The Activism Of Deray McKesson

“To acknowledge the existence of the bully and his accompanying risks is not the same as accepting him as a permanent feature of our world. I know that if we accept trauma and fear, it wins” (Freedom 13). Overall, what Deray McKesson is trying to express with this quote is that being aware of the problem and knowing what that problem is capable of is not at all the same as letting go of the problem and accepting it as apart of our world. Deray McKesson explains the importance of the Black Lives Matter Movement, in his book, On The Other Side Of Freedom. Deray McKesson believes that everyone should have equity and that everyone deserves a chance to be who/what they want.

    DeRay Mckesson who is an American civil rights activist, podcaster, and former school administrator was born a July 9, 1985. McKesson graduated in 2007 with a degree in government and legal studies from Bowdoin College, where he had been president of the student government and his class.While he was the president of the student government, he arranged multiple programs which he called freedom programs that helped young black teenagers stay off the streets and helped them be in an activity.  Deray Mckesson was always into helping others and doing right for the community, but what really sparked his interest in activism is when the Michael Brown case came to play. On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by a white police officer, 28-year-old Darren Wilson, in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. McKesson realized he had to do something about the unfair treatment going on between whites and blacks and how the whites were just getting away with it (Martin).  After the Michael Brown case he joined the The Black Lives Matter Movement to help blacks feel powerful and to stop police brutality.

    Deray McKesson is active with the Black Lives Matter Movement. This movement is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people (blacklivesmatter.org). This movement has impacted the world because it allows blacks to feel wanted and to know that their rights matter just as much as anyone else’s. It has also improved police brutality since this movement has started.  After his Black Lives Matter Movement, he went on to writing a book that was tilted On The Other Side Of Freedom. This book explains the unfair treatment of police brutality and how people can overcome this get their freedom. He also started tweeting inspirational things like “Silence will lure you with its promise of comfort. But silence will drain your spirit and weaken your soul” (McKesson Twitter).

     Deray Mckesson is following the rule of swadeshi. Swadeshi is one of the Gandhian rules that states one shall be more involved in their own community before they can focus on those outside of the community. Deray Mckesson follows this rule because he is always focusing what going on with the black community before he moves on to a different area. He always makes sure those in his community are doing fine. This method is the best method for him movement because he is fighting for one specific kind of people, and if they aren’t where they should be he can focus on them and make them stronger.

Sarvodaya is the building up of a world of communities based on non-violence, service, and cooperation (Sarvodaya USA). Deray McKesson is following rules of sarvodaya when he organizes specific protest marching up and down the streets explaining why police brutality is wrong. Mckesson has also written for HuffPost and The Guardian which is a website in which people post the latest scoop. When Deray wrote for these websites he wrote about all the different cases of police brutality and what blacks should do to stand up for their rights. Along with Johnetta Elzie, Brittany Packnett, and Samuel Sinyangwe, Mckesson launched Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence.

Deray McKesson is following the Gandhian rule of satyagraha because it means a policy of passive political resistance. This means that he believed in nonviolent movements. Deray is a good example of this because he led non violent protest in cities like Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland. All of these protests were nonviolent. This principle is most effective for the moment he is in because white officials may shoot and kill or harm people which will cause a big issue if these kinds of protest are violent. If they are nonviolent, then people won’t have anything to say about how blacks are causing trouble, and mabey, people can just open their eyes and see all they want is their freedom.

The methods that are being utilized from Sharps methods are processions, Formal Statements, Communications with a Wider Audience, Public Assemblies. These are just some of the sharps methods that he follows. These methods were chosen because they showed how how Deray McKesson was being a non violent activist, while still getting his point across to everyone. It also shows that he did many different forms of activism like media and protest, but he still got his point across. There were a lot of methods that could have worked just as good, but these were specific. They all showed nonviolent movement attributes.  These examples specific things that. Deray Mckesson could be doing in his practice.

“The difference between equity and equality is everyone gets the same thing and equity is everyone get the things they deserve” (Freedom 1). This quote explains how equality means everyone can have anything they want/need in their life. Equity means they only get what they deserve. Deray Mckesson is saying that in American society there neither. No one ever gets everything they want and even when someone deserves something it’s not a guarantee they will receive it, and that needs to change. Deray Mckesson is currently an activist traveling all over America to prove his points. This movement could be taken further if people would open their eyes and see that police brutality is a problem in our world.

blacklivesmatter.com

Mckesson, Deray. On The Other Side Of Freedom: Case Of Hope.  Viking, 2018.

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