Activism’s Hidden Hazards

Throughout history, the Bay Area has been home to many social and political advocates targeted because of their controversial stances. Although groups and activists like the Black Panther Party and Harvey Milk began their activism and thrived in the Bay Area, they received major retaliation from local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Do the dangers of harsh backlash still exist in the progressive 21st-century Bay Area, or do locals advocate freely without putting themselves in danger?

Following the murder of George Floyd, in June of 2020, students from Oakland Technical High School gathered together to peacefully protest the continued killing of Black Americans by the police. 

According to The Verge, a curfew was issued, and the majority of the protesters disbanded. However, some protestors stayed, leading to the police arresting forty protestors for breaking the curfew and using tear gas to control the crowd.

Another Black Lives Matter protest in May 2020 attracted people from all around the Bay Area to speak out against ongoing police brutality. However, others saw this as an opportunity to vandalize and steal from nearby stores. 

Incidents like this looting, caused mostly by opportunists rather than activists, shed a bad light on protesters who truly fight for social change. These peaceful protestors can be caught in the middle of interactions between violent protesters, looters, and the police. 

Ryan Lo, a tenth grader at the School, is an environmental and educational activist and hosts a podcast where he interviews experts and policymakers on these issues. 

Lo attended a 2020 presidential rally in Lafayette, where he and his family held up signs supporting their preferred candidate. At the rally, Lo and his family, including his seven-year-old brother, were cussed at continuously by members of the opposing political party. Lo called this interaction “scary” and “thought people were going to get hurt.”

Although Lo admits that activism “is certainly a huge risk, [he] thinks it’s worth the risk” and that “the people who are [aggressive towards differing viewpoints] are the people who need this the most.”

Another side effect of activism is the mental toll it takes on those involved. Nancy Feidelman, the School’s Director of the Center for Community Engagement, has read and learned a lot about activism through this role and her prior teaching experience. 

She stated, “It’s absolutely exhausting because you’re coming up against systems that are so long-standing, so entrenched, and so fortified by money and power.”

Despite these risks, why do activists continue to fight for what they believe in? Feidelman claims, “[M]ost activists would say, there’s no choice, because these massive injustices and inequities need to be resolved. It’s a matter of life or death.”