Monday, January 23, 2017

Inauguration Protests

As America swore in our new president, peaceful and violent protest erupted which led to the arrests of over 200 individuals. I'm sure many, if not all, of us were able to see footage of these events all over the news and social media feeds. I came across various articles which allowed me to learn and analyze the occurrences through different perspectives.

The famous "failing pile of garbage" we all know as Buzzfeed covered the protest from a legal standpoint and discussed the felony charges and fines that the arrested protesters were going to face. They explained that all offenders were set to be prosecuted and punished, which may include facing a maximum of 10 years in jail and a $25,000 fine. The article written by Zoe Tillman discusses the different acts performed at the protest such as breaking storefront windows and throwing bricks at police. Tillman also gave us an inside look at the environment of the courthouse during the hearings. There were huge crowds applauding the protesters as they walked out of the courtrooms.

In an article written by Kevin Johnson and Heidi Przybyla for USA Today, the protest is explained from the perspective of police officers. They discuss the various confrontations between protesters and officers, and highlight some of the most drastic incidents including the protesters setting of a limo on fire. Johnson and Przybyla explain some tactics used by police, as well as the injuries some sustained during the riots. This article hardly mentions the peaceful protesters which depicts the entire protest and movement to be completely violent. It is clear that the violent acts overshadowed any peaceful intentions.

Catie Keck, News Editor for Complex, wrote an article which looked at the lighter side of the protest. While she briefly mentions the violent acts that took place at the protest, she focuses on the peaceful side of the event. Keck included various pictures of some of the more comical signs seen at the protest. This article seems a lot more relaxed and takes more of an entertaining approach compared to many other sites. Many of the signs incorporated throughout the article displayed statements supporting women's rights and racial equality.

While all three articles mention the violence at the protest, they wrote their stories from very different angles. Buzzfeed focuses on the legal aspects of the situation, USA Today emphasizes the violence between police and protesters and Complex concentrates on the peaceful activists.

Here are some tweets showing different perspectives of the protest.



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)