Wrong. Protests are the tool for disenfranchised populations. Democracy in action is voting.
The focus of the protests is the shooting of a young black man in Ferguson Missouri. Ferguson is a town of about 21,000 persons. 67% of the population is black, yet 5 of the 6 city council members are white, 50 of the 53 police officers are white, the city government funds much of its operations from traffic fines that fall disproportionately on blacks. So is the problem racism? Or apathy? Despite 2/3rds of the eligible voters in town being black, in the last city election cycle less than 10% of the eligible black voters cast a ballot.
The shooting in Ferguson, the recent shooting of a black teenager playing in a park with a BB gun, the choking of a black man in Staten Island, the fact that 20 black men are killed by police for every white man, indicate there is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed.
It seems to me these protests are venting, not problem solving. The Ferguson shooting happened last summer. For the next couple months leading up to the congressional elections in November the news all over the country was full of protests, marches, confrontations and pundits pointing at racism, or defending the police. Yet in the election in November voter turnout in Missouri was 32% of eligible voters, and 37% nationwide, the lowest turnout in over 50 years for a mid-term election. Republicans, based on recent history a party that is not going to be particularly concerned with even considering whether there is a problem, swept to victory all over the country, including Missouri. Evidently if the angry protests that filled media headlines fired up anybody it was mostly Republicans. White conservatives control Ferguson and now law and order Republicans are regaining control Congress.
I don't live in Ferguson, so I can't vote in Ferguson. I voted nationally, and my vote got lost in a sea of apathy. It's frustrating to watch people trashing businesses, blocking trains and freeways and costing local taxpayers millions of dollars in extraordinary police expenses in my town when the solution to the problem is in voter registration drives to convince the folks most affected by the problem to register and vote. A politically organized black community in Ferguson could dictate the kind of police department they want, and a democratic Congress would be much more inclined to take steps to address the problem on a national scale.
