1. A few thoughts on this strange, ahistorical graf from Biden’s comments on the Chauvin trial and the Floyd protests

First, you do NOT have to harken back to the 60s to consider the large scale protests that last summer’s protests built on

2. There wasn’t a jump from the 60s to the summer of 2020. In between, large protests included

— 80s (ACT UP, anti-Apartheid)

—90s (WTO)

—2000s (Iraq War, RNC)

—2010s (LGBTQ, Occupy Wall St, Black Lives Matter, Trayvon, Mike Brown, Women’s March)

60s nostalgia erases this

3. Also, Biden stressed ppl were “unified” in “peace”—but this is NOT true! There was a lot of violence in the summer of 2020, mostly from the cops! But what made the protests successful (& paved the way for the conviction) was not peace, but direct action https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/george-floyd-protests-minneapolis-police-fires.html

4. You can’t look at the very unusual conviction—the odds were about 1 in 2,000—and ignore the torching of the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis & how many protesters fought back. US history dwells endlessly on military might abroad, but pretends like protesters only use “peace”

5. You can agree or disagree with it as a tactic, but you cannot ignore the significance of the burning of the 3rd Precinct, and other property damage over the last year. We cannot pretend like they didn’t happen. We must think about how these tactics shaped where we are now.

6. Thanks for this @EdgeofSports. My list isn’t exhaustive. So many important protests that build off each other— a million out against Iraq, three million out for the Women’s March against Trump. Skipping back to the 60s is ahistorical across a half century https://twitter.com/edgeofsports/status/1384851289767649281

7. 60s monopoly on protest discourse has always annoyed me. My parents took me to endless protests (Apartheid, UFW/migration, nuclear war) as a kid. I was at police & gay rights & war protests as a young man. I’ve covered SO MANY activists—ppl been in the streets my whole life!

8. Hadn’t thought of this until reading this point, but 60’s nostalgia allows Biden to skip over his role in US politics during the rise of BLM, during which time he was Vice President, and over his decades in the Senate https://twitter.com/pussyriotgirl/status/1384854797946400770

9. Also missing from Biden highlighting the Protest Summer of 2020: Cops in many “blue” cities and states beat the shit out protesters, wounded journalists and arrested thousands—often on orders of Democratic mayors and governors https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwja45rm0Y_wAhUjRTABHZ8VCPIQFjAAegQIFBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Finteractive%2F2020%2F06%2F16%2Fus%2Fgeorge-floyd-protests-police-tear-gas.html&usg=AOvVaw19gng015KyqReIDV72yEmx