Protest attire question

June 26, 2018 12:40 PM

Should I wear my Black Lives Matter shirt to Saturday's Families Belong Together protest?

Normally I wear my BLM shirt to protests for solidarity/amplification but in this case I'm not sure. On the one hand there's this excellent point about family separation via the incarceration of black citizens but on the other hand I don't want to "all families matter" this and make it about something it's not. Particularly interested in hearing from native, latinx, and black mefites.

posted by rabbitrabbit to Human Relations (11 answers total)

Thanks for attending this protest! I'm latinx myself. Along with 2/3 of latinos in the United States, my entire family was born here -- but we know that what hurts other latinx hurts us too. Thank you for supporting us.

Regarding your shirt -- you know, there are black latinx. In fact, many latinx folks have at least some distant African heritage, due to the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

That said, I do believe it's more rhetorically effective to focus on one issue at a time. At that protest, you're protesting the Zero Tolerance policy and family separation at the border. My opinion? Wear something else.
posted by ElisaOS at 1:16 PM on June 26, 2018

I'm latinx. I second ElisaOS's reply. I feel that wearing "cause" shirts that are unrelated to the issue at hand can come across as one-size-fits-all activism (see what I did there?) Thank you for showing up, and for being thoughtful about it.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 1:40 PM on June 26, 2018

I attend a weekly protest outside my Senator's office at which people seem to wear T's and buttons and hold signs related to EVERYTHING, no matter what the theme is that week. I feel a little out of things with my tiny Indivisible button or no button at all, but honestly I prefer not to mix messages. It can come across as crankdom.
posted by Peach at 2:34 PM on June 26, 2018

One reason I hate going to protests is that there are always people trying to co-opt them for causes that aren't directly related to the rationale for the protest. Sometimes causes that I strongly disagree with. While I am pro-BLM personally, the more people stay on message, the more people like me are likely to come back.
posted by grouse at 3:29 PM on June 26, 2018

For what it's worth, I got an email today from the organizers of the event that said (among other things): "Attendees are encouraged to wear white."

Why white, though, I have no clue. Also, I don't really have white clothes, so I'm just ignoring it. But fyi.
posted by merejane at 3:31 PM on June 26, 2018

For what it's worth, I got an email today from the organizers of the event that said (among other things): "Attendees are encouraged to wear white."

A lot of the Families Belong Together local rallies are doing this -- the explanation I've seen is that having everyone in one colour will make for striking images (especially for media photos / videos or on social media). I'm guessing it's white specifically because it will show up well in pictures and because lots of people own at least one white piece of clothing -- a dress shirt, an undershirt, a plain white T, even chef's whites / many food service uniforms would work.
posted by halation at 4:12 PM on June 26, 2018

I'm with grouse on this one: It's bad form to show up at someone's political statement pushing a different agenda (unless you are making a counter-statement).
posted by slkinsey at 4:18 PM on June 26, 2018

I want to suggest that all of the folks saying BLM has a different agenda than the Muslim ban/immigration protests are ignoring the systemic effects our immoral immigration enforcement have on African immigrants (who are subject to incredibly high rates of arrest simply for being black, because this country can’t keep its boots off black folks necks). There’s an obvious temptation to make this whole thing about family separation and racist southern border policing bc those stories are at the forefront today, but don’t forget trump ended TPS for Haitians and the travel ban targeted two African countries (though I recognize that many Libyans would probably not identify as Black).

BAJI - the Black Alliance for Just Immigration organizes around and does advocacy work at the intersection of the immigration issue and domestic race relations, they’re worth following in my opinion for some much needed perspective.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 4:35 PM on June 26, 2018

If I get a request to wear white, I will. I don't own message tshirts, if I did, I would be fine with wearing any non-conflicting message tshirt. It's on your body, which is a little like wearing a sign, but it's not the same. I would not take a sign for any other issue unless that group was a co-sponsor of the rally. In California, Mexico, Central and South America are the dominant immigrant groups, but there are immigrants of all races, colors and origins.

Seriously considering picking up a plain shirt so I can brush Of course I care; it's human decency on the back.
posted by theora55 at 5:13 PM on June 26, 2018

Folks in Springfield have been protesting a jail contract between the city and ICE (just cancelled, yay! In large part thanks to the protests.) Pictures in the local paper show a number of "No Justice, No Peace!" signs. I find them jarring, as I associate that slogan with Ferguson, Missouri, and is seems out of place.
I vote for wearing something else.
posted by SLC Mom at 6:36 PM on June 26, 2018

Pictures in the local paper show a number of "No Justice, No Peace!" signs. I find them jarring, as I associate that slogan with Ferguson, Missouri, and is seems out of place.

For what it’s worth, “No justice, no peace” was around at least thirty years before Ferguson.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 9:21 PM on June 26, 2018