Disclaimer #2: These observations are only based on Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31 and only on the state of North Carolina. There have been many protests since then and many in other places that do not fit these patterns, but these are the ones for which I was able to see wall to wall coverage. It just took me this long to mull over and write about the events of last weekend.
In college, I took a course called Classroom Management. While this is a skill that can really only be learned through on the job experience, I appreciated the effort and have found the textbook, The First Days of School, enormously helpful. There was one thing said in that class that stuck with me more than any other. My professor said, "Avoid getting in a power struggle with a student whenever possible, but if you do get in one, you have to win it."
I thought about that statement a lot last week while I watched the WRAL and WTVD coverage of protests in Durham, Raleigh, and Fayetteville, North Carolina. While I know there are more complex issues of anarchist and agitators from both ends of the political spectrum (members of Antifa and the Proud Boys were present at those which became violent) involved, there also seemed to be a difference in the approach of law enforcement in each of these places. Yes, I know this is over-simplified, but I still think there is something to be learned from it.
Durham
The city of Durham had the most interesting and peaceful protests of the weekend. They seemed to never stop moving. They walked from location to location with different chants at each. At one point, they stood in front of the jailhouse, shouting, "We see you. We value you." to the prisoners. While there were fires being set in other places, this particular demonstration remained peaceful for both days of the weekend. Is it because the citizens of Durham are inherently less violent than those who live elsewhere. Of course not. (One only needs to look at the street after Duke wins a basketball championship to know that.) What looked different from my television was that the police walked alongside the protestors as they moved from place to place. They talked with them about their issues and blocked each intersection as they approached to protect the protestors from harm. It seemed they took the "Avoid a power struggle" approach to the situation.
Raleigh
It was hard to watch Saturday night's events in downtown Raleigh. During the day, there had been a perfectly peaceful demonstration. It lasted several hours, and as the sunset, most of those people went home. They were replaced by a mix of demonstrators, some of whom were there to speak and others who were there to agitate. While there was a more tense atmosphere than the one that had permeated during the day (it's always a different feel after dark, even highway driving feels different in the dark), it was still relatively without incident until the march approached the police station. From my house, that seemed to be the point where the Raleigh demonstration changed. The police began firing tear gas at that point. (If you are a member of Raleigh law enforcement, and I am speaking inaccurately, please forgive me. This was my perception from a five miles away, but I know that my view was limited.) That's when the tense protest became a riot. Windows were broken. Fires were set. Stores were looted. Reporters retreated into the news station and then had to find another location because they broke in there as well. It was definitely a power struggle, and that night, the rioters won.
On Sunday morning, many helpful people went to downtown Raleigh to help board up storefront windows and sweep up the glass. They replaced cement planters that weigh hundreds of pounds that had been knocked down the night before. That afternoon, there were more peaceful demonstrations on the grounds of the Capitol Building. And then, once again, as the sun set, things changed. About fifty policemen in full riot gear flowed into the street in a tight line. The tone was set. We are in power. (After the events of the night before, it was hard to blame them. I don't know what kind of decision I would have made and am very glad it is not my responsibility to make it.) It wasn't clear which happened first, the tear gas from the police or the protestors throwing bottles at them; but the power struggle was on, and the police were determined to win it this time. While Durham had avoided a power struggle, Raleigh engaged in one and felt they had to win.
In my 21 years of teaching, I have found the advice my professor valuable (and have passed it on to many first-year teachers), but I have also found it incomplete. There is another path when there has been a power struggle - apologizing when I was wrong. There have been many times when I was in error for the way I spoke to a student, and the ensuing problem was started by me. I have gone to the lunchroom and sat down with the student to apologize or sent an email, explaining and seeking forgiveness for my role in the problem. You would be amazed at how quickly the tone changes when a person seeks forgiveness. (By the way, I have also sometimes apologized on behalf of "teachers" generally when I was not specifically at fault. I can be sorry for the way a child was treated by his other teachers or teachers in his past without it having been my responsibility. "I'm sorry teachers have treated you that way" is a helpful statement of sympathy.) This leads me to the third city in this story.
Fayetteville
Saturday and Sunday night, the demonstrations in Fayetteville followed a fairly similar pattern to Raleigh and involved the attempted destruction of Fayetteville's Market House, a market that, while primarily used for the sale of produce, was sometimes used in the slave trade. (This, by the way, was not a sudden flash of anger. It was planned earlier in the day by a man who was dissatisfied by the peaceful protests on Skibo Road, who broadcast his plans on Facebook Live and then brought gasoline with him.) Two peaceful protestors were tased and arrested on Sunday. The struggle over the weekend led the Fayetteville mayor to institute a curfew for Monday, but it also apparently led to a different approach from law enforcement than it had in Raleigh (Note: Raleigh has changed its approach in the days since, and this post is only about last weekend).
On Monday evening, just before the time the curfew was to be implemented, the protestors and the police face each other in two lines. The line of 60 police officers in riot gear took a knee. Then the protestors
did as well. After several minutes of kneeling and tears, they all rose. Some protestors high fived and even hugged the police officers. Police officers apologized for their own actions and for the actions of their brothers. I don't know what you see in the photo here, but I see the start of redemption (repentance submitted, forgiveness offered, and the start to reconciliation).
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As protests continue around the country, the classroom management model may be helpful. If you are dealing with peaceful protestors (not the extremist attempting to create chaos), avoid a power struggle and apologize where appropriate. And, if you are a peaceful protestor, go home before it gets dark. As the mom of one of my college friends used to say to us, "Nothing good happens after dark."
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