The new social justice movement feels different. That’s because it is.
In the months after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, the movement for racial justice in this country has taken up most of the nation’s headspace. But for those that see this movement as a continuation or offshoot of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, it can get confusing.
The new iteration of that movement for racial justice does not look or feel the same. And that’s by design. There’s no one or two true leaders of the movement, they are less willing to work within the system, they are looking at more than just policy change and they are looking past politicians as they push for change.
Organizers see this as fighting against a system that is ingrained in every aspect of this country: it’s past policy changes or meetings with elected officials. “The forces that hold people back are deeply interrelated,” Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change said. “That a racist criminal justice system requires a racist media culture to keep it alive. That economic inequality goes hand in hand with political inequality. These things all sort of work together.”
In a video interview with POLITICO, Robinson went in-depth on what that meant and a new approach he’s spearheading when it comes to how organizers fix those systems.
