Civil protests intend to disturb the ‘peace’ in the service of a greater good.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood the need to “disrupt” the everyday course to stimulate social change. “We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with” (Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963).

Civil protests are a part of the restorative justice process. Protests are civil liberties expressed when communities come together in nonviolent direct action to bring awareness towards the violation of people and relationships to help create solutions that will rectify and promote reconciliation. There is a long history of civil protest in the United States. Let’s examine how people have called for peace and justice through nonviolent protest movements.

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