“That’s the difference between the mob whipped into a frenzy by a demagogue and the protesters…”

Institutional neglect of racism and injustice is the exercise of power, the kind of power that refuses to notice and refuses to act.

Protest of moral and historic force begins with people facing extreme vulnerability. For those who have been silenced, rising to the act of speaking is a perilously high climb indeed. For them, protest is not an expression of fear and doubt, but an overcoming of fear and doubt. And when it comes from those at the bottom, it can often be a profound proposition about how to make the world better for all. That’s the difference between the mob whipped into a frenzy by a demagogue and the protesters demanding that institutions address harmful conditions that negate their very existence. One excludes, the other raises up.

– Jeff Chang, We Gon’ Be Alright.