Use Your Words

The world watched as the people of the United States voted in Donald J. (for jackass) Trump for president. People began with protesting the election results, and that quickly turned into riots in many areas of the country. Recently, a friend posted as her FaceBook status that she supported her children in being participants in the protests after the election results were in. I thought, what a wonderful thing for her children! She taught them to speak their minds and to stand up for what they believe in. It is because of people like my friend, that youngsters can teach adults a lesson. This reminds me of BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), an organization that fights for the equality of all people. Affirmative action is at the top of their list among, integration and immigration rights. This is an umbrella organization of many smaller organizations that are created by students, making their words heard by protesting. Their goal is to push for American Democracy. Standing up for what you believe in is the reason for living. If you are unhappy with what is going on you are obligated to voice your opinion, chances are you are not alone.

Whenever the word “protest” comes up, often times there is a negative connotation with it. When I googled the word “protest,” I came up with the following definition, “a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something.” Where in this definition does this word have a negative meaning? There is none, I would say that I too have confused the word in the past. I am trying to understand where this comes from and I know now that the media has a large part to play. News coverage almost always points out when something goes wrong.

A few months back, I was planning a trip to visit my friend. He lives in the city of Oakland, maybe you have heard of it? Lets just say that this city is not known for for it’s law abiding citizens, if you know what I mean… The day before my visit there was a peaceful protest which resulted in one of the major highways shutting down. I didn’t think anything of it, however, my mother tried to convince me to cancel my plans because there was a “peaceful protest”… I .. WHAT? We were watching the same news coverage right? I understand my mother’s concern, I am her child and she just wanted to make sure I was going to be safe. However, I believe she thought “protest” meant “war zone.” Whenever the media covers a protest the story is usually how it resulted in something dangerous and violent. In this instance the media was talking about how peaceful it was despite shutting down the freeway. The negative connotation is what is embedded in people’s minds and the fear of something violent happening is what holds many people back from standing up for what they believe in.

People need to realize that there is power in words and that we do not have to resort to violence. The definition of riot is, “a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.” Recently, I have taken the time to really look into those two words; riot and protest, and I feel that my support is with the act of protest. Riots are, in my humble opinion, an excuse for criminals to do what they do best, loot, hurt others, and vandalize! Has that proven to be more effective than something a tad bit more peaceful? I don’t think so.

I was in 5th grade when the Gulf War began. At some point during that school year, I remember a threat was posed of shutting the schools down early because of budget cuts. My memory is a bit fuzzy on a lot of the details, but I do remember this: we got to school one morning and were told to meet outside and march down the road. Outside, little did we know, the local news was awaiting our little protest to keep our schools open. There was a sense of pride I felt for standing up for the right thing and that my voice was being heard. As a young person there was also the excitement of being on TV! In the end we won, we completed the school year. Our protests that day must have made an impact.

Whenever we see protesters on the news we always look at them as “disturbing the peace.” Often times there are police officers there as well and they are in a position of power to “keep the protesters under control.” However, I want to challenge that point of view. The police officers are there to do their jobs and only do what they are told, but when you give anyone too much power it does go to their head. There have been countless times where the police have brought harm to peaceful protesters. Many cases were brought to light during the beginning of the Occupy Movement in 2011 and 2012. Don’t just take my word for it, do your research. Protesters were protesting social and economic inequality around the world. The primary goal was to make economic and political relations in all societies less vertically hierarchical and more flatly distributed … (AND we STILL voted Donald JACKASS Trump as our next president.) I recall images of the police officers using pepper spray on innocent protesters, and in some cases where officers were using force. The Occupy movement is about abolishing the inequalities the officers showed during the peaceful protests.

In looking at this discussion, words have a great impact. Currently, the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein of has raised money for an election recount in several key states. Those key states include Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. She is being proactive by demanding a recount and going out and making it happen. Stein doesn’t need to use any form of violence, she can still convey her message without hurting anyone. When I worked as a teacher, I would tell my students to use their words and tell the other person how they felt and not to use their hands. If we teach our children to talk things out, why can’t we? My friend who supported her children to walk out of school the day after the election, was a great example. I truly admire that she gave her children knowledge in the power of their voice. We, adults, should follow the same motto: use your words, not force. Looting, vandalizing, hurting others doesn’t really solve the bigger issue at hand. Riots just create more problems, don’t we have enough already?