Many "Justice for Kate" marches and protests have been organized all around the country within the past week. I observed the end of a march and demonstration this Saturday, December 9 in downtown Portland.
 |
| The right-wing Patriot Prayer (right) group rallied in downtown Portland to protest the acquittal of an undocumented immigrant in the shooting death of Californian, Kate Steinles. Anti-fascist group Rose City Antifa (left) showed up to counter protest. |
Above is a very Portland scene. Counter protesters on each side of the street and some riot clad police - with a Subaru in the middle. Striking to me was the interaction between protesters and anti-protesters. The two groups started out yelling across adjacent blocks. There was a couple of minor skirmishes. Later they marched down to the waterfront while yelling insults at each other. There was a bloody nose, some mace spraying, and one arrest. What I mostly witnessed was heated arguing that took to provoking the other through ridicule. I did also speak with some protesters from both sides.
José, the person holding the Mexican flag on the left side of the picture, expressed his thoughts to me on the racist underpinnings of Patriot Prayer's anti-immigration movement. I felt proud and excited to be able to share beliefs with someone at this event, the same excitement and pride of solidarity that brought both groups of protesters out that day. In fact despite their polar opposite political viewpoints, Patriot Prayer and Antifa do not differ in their development as social movement groups.
A popular and influential explanation of social movements is sociologist Neil Smelser's (1963) value-added theory. Smelser argues that social movements and other collective behavior occur when certain conditions are present. One condition is structural strain (or social strain) which refers to problems in society that cause anger and frustration giving rise to protest and other forms of mobilization. Antifa members mobilize under the strain of a fascist organizing. A popular chant is: "No Trump! No KKK! No fascist U.S.A.!" Generalized beliefs (or an agreed definition of the problem) include people's reasons for why conditions are dire, their solutions, as well as the group's binding ideologies. Patriot Prayer organizes under the common 'proud American and proud Christian' belief systems. They often simply chanted, "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
Furthermore, an important condition for protest is a precipitating factor: a certain event that ignites people to take action. In this case, the death of Kate Steinle is the precipitating factor for Patriot Prayer protesters and the protest itself compelled Antifa's involvement.
The most poignant takeaway for me was the dehumanization I witnessed. Its easy to dehumanize our enemies. The two groups of protesters were deeply entrenched in the self/other mindset. Their intense anger and frustration limited the identities on the other side to 'enemy' which manifested in generalized ridicule and harm.
We also dehumanize victims. Its often that the names and photos of people who are connected to a political issue become emblematic. Kate Steinle is definitely one of those names. President Trump "sensationalizing" Kate Steinle's death is inappropriate, especially considering his failure to contact the Steinle family at all.
The American melting pot is boiling. Politically, tensions have been running high with stark polarization occurring between Americans on the left and the right. People impelled by social strain have been pushed to the political fringes where division forms as much as community. Ultimately, however, people are much more than their political identity. It is when we lose sight of this essential point that the most flagrant of human behavior is justified.
I hadn't heard of Kate Steinle or Jose Inez Garcia Zarate before reading this post, and the details of the case are very interesting. This post deals with several complex issues including immigration and homelessness that are exacerbated by the fear of certain groups of people being allowed to "cut in line," as we saw in Strangers In Their Own Land. The crime aspect of this post relates to the New Jim Crow, which taught us that "crime" is not always what it seems and that the criminal justice system has many pitfalls.
ReplyDeleteThe Pew Research Center data about polarization was very thought-provoking. I have been hearing (especially since the most recent presidential campaign) that the U.S. is very polarized at this moment in time, but I hadn't bothered to seek out any substantial information. This begs the question of how to have productive conversations in such a political climate. I consider myself strongly liberal, so I do see value in protesting, but not necessarily as a vehicle for changing minds or educating people who have different views than mine.