Protesting During a Pandemic: Narratives on Risk Taking and Motivation to Participating in the 2020 March on Washington
Abstract
The study elucidates the interplay of COVID-19 and the wave of Black Lives Matter protests to assess motivation and risk taking for protest participation. We draw on protesters’ accounts to examine how police violence influenced the participants decision making to participate in the 2020 March on Washington during a pandemic that exacerbated the risks already in place from protesting the police. We found that protesters’ social position and commitment to the cause provided motivations, along with a zeal to do more especially among White protesters. For Black participants, the images in the media resonated with their own experiences of structural racism from police.
Introduction
On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old George Floyd was killed after being restrained for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes. Floyd was arrested by Derek Chauvin, a White police officer in the Minneapolis Police Department, who had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd was handcuffed, lying face down, begging for his life and calling for his dead mother. This public execution sparked mass demonstrations across the globe over what many perceived was another racially motivated police killing of an unarmed Black individual. George Floyd’s death reignited support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which birthed the largest civil rights movement in U.S. history (Buchanan et al., 2020), provoking debate about the role of policing, systemic racism, and state sanctioned violence in the United States. Moreover, even as the world faces a public health crisis—COVID-19—millions have taken to the streets to protest police violence and racial injustice, prompting researchers to look for factors that motivate individuals to undertake such high risks to participate. Most of the literature that focuses on movement motivation are influenced by Klandermans (2004) who argued that instrumentality, identity, and ideology interact in various ways to increase the likelihood of participation. Further, Klandermans (2004) underscored that both time and effort distinguish participation in terms of risks undertaken.
However, despite a fairly robust literature on protest motivation, important gaps remain in our understanding of motivation for and the perceived risks of social activism. First, grievances, motivation, increased efficacy, collective identity, resource mobilization, political solidarity, changes in tactics, economic restructuring and political opportunities are all common factors that lead individuals to protest (Hirsch, 1990; Klandermans, 1997; Klandermans & de Weerd, 2000; McCammon, 2003; Myers, 1994; Van Dyke & Soule, 2002; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013). Yet, amid the era of COVID-19 that has disrupted life across the globe and has disproportionately killed Black and brown people (Stokes et al., 2020), the very act of protesting poses immediate and unprecedented health-related risk that has not been captured by the existing literature. This is especially true in the case of racial justice movements that already has a history of tenuous interactions between law enforcement and protesters, including the use of tear gas and pepper spray by police toward demonstrators, and the corralling of arrested protesters in crowded vans and jail cells (Cobbina et al., 2019). In addition, mass protest gatherings, even those held outdoors, can become potential super-spreader events—opportunities for a virus to explode through a population (Khullar, 2020). Given the unprecedented times caused by the global coronavirus, prior research has not considered how motivation for activism works during a pandemic, especially when the health-related risks are high. Second, few studies have paid specific attention to how individuals assess risks, and even fewer have examined social movements and risk perception related to criminal justice operations within the U.S. The recent protests that have swept the nation are about anti-police brutality; yet protesters across the nation have been met with a wave of police violence, leaving some with life-threatening injuries (Gabbatt, 2020).
The current study advances scholarship on motivation in social movements by elucidating the interplay of protesting against racial injustice by the police in the middle of a pandemic, with specific reference to COVID-19 and the current wave of BLM protests. Specifically, the present study investigates how a public health crisis shaped protester’s decision to take calculated risks to engage in a BLM protest. We draw on protesters’ accounts to examine how racial tensions and police violence influenced demonstrator’s decision making to engage in the 2020 March on Washington, thereby exposing them to increased health risks. In doing so, we advance the body of literature by illuminating whether and how increased risks associated with protesting amid a pandemic impacts motivation to engage in protests. While protesting always comes with risks, the substantially increased risks associated with the current wave of protests could change the character of these protests in meaningful ways from those that occurred historically.
Two bodies of literature are relevant to our research. First, we describe the literature on BLM and the significance of the March on Washington. Second, research on protest participation and its risk serves as a basis for expecting protesters to take calculate risks when faced with unique circumstances—COVID-19 and racial unrest. Thus, these bodies of literature are briefly reviewed next.
Literature Review
Black Lives Matter and the Historic March on Washington
BLM was first introduced as a hashtag on social media in 2013 by its creators Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi (blacklivesmatter.com; Ransby, 2018). While BLM has built upon earlier historical events addressing racial injustice and inequalities, such as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, BLM takes place during a time of technological innovation in which participants can mobilize via social media, protests can occur virtually, and everyday actions can be easily recorded and disseminated through social media. The cause has also drawn more diverse crowds than previous initiatives. BLM’s mission is focused on “diversity, inclusion, and empowerment in a way that the hierarchical, male-dominated movements of earlier eras did not” (Hillstrom, 2018, p. ix). Another unique component of BLM is that it is a decentralized movement where local chapters lead actions independent of a centralized headquarters. Critics have regarded both the movement and followers of the BLM as radical, disorderly, and violent when compared to the earlier Civil Rights movement (Hillstrom, 2018; Ransby, 2018). However, historians have noted that during the 1960s, participants of the Civil Rights movement and the 1960s uprisings were viewed in a comparable manner to which BLM activists are perceived today. In fact, these movements share many similarities, such as the impetus for the movements (i.e., deaths of Black teenagers), organized by young leaders, use of media strategies to bring awareness to the cause, and employing various protest methods (e.g., marches, boycotts, block trafficking, etc.) to bring about systemic changes (Hillstrom, 2018).
In line with the integral march in 1963, the 2020 March on Washington focused on bringing attention to the continued unequal treatment of Black people within the U.S. The recent high-profile deaths of Black men and women coupled with the health inequities highlighted during the global pandemic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020), added further impetus for the march, which called for recommitment to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], 2020). The 2020 agenda centered on criminal justice reform, especially for law enforcement, reducing inequities, and increasing voter registration and census participation (NAACP, 2020; Wines & Kavi, 2020). This year’s march looked remarkably different compared to previous years, as it took place amid a global health pandemic. To encourage maximum participation, the event was held both in-person (the District of Columbia and via satellite marches across the U.S.) and virtually. Event organizers were required to work with local officials to ensure compliance with COVID-19 protocols (e.g., travel restrictions, self-quarantine for 14 days, social distancing, temperature check ins, provide masks, etc.) (Yancey-Bragg, 2020).
Protest Participation
In examining the motivation for protest participation, research has identified both micro- and macro-level contexts that affect protest participation, such as grievances, emotions, collective identity, social embeddedness, and state repression (Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013). Scholars have also suggested that one’s social position and culture can be driving factors for participation in protests (Armstrong & Bernstein, 2008; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013). For example, in her investigation of the relationship between criminal legal contact and protest participation, Eife (2020) discovered that among those who had criminal legal contact perceived injustice influenced their participation in protests, especially for Black individuals. Black people who had contact with the criminal legal system were more likely to participate in protests over both non-Blacks who had criminal legal contact and Blacks without criminal legal contact. These elements combined with formal and informal network ties, media consumption, moral conflict, level of motivation, and organizational participation assist in the recruitment and mobilization processes of social action (Eife, 2020; McAdam & Paulsen, 1993; Passy & Guingi, 2001; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013). Level of commitment to the cause also is an important factor for protest engagement. Cobbina et al. (2019) found that among individuals who were most committed to collective action efforts, the greater the likelihood they would continue to participate in higher-risk street-level demonstrations despite the use of oppressive police tactics.
However, not all social movements are homogenous (Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991). Movement participation can take various forms from donations, writing to politicians, and street-level protests (Cobbina et al., 2019; Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991). As such, engagement in social movements are not just limited to life-long activists and are much more mainstream experiences (Corigall-Brown, 2011). Although, the level of participation varies between life-long activists and short-timers.
Protest participation and its intensity requires the delicate balance of costs, benefits, efficacy, and emotions (Passy & Guingi, 2001; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013). Research shows that people are more likely to take part in collective action if they perceive that their grievances will be addressed at a reasonable cost; however, high-cost situations can impede participation (Klandermans, 1997; Klandermans & Oegema, 1987). Participation costs can include both tangible and intangible sacrifices, such as financial strains, legal, time, and social or physical dangers (Klandermans, 1984; McAdam, 1986; Niven, 2019). Since high-risk situations are often correlated with higher costs, the involvement in and the intensity of protest participation is impacted (Niven, 2019; Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991).
While costs are under the activist’s control, the risks of protesting are contingent on activists’ actions and other people’s response toward them (Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991). For instance, reflecting back to the race riots of the late 1960s, police responses to riots (e.g., preparedness and training), variations in perceptions of the police by Blacks and Whites, and police-community relations were tied to distinctions in the riot experience. Specifically, Perez et al. (2003) found that strong pre-riot racial divisions between Blacks and Whites concerning police appraisal contributed to riots that were more frequent, hostile, and increased police presence. Equally, studies have also shown that larger protests, events with confrontational tactics, and protests aimed at anti-police brutality are more likely to draw police presence with more aggressive interventions (e.g., arrest, use of force, etc.) (Earl et al., 2003; Reynolds-Stenson, 2018). It is postulated that Black individuals are treated more harshly at protests because they are perceived as threatening by law enforcement (Davenport et al., 2011). For instance, the aftereffects of the 1960s race riots revealed a short-term increase in police killings of civilians regardless of race; however, killings of African Americans continued into the future (Cunningham & Gillezeau, 2018). Yet, violence is not the only tangible consequence of protest participation. Economic hardship can also be an adverse effect of protests. The National Bureau of Economic Research reported that the economic status (e.g., income and employment) of Black people were negatively impacted after the 1960s race riots (Collins & Margo, 2004).
The assessment of a social movement’s risks is subject to an individual’s own interpretation or perception, and therefore may not be reflective of the actual risks involved in protest participation (Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991). Perceptions of protest risks are tied to fear of protesting, especially for marginalized groups, as participation has been found to be racialized (Azab & Santoro, 2017; Davenport et al., 2011). Factors such as children living at home, full-time employment, participation in religious activities, and prior activism can influence perceptions of risk (Wiltfang & McAdam, 1991). As a result, scholars suggest that participation in high-risk protest activities are more likely to be conducted by experienced activists that possess a strong commitment to the movement and have fewer restrictions (McAdam, 1986).
Despite media accounts highlighting the association between protest participation and increased COVID-19 cases, empirical evidence has shown little connection between protests and an uptick of COVID-19 cases. A recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined BLM protest data from 315 of the largest U.S. cities and found minimal impact on the COVID-19 local rates and death rates five weeks after protests (Dave et al., 2020). However, it is suggested that these findings could be related to avoidance behavior by non-attendees (e.g., avoiding situations that they perceive as dangerous, such as violence, spread of COVID-19, etc.) and lack of testing for COVID-19 among non-symptomatic individuals (e.g., younger generations) who may have participated in protest events.
The present study provides a unique opportunity to examine how the BLM movement motivated participation in the historic 2020 March on Washington to commemorate the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. This study advances the research on social movements by examining what motivated demonstrators to protest when faced with a public health threat. It also fills in the gap by examining how protesters assess risk in engaging in activism efforts against police brutality and structural racism amid a pandemic.
Methodology
Sample
Data for this examination come from a broader study of adults’ experiences with police and protests. The current investigation is based on information obtained from surveys and in-depth interviews with 30 protesters. Interviewing took place in September 2020. Prior to the interview, interviewers outlined the research objectives of the study and assured study respondents that their participation in the study was voluntary and they would be guaranteed confidentiality. Respondents were paid $40 for their participation.1
To meet the larger study’s aim of exploring contemporary mechanisms of social action that follow high-profile police killings, the sample selection was purposive in nature. We used a maximum variation sampling strategy designed to capture a diverse set of perspectives that would illuminate a variety of factors that drive protest participation. We targeted a heterogeneous group of protesters who varied across race, gender, and age; thus, yielding a nonprobability sample. Respondents were recruited to participate in the project if they physically participated in the March on Washington on August 28, 2020. Several approaches were used to recruit respondents to participate in the study. First, a flyer describing the research project was placed on the first and fourth author’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, which was disseminated to others on social media. Second, an organization printed fliers and placed them for pick-up at a grab-n-go stop before the March began for protesters to pick up and participate at will. Third, the first author distributed fliers to protesters who attended the March on Washington. Finally, research participants were asked to encourage other protesters who attended the March to reach out to the project manager if they wanted to take part in the study.
Data and Analytical Strategy
Data collection began with the administration of a survey and the collection of supplemental demographic information by the research team.2 Respondents were then asked to take part in an audio-recorded in-depth virtual interview that was completed the same day. The primary data collection for this contextual examination came from the in-depth interviews, which lasted about 1.5 hours. Our goal was to collect data that could provide a holistic assessment of protesters’ motivation for taking part in the March, the risks present, and their perceptions of social justice.
The in-depth interviews were semi-structured with open-ended questions that allowed for considerable probing. Respondents were first asked to describe their experience at the March and what motivated them to participate amid a pandemic. Then they were questioned about their experiences with police unrelated to protesting. They were also asked to discuss their emotional reactions to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Additional questions were asked regarding how parents prepare their children to navigate police interactions. To tap into social activism, respondents were asked if they took part in prior BLM protests and to detail their experiences with police and protesters while demonstrating. Then they were asked about the significance of the March on Washington and how to build security for Black people. Finally, they were questioned about their perceptions on how America is to move forward as a nation.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim. All narrative data related to motivation for protesting were merged into a single data file. We then used inductive analytical techniques to identify motivations. The coding team included the first and second author, and each independently coded the data for themes concerning motivations for participating in the March. This approach established inter-rater reliability, and the two worked together to refine our analysis and arrive at mutually agreed upon thematic patterns. Reliability was also strengthened through a triangulated data collection technique, by asking respondents about their motivation to engage in protests at multiple points in the interview, and by asking for detailed accounts during the in-depth interviews.
We used inductive analytical techniques to strengthen the internal validity of our analysis. The first and second author repeatedly read the data, coded phrases and passages, documented preliminary analytical observations, and created a codebook that was refined using the project data. To ensure the rigor of the inductive process, we made systematic comparisons within and across interviews and protester type to search for evidence of patterns, continuities, and discontinuities. Important to this process was the search for evidence that disconfirmed emergent hypotheses, which allowed for the refinement or rejection of initially identified analytic patterns (Charmaz, 2006; Silverman, 2006). We also used basic tabulations to identify the strengths of the patterns we uncovered. In this analysis, care was taken to ensure that the concepts that were developed and illustrations provided reflect the most common patterns in protesters’ accounts.
In our analysis, we identified four different types of protesters in the fight for racial justice. Revolutionary protesters were individuals who reported having protested on a daily basis or every other day during the height of protests in Summer 2020; may have experienced repressive police tactics and threats to their well-being and yet continued to protest. Overall, they expressed a deep level of commitment to the protest movement. Intermittent protesters were those who participated in protests at least three or more times and were committed to the cause. In general, they held a middle-ground commitment to the fight for social justice. Tourist protesters were classified as people who took part in protests less than three times or expressed more curiosity than commitment about the social movement. Overall, their level of commitment was characterized as being in and out. New protesters were individuals who had not taken part in the BLM protests prior to the 2020 March on Washington.3
Our methodological approach and sampling strategy come with strengths and limitations. First, the dataset was heavily biased on gender. That is, with the exception of three men and one non-binary individual, all the respondents in the study identified as women. Second, a large proportion of our sample were unemployed. It is possible that the high number of unemployed participants was driven by the financial incentive of $40 versus the propensity of unemployed people to engage in protests.4
Third, our study did not include individuals who did not attend the march, which would have been ideal to better understand perceived risk. It is likely that there are non-protesters and long-standing activists alike who may have been compelled to participate but did not due to Covid-19 concerns. Fourth, given the modest number of respondents in our study, our conclusions should be regarded with caution. Finally, we used a convenience sample, which suffers from bias. As with most qualitative research, our sampling strategy means that our findings are not generalizable. Our study is specific to people who attended the March on Washington amid a pandemic. Yet, qualitative work of this kind does not have generalizability, or claims about causality, as its objectives. Rather, the goal of inductive theory building is to help inform and refine theoretical models by uncovering social processes and patterns not always readily apparent in research that is deductive in nature. Although we cannot claim that our study findings are generalizable, the strengths of the patterns we uncover and the richness of participants’ accounts in describing the contexts of their motivation to attend a march suggests an important line of inquiry for future research on motivations to engage in social activism, and of the role that protester type may play.
Findings
Sample Characteristics
Table 1 provides a basic description of the sample. This study included 24 women, two transgender women, three men, and one non-binary individual who attended the March on Washington. Respondents ranged in age from 23 to 74, with a mean age of 40 years old. Almost half of the participants were Black, and one-third of the participants were White. Participants most often reported having never been married (N = 13), although seven participants were married and six were divorced. The remaining participants were cohabitating or separated. Half of the participants had children, while the other half did not. In terms of highest level of education completed, the modal category was Bachelor’s degree, although a significant number of participants had a Master’s degree (N = 8). The sample was equally distributed in terms of employment status, with 14 participants unemployed and 14 employed part- or full-time (two participants were retired). In terms of individual income, the majority of participants (N = 17) earned between $15,000 and $49,999 in 2019.
| N | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Male | 3 | 10.0 |
| Female | 24 | 80.0 |
| Transgender female | 2 | 6.7 |
| Non-binary/genderqueer | 1 | 3.3 |
| Age | ||
| Mean | 40 | |
| Range | 23–74 | |
| Race | ||
| White | 10 | 33.3 |
| Black | 14 | 46.7 |
| Hispanic/Latinx | 1 | 3.3 |
| Asian | 1 | 3.3 |
| Two or more races | 4 | 13.3 |
| Marital status | ||
| Single | 13 | 43.4 |
| Married | 7 | 23.3 |
| Divorced | 6 | 20.0 |
| Separated | 1 | 3.3 |
| Cohabitating | 3 | 10.0 |
| Children | ||
| Yes | 15 | 50.0 |
| No | 15 | 50.0 |
| Education | ||
| HS diploma/GED | 2 | 6.7 |
| Associate’s degree | 3 | 10.0 |
| Some college | 5 | 16.7 |
| Bachelor’s degree | 11 | 36.7 |
| Master’s degree | 8 | 26.7 |
| Law degree | 1 | 3.3 |
| Employment status | ||
| Unemployed | 14 | 46.7 |
| Employed part-time | 1 | 3.3 |
| Employed full-time | 13 | 43.3 |
| Retired | 2 | 6.6 |
| Income level | ||
| <$15,000 | 3 | 10.0 |
| $15,000–29,999 | 8 | 26.7 |
| $30,000–49,999 | 9 | 30.0 |
| $50,000–74,999 | 6 | 20.0 |
| $75,000–99,999 | 3 | 10.0 |
| Did not want to answer | 1 | 3.3 |
| Distance traveled to DC (miles) | ||
| Mean | 594 | |
| Range | 5–1,631 | |
| Political affiliation | ||
| Democrat | 19 | 63.3 |
| Republican | 0 | 0.0 |
| Independent | 10 | 33.3 |
| No affiliation | 1 | 3.3 |
| Political stance | ||
| Radical left | 11 | 36.7 |
| Left | 7 | 23.3 |
| Moderate | 11 | 36.7 |
| Right | 0 | 0.0 |
| Radical right | 0 | 0.0 |
| None | 1 | 3.3 |
| Protester type | ||
| New protester | 10 | 33.3 |
| Tourist | 9 | 30.0 |
| Intermittent | 5 | 16.7 |
| Revolutionary | 6 | 20.0 |
| Theme | N | % | N | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protesting systemic racism is worth the risk | ||||
| Total | 15 | 50.0 | ||
| By protester type | ||||
| New protester | 4 | 26.7 | ||
| Tourist | 5 | 33.3 | ||
| Intermittent | 2 | 13.3 | ||
| Revolutionary | 4 | 26.7 | ||
| Concerns about the future | ||||
| Total | 8 | 26.7 | ||
| By protester type | ||||
| New protester | 3 | 37.5 | ||
| Tourist | 2 | 25.0 | ||
| Intermittent | 2 | 25.0 | ||
| Revolutionary | 1 | 12.5 | ||
| Honor historic event | ||||
| Total | 15 | 50.0 | ||
| By protester type | ||||
| New protester | 5 | 33.3 | ||
| Tourist | 6 | 40.0 | ||
| Intermittent | 1 | 6.7 | ||
| Revolutionary | 3 | 20.0 | ||
| A demand for justice | ||||
| Total | 22 | 73.3 | ||
| By protester type | ||||
| New protester | 5 | 22.7 | ||
| Tourist | 7 | 31.8 | ||
| Intermittent | 5 | 22.7 | ||
| Revolutionary | 5 | 22.7 | ||
| Drawn to march | ||||
| Total | 15 | 50.0 | ||
| By protester type | ||||
| New protester | 6 | 40.0 | ||
| Tourist | 5 | 33.3 | ||
| Intermittent | 2 | 13.3 | ||
| Revolutionary | 2 | 13.3 | ||
The distance participants had to travel to attend the March varied widely, from five to 1,631 miles, with an average distance of 594 miles. As it relates to political affiliation, 19 participants identified as democrat, with another 10 participants identifying as independent. In terms of political stance, participants were somewhat evenly distributed among radical left (N = 11), left (N = 7), and moderate (N = 11).5 Finally, in terms of protesting experience, most participants were categorized as new protesters (N = 10) or tourists (N = 9), while only one-third of the participants were categorized as intermittent (N = 5) or revolutionary protesters (N = 6).
Motivations and Risks of Protesting Amid a Pandemic
To examine these issues further, we now turn to protesters’ narrative accounts of what motivated them to take part in the 2020 March on Washington amid a global pandemic. Asked about the motivation to take part in the March, activists in our study emphasized the need for justice, pronounced the desire to honor the historic March, viewed standing up against systemic racism as worth the risk, articulated the need to attend the March, and expressed concerns about the future.
A Demand for Justice
In our sample, 22 protesters across racial/ethnic backgrounds and protester type emphasized being tired of legalized state sanctioned violence used predominantly against Black people. In particular, police brutality was seen as the result of white supremacy and systemic racism that is not only entwined in the criminal legal system but in the very fabric of America. Edwina, a Black tourist protester, asserted that she took part in the March because “I had watched a fellow Black man die on television . . . I wasn’t expecting to see a man die.” Likewise, Lisa, who is of mixed-race and an intermittent protester, lamented, “I am tired of the Trayvon Martins, the Breonna Taylors, the Ahmaud Arberys . . . We are being hunted down and killed like dogs. I’m tired.” The ongoing violence inflicted on Black communities by the state drove many people to take to the streets to protest.
The BLM movement and the 2020 March attracted masses of White individuals and people from all walks of life, further augmenting the strength of the movement. Of police killings, Holly, a White intermittent protester, claimed, “enough is enough.” She continued, “I mean the general White populace, we’re seeing this in a way that we’ve never seen it before . . . it’s not happening 150 years ago. It’s happening now. It’s happening and we’re permitting this to happen and we absolutely can’t be.” Many White activists were unable to ignore police violence because the blatant murder of George Floyd captured on video could not be misread as anything other than murder. Moreover, participating in protests exposed them to the vast racial inequalities entrenched within law enforcement and society. Natalie, a White woman who was a new protester, announced her outrage after having observed the treatment protesters received from law enforcement:
It was definitely just that more and more videos of abuse kept coming out. Like I said, things kept getting worse. Watching all the protests in Portland and D.C. and LA and Denver and Louisville. I follow a lot of those pretty closely on Twitter and watch the live streams at night, whenever they’re available. So, just kind of seeing the police response to people asking for them to stop killing people, and then to just continually teargas and mace them. And literally watching cops abuse protesters just over and over every single night, I ended up being really radicalized, and yeah, it made it a lot more pressing.
Natalie tied her concerns to the knowledge of aggressive police tactics used on individuals trying to take advantage of their constitutional rights to protest. In fact, witnessing such state sanctioned violence toward demonstrators who were speaking up against police violence radicalized Natalie to fully commit to the movement.
Other White protesters described the role the former President of the United States—Donald Trump—played in stoking fears of racial/ethnic minorities and into notions of racial superiority. Even though she had never previously protested, Maddy, a new protester, said what motivated her to protest is “the President of the United States. Clearly with his incendiary language and his stoking of white supremacism, and it’s just not acceptable.” Likewise, Holly, an intermittent protester, complained:
The longer that this administration, the Trump administration, specifically, has been in office, the worse I think that things are getting because there’s permissiveness to it. So, there’s dog whistle language that’s used. “Oh, there’s good people on both sides.” There’s condoning of racially motivated violence. There’s condoning of police brutality. There’s condoning of violence being used against minorities and minority-supporting voices.
For many, calling out attempts to smuggle white supremacy into America’s mainstream political discourse was a driving factor in participating in the March.
As a result, even though protesters in the study had done their part to fight against injustice, some felt an overwhelming sense to do more. This was particularly true of White individuals. Natalie, a new protester, asserted that the 2020 March “felt important for us to participate in a meaningful way that wasn’t just donating.” Similarly, Katherine, an intermittent protester, stated, “[y]ou can share information on Facebook and you can talk to your loved ones until you’re blue in the face but sometimes it’s just that [you] need to do something else.” Other Black activists were determined to combat and counter acts of violence and put an end to systemic racism. Michelle, a tourist protester, asserted, “Hopefully this brings about enough change that we get to a place of equality for everyone, no matter your circumstances, no matter what your past history was. If you get stopped by a police officer because you were speeding or something that doesn’t involve you getting a weapon drawn or anything, that you can live to tell your story.” And Ruby, an intermittent protester, elucidated what drove her to take part in the protest movement:
I’m a challenger for justice . . . Because of that, that fight for justice, this protest was an easy one for me . . . I need to go there and stand in the gap, but also go there and represent as a Black woman that this is unacceptable, and it does not matter to me how you see me. You will respect me. You will honor what this country says that I have a right to as an individual that lives here, born and bred . . . But even those experiences, they make me say, “Go stand. Just go stand because your presence matters,” and that’s, I guess, the cumulative expression that I can share with you. My presence matters. I’m a person. It’s important. I exist. You will honor that, and if you don’t honor it, this march is going to support why I think you should honor it.
As a result, Charlotte, a Black new protester, asserted, “I have to fight. I have to shine my light as long as I can. I will do that no matter what the cost [and] the consequence.”
Honor Historic Event
In addition to demanding justice, honoring the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech was a central reason many took part in this event. Specifically, 15 protesters across race/ethnicity had such sentiments. This was especially true among tourist protesters and those who reported never having attended a protest in the past. For instance, Michelle, a Black tourist protester, stated she attended the March because she knew “this is just going to be something [where] I could be a part of history.” In a similar vein, Kenny, a White tourist protester, said he attended the March because “I wanted to, especially, be a part of the anniversary of what Martin Luther King did on August 28.” Alexus, a Black woman who was new to protesting, expounded:
I’m from Selma, Alabama. So, with the whole historic events of what happened in my hometown, the connection with Dr. King, the connection with the “I Have a Dream” speech. The meaning of that speech, where we are today, all of that really was – it played a role in me coming back to that park.
Others were inspired by those who took part in the 1963 March to fight for jobs and racial justice after a summer of police violence of civil rights activists working against the disenfranchisement of Black voters. Carol, a White revolutionary activist, asserted after having attended the Smithsonian Museum of African American history in Washington and learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s human rights crusade years prior impacted her greatly: “To see that part of history in the museum just instilled even more so that if that ever happened, then I would be there. And so that’s why I was like, ‘at all costs.’ I knew I was going to be there [at the March].” A few had family members who participated in the historic March on Washington in 1963, which was attended by approximately 250,000 people. Bethanie, a Black intermittent protester, said she attended the March because “[m]y mother had attended the March in Washington in ‘63 when she was 19.” Likewise, Natalie, a White woman who was new to protesting, claimed “my grandfather, who was a minister, actually marched in the King march in ‘6[3], and so I felt really called to kind of be there and walk in his footsteps.” In sum, the 1963 March on Washington, which drew attention to the challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation, was a historic event in which many wanted to commemorate by attending the 2020 March on Washington.
Protesting Systemic Racism is Worth the Risk: Protesting during a Pandemic
Widespread protests have taken place across the United States in response to the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many other Black civilians at the hands of law enforcement. The fact that these protests are happening in the middle of a pandemic has raised concern regarding the spread of the virus. In fact, two weeks prior to the 2020 March, parts of the South and West experienced an upsurge of COVID-19 cases and 29 states were designated as high-risk (Government of the District of Columbia, 2020).6 As a result, the Mayor of DC issued a Mayor’s order requiring people traveling from Covid-19 hotspot states to quarantine for 2 weeks (Government of the District of Columbia, 2020). Additionally, the NAACP launched a virtual March, encouraging people from hotspot locations to livestream the event.
Yet, even amid a pandemic, 13 participants in our study came from one of the 29 states that were designated as hotspots in the weeks leading up to the March. In particular, 15 protesters across all types saw participation in the March as vital. Lyn, who is of a mixed-race revolutionary protester, said “we have another pandemic going on right now. It’s not just COVID. Racism is, I would argue, the worst pandemic . . . [The March] wasn’t something that I was willing to miss. As long as I felt healthy and didn’t feel that I would spread it to others, I would risk getting sick myself.” In a similar vein, Maddy, an elderly White new protester, asserted:
There are a number of risks in life, and at my age of 66, I weigh what is more important. I felt like my participation in the March was more important than avoiding exposure. If I felt like I had been compromised by exposure, had been packed in real close, or people had not been wearing masks, then I would have quarantined myself before going back home to my significant other.
As a result, Bethanie, a Black intermittent activist, said that before attending the March, she had been to six other protests and “I was already recognizing the risk. And to be honest, I really felt like it was worth the risk.” Despite the staggering numbers of Black and brown fatalities as a result of COVID-19, activists were not acting out of ignorance but out of necessity, given that Black, Latinx, and Native Americans are far more likely to be killed by the police than Whites.
Yet, given the risks of exposure to COVID-19, protesters were intentional about taking several measures to reduce their risk of infection and transmission at demonstrations. Ruby, a Black intermittent protester, asserted that when she attended the March, “I had a strong face mask. I didn’t wear the normal face mask. I had a more aggressive face mask on.” Similarly, Kalinda, a Black tourist protester noted, “We felt as though it would be fine because we were outside in an open space, as long as people wore masks, used hand sanitizer, distanced themselves away from people who are not their family, I felt like [it] was fine.” And Vincent, an Asian man who was a new protester, said “[t]hey advertised pretty clearly that you couldn’t enter the grounds unless you wore a mask. And all of the paths were guided to make sure that traffic or people flow were pretty good.”
Overall, protesters remained especially diligent in following public health advice to wear masks and social distance to avoid the risk of spreading COVID-19. Even though the coronavirus is disproportionately impacting communities of color, protesters understood police killings and structural racism are also major threats to public health. As a result, they demonstrated to ensure their voices were heard and that these issues were brought to the forefront of public discussion to effect change.
Drawn to March
Spurred from the protest movement that has risen since the police killing of George Floyd, the Commitment March on Washington was dedicated as a day of action to highlight the commitment to fight against police violence and broader systemic racism. In particular, 14 people across race/ethnicity stated that despite being in the midst of a pandemic they felt called to be present at the 2020 March when Reverend Al Sharpton announced the event at George Floyd’s funeral. Such sentiments were particularly common across tourists and new protesters. Maya, a Black new protester, explained that “I actually was watching George Floyd’s funeral. And when Al Sharpton announced the March, I just felt like this feeling like you have to go. It was like literally like—kind of like a punch in the gut—like it just struck something in me like you just got to be a part of it.” In a similar vein, Katherine, a White intermittent protester, said after Sharpton made the announcement, “I just knew that no matter what, I needed to be there in person to show support. To physically be there to say, ‘This is what we’re fighting for.’” In fact, many expressed having no other choice but to be in attendance to fight for justice and put an end to state sanctioned violence. Maddy, a White new protester, asserted: “I felt compelled to go. I felt like I needed to go. I was compelled to go, and I wanted to go, and I went.” In a similar vein, Michelle a Black tourist protester, stated, “pandemic or not, I felt that it was something that I needed to be a part of.” Emily, a White new protester, said upon hearing the announcement of the March:
We didn’t think we had an option not to go. As soon as it was announced, I called my husband, I said, “We’re going to D.C.” It’s bigger than ourselves and like John Lewis said, “You have to get in good trouble sometimes.” We were careful and everyone really around us was wearing masks, but we just feel like we had to represent . . . [b]ecause we can’t be quiet anymore. We have to speak up in every way possible and be as visible and as vocal as possible.
While Natalie, a White woman who was new to protesting, stated that she “wanted to go” to the March on Washington upon hearing about it in the month of May and “by August I think we felt like we had to go.” Because many were determined to put an end to the systematic targeting of Black people, they felt they had no choice but to attend the March to ensure their voices were heard to stand against racism, police brutality, and inequality.
Some felt drawn because they were inspired by loved ones. Young people often motivated older adults. Bethanie, a Black intermittent protester, said she attended the March because “it was actually my daughter who wanted to attend the March . . . She really felt that we should be there.” And Kalinda, a Black tourist protester, admitted “my niece, she is 21 . . . she’s just all in, for any protest . . . she just kind of helped me realize that the next generation is important . . . So helping pass something down to the next generation, I think, has motivated me to become more involved.” While protesters across the country have represented all age brackets, the overwhelming majority protesting for racial justice have been younger millennials. For many, the call to participate in a timely March that demanded racial equality and police reform could not be ignored.
Concerns about the Future
Although some were drawn to the march to demand racial equality and honor the historic event, a few (N = 8) expressed grave concern for the future. This concern was expressed across protesters of all types. Protesters voiced uneasiness for the future of their loved ones. Maya, a Black woman who was new to protesting, said she made the decision to attend the March because “I gotta do something. I don’t want to leave this place and say I didn’t do anything to try to help my kids’ future.” Similarly, Holly, a White woman who was an intermittent protester, noted: “it’s incredibly important that we be doing what we can. My family is doing what we can to make it so that the future doesn’t look like this. I don’t want right now to be looking like this, but I absolutely don’t want for my sons and daughters to be having this same fight.” Although people had righteous indignation about systemic racism and police violence and wanted to ensure that the next generation did not continue to protest the same issues, the decision to engage in a social movement against racial injustice was not always an easy decision. Natalie, a White woman who was new to protesting in the past, illustrates having had to weigh the costs and risks of participating in a social movement to stand up against racial inequality:
At the beginning it was like, I don’t know if I need to leave my children to put myself in danger to express my opinion . . . [B]y the end of the protest season right before the march, it felt more like if we don’t put our bodies on the line, then our children will still be vulnerable to this kind of abuse. It felt much more urgent.
For some White participants, the BLM movement had awakened them to see America through a new lens and to struggle to change it. With a disproportionate number of unarmed Black people dying at the hands of law enforcement, organizing and participating in social movements to address racism and police brutality proved critical. As a result, Charlotte, a Black new protester, stated, “we [must] go forward . . . I can’t go back. So I go forward. And if death is the cost of that, it’s quite all right.”
In sum, protesters in our study explicitly tied motivation to attend the March to demanding justice and honoring the historic event. Amid a pandemic, many viewed protesting as worth the risk and felt compelled to stand up against racial inequality. That coupled with concerns about the future of loved ones, especially children, drove many to participate in the 2020 March on Washington.
Discussion and Conclusion
The year 2020 will be remembered for two major events in the United States. First, by a global pandemic that has now claimed nearly 500,000 lives in the U.S. alone and crippled an economy, both of which have disproportionately impacted African Americans and people of color. Second, 2020 will be remembered for the racial unrest resulting from police violence toward an unprecedented number of Black civilians. Civil unrest has resulted in a historic increase in the number of BLM protests, increasing by 67% in June 2020 since the initiation of the movement in 2013 (Thomas & Horowitz, 2020). The 2020 March on Washington symbolized a “day of action,” advocating for comprehensive police accountability reform and mobilizing voters for the 2020 November election. For participants in any protest, there is always a rational calculation of the costs and benefits that accompany their decision to participate. A cursory glance of the findings from the current study suggests that participation in the 2020 March on Washington did not seem to present any new risks to protesting police violence that has not been documented by the previous literature. That is, the motivations that the participants listed—such as connection to shared history, protesting to achieve racial justice, and a desire for a better future—were not markedly different from that of previous studies on BLM (Cobbina, 2019; Cobbina et al., 2019; Tillery, 2019) or that of other movements that linked participation to identity and grievances (Armstrong & Bernstein, 2008; Klandermans, 1997; Klandermans & de Weerd, 2000; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans, 2013).
However, upon closer examination, our study revealed that the onset of the pandemic added increased elements of both motivations and risks to engaging in social justice movements not captured in the pre-pandemic literature on protest policing. First, the pandemic and the lockdowns that resulted forced people to spend more time at home with limited communication with the outside world other than through digital media. Scholars have described digital platforms as essential tools for 21st-century social movements (Freelon et al., 2016), and emphasized the role social media as a “scaling tool” can play in broadening the impact of the movement through collective meaning making, and creating support groups of various chapters to form coalitions (Mundt et al., 2018). Our findings show that the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others killed at the hands of police coupled with indictment decisions and debates that were shared by the public brought an overwhelming sense among participants in the study to do more in the fight for racial justice. This was especially true for White participants in our study, many of whom were tourists or new protesters. The images of Black people dying by law enforcement heightened their consciousness toward racial injustices, and drew many of them to public protests. For the Black participants, across all forms of protesters, the images resonated with their own experiences of structural racism at the hands of the police. These factors served as an impetus to drive people to participate in the March on Washington even during a pandemic; thus, providing an opportunity to translate outrage, frustration, and anger toward social action.
Further we also found that new and tourist protesters were more likely to describe the history and being drawn to the March as motivations for which they were willing to undertake heightened risks in the middle of a pandemic. This finding is especially relevant given that the number of Black people killed by police violence since 20137 has not changed significantly over the years (https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/); yet, there was an unprecedented rise in participation in BLM protests in the summer of 2020 compared to previous years. Moreover, when the lockdowns were eased in the fall, and people started spending less time at home, the participation in BLM movements declined (Thomas & Horowitz, 2020).
In addition, and related to our first finding, protesting against racial injustices during a pandemic brought out a renewed focus on the importance of racial equality in America, and highlighted a larger pre-existing deep-rooted problem threatening Black lives. Participants in the study described racism as the real pandemic threatening Black people for centuries, and threats from the COVID-19 virus generally seemed less significant in comparison. The recognition of structural racism as a pandemic, along with the constant influx of images of police violence and killing of Black people in the media motivated many to protest despite the likelihood of catching the coronavirus.
The decision to protest during a pandemic was accompanied by evaluations of immediate health risks, and most participants in the study were conscious of the high risks involved. Some of the risks involved were tangible and personal, such as being at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to age, underlying health issues, and having vulnerable family members at home. To minimize risks posed by the pandemic, participants actively engaged in safety measures based on public health guidelines, such as wearing face masks, traveling alone, quarantining before and after protesting, and getting tested. These actions resulted in sacrifices and additional costs on individual protesters in terms of emotional well-being (staying away from immediate family during quarantine), managing child care (especially for participants with younger children), time, and financial costs (especially among those who were located further away from Washington, DC).
In addition to the above findings, racial identities of individuals played a role in the way they evaluated risks and motivation for protest participation during a pandemic. For Black participants, the threat of being killed as a result of police violence seemed more troublesome than the health risks the virus posed, and many identified strongly with the grievances that arose from structural racism. For White participants in our study, their recognition of belonging to a privileged group that benefits from structural racism motivated protest participation. Most viewed themselves as crucial allies who needed to do more and thus undertook calculated risks of protest participation during a pandemic.
In conclusion, our study advances the research on movement motivation and risk taking by looking at a case of protest participation during a public health crisis, and identifying how the pandemic created unique circumstances that led people to take calculated risks. Future studies that look at risk participation may want to focus on micro factors related to individual’s biography such as employment status, age, and family structure impact how these decisions are exacerbated or controlled by macro structures (state and political opportunities, and economic restructuring). The impact of macro structures on micro factors coupled with the role of digital platforms can provide comprehensive accounts of how risk taking and decision making operates.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Jennifer Cobbina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3720-2672
Footnotes
1 Pseudonyms are used throughout the paper.
2 The research team included one Black woman professor, one South Asian woman professor, one Black male master’s student, one Black female undergraduate student, one Latina doctoral student, and two White female doctoral students. The team received extensive training on qualitative interviewing prior to data collection.
3 However, they may have participated in other protests unrelated to racial justice.
4 In fact, four participants in our study specified that they had financial difficulty in funding the trip to Washington and two stated that they would have but they relied on a relative or credit card to pay for the trip.
5 One participant refrained from identifying with a specific political affiliation or political stance.
6 High risk states included Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.
7 There is no substantial information prior to 2013 that links the number of violence at the hands of the police, categorized by race, in the US. The Mapping Police Violence is one of the very few available datasets.
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Biographies
Jennifer Cobbina is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. She examines the intersection of race, gender, and crime as well as public response to police use of force. Her research interests also focus on gender and prisoner reentry, desistance, and recidivism. Her research has appeared in Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Crime & Justice, and Criminal Justice & Behavior among others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice.
Ashleigh LaCourse is a doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her research interests include corrections, reentry, and prison programming, with a focus on educational and vocational training programs. Her work has been published in Crime & Delinquency, Theoretical Criminology, and Justice Evaluation Journal.
Erika J. Brooke, PhD, is a lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. Her research interests revolve around the courts to corrections pipeline with special emphasis on the military service and crime relationship, problem solving courts, and substance use and abuse. Some of her recent work has been published in Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Corrections: Policy, Practice, and Research, and The Journal of Drug Issues.
Soma Chaudhuri is associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Michigan State university. Her research is on gender, development, social movements and violence. Her research has appeared in American Journal of Sociology, Mobilization, Sociology of Development and Sociological Forum among others, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and Social Science Research Council.
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