2020 saw some of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in more than a half-century sweep the nation and state over the summer.
Southern University Political Science Chair Albert Samuels said the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police sparked the most sustained period of protest since the 60s civil rights heyday.
“And we had the element of social media which we did not have in the 1960s as well,” said Samuels.
Floyd was killed on May 25th. By early June major protests had begun in New Orleans, including one that ended in police using gas to disperse a crowd moving towards the Crescent City Connection.
Samuels says the Black Lives Matter protests resulted in a number of symbolic changes. Locally those were most noticeable in the removal of Confederate names and symbols from public buildings and flags.
“If you had asked people just a year ago if that was even possible, they would say that would not have happened,” said Samuels.
Samuels highlighted Mississippi’s removal of the Confederate flag from their state flag, and the increased philanthropic attention paid to Black charities.
Samuels says the protests were a mixed bag politically. On one hand, it resulted in an influx of newly registered Democrats, on the other hand, it popularized the controversial “defund the police” slogan.
“There is some evidence that it probably hurt some Democrats down-ballot and contributed to their less impressive showing in the congressional races than they had anticipated,” said Samuels.
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