Protesting is an American tradition. But the results vary widely

When people protesting immigration raids in Los Angeles were confronted by National Guard troops and Marines acting on orders from President Donald Trump, many Americans were shocked. So much so that the president’s action practically overshadowed the message the protesters were trying to send.

Using the National Guard to restrain violent protests — or those that seem like they could become violent — is uncommon, said Robert Preuhs, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Political Science. But, he said, it’s not unheard of. The National Guard was deployed in 2020, for instance, during protests over the killing of George Floyd by police and in 1992 during Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of police officers who beat Rodney King.

The difference, Preuhs said, is that in those and most other instances, it was the governor of the state where the unrest was taking place who summoned the military. By contrast, during the confrontation this month, Trump ordered troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

For a president to take a power generally reserved for state officials is rare, Preuhs said.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives presidents the authority to use troops on U.S. soil in extraordinary circumstances. Abraham Lincoln did it first, during the Civil War, when an armed Baltimore mob prevented Union troops from passing through that South-sympathizing city. It’s happened maybe a half-dozen times since then, including in the 1960s when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil-rights marchers in Alabama. That, too, was over the objection of the state’s governor.

A big difference then, Preuhs said, was that Johnson’s goal was to protect the protesters from violence, not to punish them.

That episode took place during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, one of the most famous, and successful, protest efforts in this country, said David Varel, Ph.D., an instructor in the MSU Denver History Department. The movement is a highlight of Varel’s class, which will be offered this fall: American Protest: The History of Social Movements From the Cold War to the Twenty-First Century.

Today’s protesters could learn from civil-rights leaders, who presented a unified front and consistent message. Those leaders, particularly Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., “recognized the singular moral force that King provided the movement and made use of it to shape public opinion,” Varel said.

“They were so media savvy, and they were constantly thinking, ‘How do we minimize conflict?’ And a lot of them deferred to King, who was charismatic and a brilliant orator,” Varel said.

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The leaders also were “very conscious of how they used the media, especially television, to highlight how grotesque Jim Crow segregation policies in the South were,” Varel said.

The televised images of peaceful protesters being attacked by police with dogs, fire hoses and clubs in places like Selma, Ala., shocked the nation’s conscience and helped bring about change, Varel said. The nation still has many issues of inequality and racial injustice to resolve. “But it would be a mistake to dismiss how profound the change has been just in my parents’ lifetime,” he said.

Making use of media is a lot harder now than it was 50-60 years ago, Varel said. In the 1960s and ’70s, organizers could harness the power of three major television networks and major newspapers. “Now, there is social media, AI-distorted imagery and numerous sources of information, as well as a sea of deliberate misinformation,” Varel said. “So the way of framing these protests is taken up by different actors,” each trying to advance their agenda to a public that “is already confused enough.”

Still, Varel tells his class that grass-roots movements can achieve varying degrees of success. They also can take many forms: social movements, marching in the streets, and, yes, even writing to elected officials can still work too.

But to be effective, it takes more than a one- or two-day event. “With social media, “groups can quickly mobilize, but that’s not the same as forming long-term relationships within groups” and having strong leaders to present a unified message.

“History also teaches us that movements are on their strongest footing when welcoming all comers and fighting for causes based on universal principles of human rights and dignity,” Varel said.

There is one other lesson Varel’s long study of protest movements has taught him: As a nation, we’ve endured a lot of crises and upheaval, he said. “Everyone in their moment feels like this has never happened before. But seeing how these are conflicts that have been going on a long time really provides perspective on that.”

Learn more about History studies at MSU Denver.