and 15 women between 18 of 85. 37 of the 41 had a college degree or higher, 25 were Democrats, seven were Republicans and nine were independents. Cole first interviewed the subjects during February and March 2020 about the previously mentioned theme. She then re-interviewed half of the original sample in July and August of 2020 to see how their views may have changed.
From her research, Cole developed a theory of white identification with two parts. One part, called consciousness, is a person's political awareness of being white. The other part is valence, which is an assessment of how much pride or guilt people felt regarding being white. Cole found that her subjects' white identification was related to their reactions to the 2020 protests, regardless of political party.
In the interviews she conducted in July and August, Cole found that many people had an increased awareness of their white privilege, influencing their political attitudes. However, the changes in their political attitudes were influenced by their opinions regarding their whiteness – the subjects who felt guilty were more likely to support Black Lives Matter and those who were prideful of being white were less supportive.
Cole writes that there are two major differences between 2020 and now, which explains why the protests were so strong, yet short-lived. The first aspect is that George Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter garnered national media attention, which has since fallen off. News coverage simply isn't at the level it was last year. Secondly, in June 2020, we were only a few months into the pandemic, and many more were unemployed and facing much harsher pandemic restrictions. This enabled and motivated people to take to the streets and protest (Cole).
Learn more:
Geneva Cole, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago interviewed white Americans of Twin Cities before and after the 2020 summer protests about topics such as their political views, racial identities, and opinions on Black Lives Matter. She interviewed 26 men and 15 women between 18 of 85. 37 of the 41 had a college degree or higher, 25 were Democrats, seven were Republicans and nine were independents. Cole first interviewed the subjects during February and March 2020 about the previously mentioned theme. She then re-interviewed half of the original sample in July and August of 2020 to see how their views may have changed.
From her research, Cole developed a theory of white identification with two parts. One part, called consciousness, is a person's political awareness of being white. The other part is valence, which is an assessment of how much pride or guilt people felt regarding being white. Cole found that her subjects' white identification was related to their reactions to the 2020 protests, regardless of political party.
In the interviews she conducted in July and August, Cole found that many people had an increased awareness of their white privilege, influencing their political attitudes. However, the changes in their political attitudes were influenced by their opinions regarding their whiteness – the subjects who felt guilty were more likely to support Black Lives Matter and those who were prideful of being white were less supportive.
Cole writes that there are two major differences between 2020 and now, which explains why the protests were so strong, yet short-lived. The first aspect is that George Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter garnered national media attention, which has since fallen off. News coverage simply isn't at the level it was last year. Secondly, in June 2020, we were only a few months into the pandemic, and many more were unemployed and facing much harsher pandemic restrictions. This enabled and motivated people to take to the streets and protest (Cole).
Learn more: