Understanding The Social Impact Of The 2020 Anti-Racism Protests
2020 was a year that will live long in everyone’s memories. Naturally, a global pandemic won’t be forgotten any time […]
2020 was a year that will live long in everyone’s memories. Naturally, a global pandemic won’t be forgotten any time soon, but there were many other significant events that happened during the year. One of the biggest was the tragic death of George Floyd, which sent tremors around the globe. It was yet another instance of an unarmed black man savaged by the US police force, sparking protests and riots all over the world.
These protests went on for months, even as the pandemic continued to rage on. It will go down in history as one of the most monumental anti-racism movements in the modern era. The protests received lots of media coverage – some of it supportive, some of it not. As the anti-racism protests have died down in the last few months, it seems as good a time as any to analyse the social impact they had on the world. The short answer is that they had an overwhelmingly positive impact on society, despite a lot of negative press from some corners. To understand this, we can look at four key areas most effected by the anti-racism protests in 2020:
Raising awareness & generating a conversation
The actual impact in terms of policy changes might not have been as drastic as people hoped. However, these protests had a wider impact on society in the sense that they raised awareness and sparked conversations. This is why researchers like Adam Elliott-Cooper state that campaigns like Black Lives Matter are essential for the world. Yes, they can lead to genuine policy changes, but this often comes after they have started a conversation about serious topics.
Following these protests, many people began educating themselves on things like institutional racism and how racism is deeply rooted in modern society. It led to live TV debates, programmes, and lots of social media discussion about the topic of racism. By raising awareness, it highlights other issues relating to this and what needs to be changed. More importantly, these protests help educate people and open their eyes to the problems in modern society which may not directly affect them. From here, more noise is made, and that’s where we start to see positive changes.
Exposing ignorance
Following on from the previous point, the anti-racism protests exposed people’s ignorance on the subject. This was perhaps best illustrated by everyone talking about ‘All Lives Matter.’ This counter movement was born our of a lack of understanding of what the Black Lives Matter slogan stood for and further highlighted the ignorance of vast swathes of society which seemed oblivious to the very real struggles and experiences of ordinary black people.
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