College students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations must make time for academics and self-care amid the turmoil and remember protest is a marathon, not a sprint, said the author of a forthcoming book on lessons learned during the 2014 Ferguson, Mo., uprising.
Jonathan Pulphus said one of his goals in With My People: Life, Justice, and Activism Beyond the University was to offer guidance to young activists on finding a balance between activism and everyday life.
“My advice for them is to approach protest mindfully and carefully in order to be more effective, and to organize in ways that raises their voices without burning out,” said Pulphus, 30, now director of grant initiatives for a nonprofit organization in St. Louis.
Jonathan Pulphus
“I also wanted to humanize Michael Brown and to humanize the people who were protesting after he was murdered,” he said. “They had families, they had jobs, and some of them lost jobs and some had to drop out of school. Some dealt with mental health issues and a lot of wear and tear on the body.”
Brown was shot and killed Aug. 9, 2014, by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who claimed the 18-year-old African American tried to grab his service weapon. The St. Louis suburb was thrust into the national spotlight as protesters took to the streets and buildings were set ablaze.
But that immediate reaction evolved into an months-long and increasingly sophisticated uprising that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked protests across the nation. In addition to seeking justice for Brown, organizers expanded the focus to include systemic issues such as racial injustice and police brutality.
Pulphus was right in the middle of the movement as a 19-year-old undergraduate at St. Louis University. Soon after the uprising began, he cofounded the Tribe X activist group, helped plan and lead more than 10 high-profile demonstrations and was involved in strategy sessions called to identify the long-term goals of the movement.
“The purpose behind protest is to create meaningful and lasting differences.”
“The purpose behind protest is to create meaningful and lasting differences. This translates to protest not simply being performative. It is a vehicle for ushering in substantive developments that address societal ills,” he explains in With My People.
In addition to street demonstrations, Ferguson-related activism included voter drives, workshops on the history of injustice and protest, and alliances between various advocacy groups to build capacity and to better pressure lawmakers to create just policies.
But organizers also resorted to outright defiance in the face of tear gas, rubber bullets and curfews, Pulphus writes.
“Demonstrators sustained the movement by responding to law enforcement with various respectable and unrespectable tactics including returning tear gas canisters, growing protest organizations, burning down businesses, looting businesses, protecting businesses, rescuing each other, performing a direct action by encamping on West Florissant (Avenue), impeding traffic, taunting law enforcement with chants, and engaging in other forms of civil disobedience that helped to lift the names of Brown and Ferguson into national and international consciousness.”
With My People also documents the far-reaching accomplishments of the movement, including an agreement holding St. Louis University accountable for actively strengthening diversity and equity at the Catholic school.
Several Ferguson protesters went on to hold elected office, including Cori Bush and Fran Griffin, who both served in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Another win, Pulphus said, was the 2015 U.S. Department of Justice report condemning the policies and practices of Ferguson and its police department.
Policing in the city was so heavily shaped by revenue concerns that many officers saw “some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominantly African American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue,” according to the study.
Also, Black culture, art, philanthropy and business flourished in the region after the uprising, which in turn inspired demands for improvements at the University of Missouri, Pulphus added. “While some local churches didn’t want any part of the protests, many pastors used the moment to get their congregations involved and to make a difference by showing us how to stay grounded in spiritual values.”
However, “one of the glaring things we didn’t see was accountability for the officer involved in the shooting of Michael Brown,” he said.
With the book, Pulphus hopes to use history as a motivation and lesson for future protesters: “The lessons in this book apply to all protests, including the pro-Palestinian demonstrations going on right now on college campuses.”
Like Ferguson, participants in those actions need to build coalitions with like-minded groups who can help shoulder the pressures that come with activism, he advised. “It’s about forming relationships and building community. People have got to find ways to take care of one another and cry together, march together.”