Protests related to the grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown went nationwide and even extended to cities around the world.
But while the protesters have been clear about why they took to the streets, it remains to be seen whether or not the protests will lead to any real change.
The outrage over the Ferguson shooting and subsequent grand jury decision is not unlike many other high-profile demonstrations – most recently the Occupy movement and the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.
All of these protest movements were spontaneous reactions to specific cases of injustice, but with a lack of a unified goal under central leadership to bring about specific change.
“The lack of even more centralized leadership is… deeply ingrained in many of the groups’ worldview,” wrote Harry Bruinius of the Christian Science Monitor. “For the most part, they consciously reject any form of top-down leadership, emphasizing instead what they see as the fundamental dangers and abuses of political power.”
The discussion looks at the way the protesters handled the demonstrations after the shooting death of Michael Brown and in the wake of the grand jury decision, and explores some more effective ways to forge change.
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