Protests Involving Tens of Thousands of People - Essay Example

The Alton Sterling Shooting: Iesha L Evans

This three-minute read is about the protests involving tens of thousands of people that followed the shooting of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. The riots were also a reaction to the deaths of five Dallas officers killed by a sniper. The riots took place outside of the Louisiana state troopers. However, the most prominent part of the article revolves around the image of a woman, Iesha L Evans, who is pictured standing still before two Louisiana state troopers wearing riot gear. Jonathan Bachman, a freelancer based in New Orleans, took the picture. Iesha is standing in a long dress, looking calm and poised even as two officers are charging towards her. Iesha was arrested among 102 other protesters in Baton Rouge and detained for charges of obstructing the highway. Evans is a nurse in New York, and she has a child aged five.

What interested me about the woman's picture is that she stepped onto the road, showing that she was taking a stand. She stood on the way and said nothing. She was also not moving, meaning that she did not care about what the police were not going to do to her. She was arrested moments after she stood on the highway.

Outline for an argument

Thesis: Riots have never taken place for no reason. Regardless of the riot's nature, whether the riot is peaceful or not, all riots end up in the arrest of individuals whether they were causing chaos or not.

Three Possible Counterarguments

• All riots are considered acts of violence
• The woman was at the wrong place at the right time
• Her intentions were not clear, and this led to her arrest

Riots arise from acts of injustice, and they are usually directed towards the authority, people, or property. Therefore, participating in riots is regarded as an act of violence. In Evans's case, she was standing in front of police officers who were trying to control the riot. Although Evans was not carrying a weapon or talking back at the police officers. Either way, she was arrested because riots are regarded as acts of violence, whether one is participating or not. The view that riots are considered acts of violence is short-sighted because the riots do not arise without purpose. They are caused by injustices resulting from acts of violence, and they can, therefore, not be regarded as acts of violence.

Since riots are a criminal offense, the woman was arrested because she was at the riot scene. While other rioters stayed away from the police to avoid being arrested, Evans moved away from the crowd and started walking towards the anti-riot police officers. Therefore, even if she did not intend to cause trouble, being on the riot scene was enough to get her arrested. This is a wrong view of the situation because Evans clearly showed why she was at the site. Evans walked towards the police officers, stood in front of them, and said nothing. Therefore, she was where she needed to be to stand up to the anti-riot police.

Riots are usually associated with bad intentions, even when people are only advocating for their rights. Therefore, when Evans walked towards the police officers, they cuffed her because they assumed that she intended to cause chaos or attack them since she was part of the riot. Evans appeared to be repelling the two officers coming towards her, which made them doubt her intentions more. Therefore, her movement towards the officers caused her arrest. If she had been part of the rioting crowd, there is a chance that she would not have been arrested. This is a wrong argument because Evans’ actions were meant to show the police officers that they would not intimidate people into submission. Evans’ intentions were clear because she was advocating for the end of violence. Her arrest was also not due to her intentions but because she was rioting, and this is regarded as an act of violence, although untrue.

Framing Citations

When Shaun King, a prominent writer, shared Evan’s picture on Facebook, which garnered more than 35,000 likes, most people's first reaction was to compare it to historical images that showed protests, such as the Tiananmen Square Protests in 1989. During the Baton Rouge riot, Jonathan Bachman, who works with Reuters, took a picture of Evans that went viral. Bachman stated that he was on the side of the road, taking photographs of the protesters arguing with the police. When he looked over his right shoulder, he saw a woman break away from the protesters and stepped onto the road. ”The woman was making her stand, and she was not moving, even though the police officers looked intimidating in their attire while she was only wearing a summer gown “(Vardoulakis 704). Bachman’s explanation seems to explain all the events that led to Evans stepping away from the riots and personally standing up to the police officers. Jonathan’s point is that, out of all the people who had started the riots, Evans was the most courageous, because she was not intimidated by the police or the photographers such as Bachman. Evans walked towards the police officers with confidence and elegance, disregarding the possible consequences of her actions.

Vardoulakis, Dimitris. "Stasis: Notes Towards Agonist Democracy." Theory & Event 20.3 (2017): 699-725.