“Every federal, state or local official in American history, when faced with protests that turn particularly chaotic, always say that this is not really a protest. That these are ‘thugs,’ that these are ‘troublemakers,'” said Heather Ann Thompson, PSC Researcher and professor of history, Afroamerican and African studies, and in the Residential College. “Promises have been made that people in charge are gonna address something that’s wrong and they clearly are not addressing it, so the protests explode.”

More about Thompson comments on how massive protests drive change, based on established historic patterns >