Notes on the Protests

Introduction:

Today I wanted to go over some of my thoughts surrounding the recent protests and riots that have popped up all across the country. In general, I support the protestors and their cause. Police have become overly militarized in the past decades and it has lead to an adversarial relationship between police and the communities that they are supposed to serve. The militarization of the police has lead to communities often viewing the police along the lines of an invading army occupying their territory. This plays out through communities rejecting the police and becoming havens for drug trafficking and other crime. In turn, this increase in crime leads to an even harder response by the police; rinse and repeat, and you wind up with disadvantaged communities and stark divisions. Because some of my political posts have a more rebellious tone to them, I'd like to encourage anybody that reads this and feels strongly about these issues to get out into the streets and make your voice heard. As an American, your freedom of speech is one of your most valuable tools, and you should use it to snuff out injustice when you see it. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed"

I'm going to do my best to give some advice as to what sorts of things to bring (and not bring) with you to a protest in order to keep yourself and those you are with safe.

Details:

From my perspective, there are generally two types of protestors: the sign-waving supporters that make up the bulk of the protest, and the Frontliners. The Frontliners, a term born out of the Hong Kong protests, are the participants that are on the front line and are most engaged with law enforcement. These people take hits from rubber bullets, throw tear gas cans away, and get up against police riot shields. I am gauging this stuff more toward Frontliner types who may need more specialized equipment.

First is some sort of 3M-type reusable respirator with particle/fume filters. Something like this, when combined with some swimming goggles, gives a person excellent resistance to things like pepper spray and tear gas:

Something like this  would also be fairly effective, and would provide greater visibility and facial protection than a half-face mask:

This sort of protection is very important to resist things like teargas and pepper spray, not just because you can breath it in, but because just having it on your skin or near your eyes can be detrimental. A lot of these full face respirators are also made with lenses made of high-impact ANSI rated polycarbonate, so they provide decent protection from impact.

Having a well-stocked backpack is also essential during an all-day protest. Necessities should include utilitarian foods like protein bars, some sort of first aid kit or first aid supplies, water, heat resistant gloves, and some sort of means of communication, more on that later.

Protein and granola bars are a good utilitarian food because you can pack a decent number of them and they don't take up much space. When there isn't time for full meals and you're out in the sun for potentially hours on end, you're going to have to replenish some calories.

Water is a bit more multifunctional. Obviously, hydration is a big priority if you're going to be outside protesting all day, but waters use goes beyond that. Popular knowledge for some reason has people convinced that pouring milk in their eyes will help relieve the pain from pepper spray. While this may or amy not be true, unless you are able to get some fresh milk somewhere, there are decent odds that the milk that's getting poured in your eyes is warm and has been out all day. Water or some saline solution is the best, easiest thing to carry with you to help relieve the burning from pepper spray. Finally, water can be utilized by organized Frontliners to extinguish teargas cannisters before they deploy all their gas. This can be done by simply pouring enough water on the cannisters or by putting the cannister in a jug or bucket of water, the effectiveness of tear gas can be greatly reduced.

Heat resistant gloves are used alongside things like water in order to respond to tear gas. These cannister get very hot as they release gas. A solid set of hear resistant gloves can help a protestor handle a hot cannister and dispose of it. This can be done by getting the cannister into water, or just by throwing it back from where it came from.

Finally communications are important for a protest to remain cohesive and organized. Along with this, anonymity is also incredibly valuable on the off chance the police seek to charge or arrest you. This is done in two ways: cover your face, and leave your phone at home. Having a wide face covering allows a protestor to effectively counter facial recognition technology that can be used to figure out who you are and where you live. Police departments, often with some soft of federal support, are able to collect cell phone data by protestors in a given area. In order to avoid this, some sort of alternative communications system is invaluable. Simple walkie-talkies or more complicated programmable radios allow for protestors communicate, although these communications are easily monitored without some sort of encryption

Conclusion:

Protests and riots are some of the final measures that people can take when their voices are ignored by those in power. I personally support the protests because I believe in the principles of liberty and small government. People that call themselves conservatives watch on as militarized police gas and pepper spray protestors, and they claim to be in favor of small government. The same people that saw the encouragement to wear a mask as a front to their rights, cheer on as the National Guard drives Humvees down residential streets. 

I see my support for the protests as a reasonable extension of my radical belief that the police and politicians should subscribe to the same laws as everyday citizens, where killing someone in the street is never controversial, it's just wrong.