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The History of Student Activism in the United States

Student Activism

The United States is known for its freedom. This is the country where you could express your thoughts and beliefs and you could imagine how to fight for them in terms of democracy.

It is very welcome to join the peaceful protests and demonstrations since this is the only way for you as a civil person to show your opinion, except for the elections.

But how influential can that be? It is naive to believe that after the short-term demonstration the government might change the laws, for example, drastically.

But as in any other democratic country, this is the only way to try. Try to show your disagreement and make them notice that there are the ones who do not approve.

How it happens and which role students hold in those processes we will discuss below.

Student Activism As A Category

Student activism units various categories. Young people tend to fight internally for the rights on campus, fair schedules, and the firing of naughty professors. Apart from that, they are also protesting on more serious and major topics like environmental issues, economic and political as well as social changes.

Despite the fact that all activities are usually peaceful and do not involve any violence, police are known for their brutality with them. Especially if we talk about colored people and the Black Lives Matter movement is a great example of that.

For more data, you could browse around free police brutality essays where you could find precise cases which were not spread and are more of a local issue. It is important to highlight why activism is so agile in the student layer in particular.

Student Activism

The important thing here is that these are the young people who are the most interested and passionate about social changes. They are building the future in the country and they are eager to know that the future exists.

And whatever is happening while they are in college and universities are exactly what will influence and define their future. It is a known fact that student protest and activism existed as long as the educational institutions themselves.

It is more acceptable and understandable in the modern democratic world, but it still took place back in the past and only with a democratic government system.

There was no other practical way to avoid violence and for a group of people to get higher authorities to know what they actually want.

US Most Significant Protests 

There are hundreds if not thousands of movements across the US colleges or institutions. But here let’s highlight the most massive and influential ones.

Vietnam War Movements. The extremely powerful youth protest was caused by the American invasion of Vietnam. These are the demonstrations that originally came from campus and then spread across the entire country including all generations.

People were paralyzed on the edge of another war of potential violence and cruelty the war holds. It was shortly after World War 2 and people still didn’t heal from all the losses.

You could still see and engage with wounded soldiers, veterans, and families who lost their loved ones and Americans did not desire to enter another war. Neither did they see the reason for the USA to be involved. This is also when hippie activism spread which exists up till now.

Black Lives Matter. In the middle of the pandemic just a few years ago there was huge and influential student activism following the brutal death of George Floyd killed by the policeman. The movement itself was established long before that considering the racial issue across the US.

US most significant protests 

But it reached its pick point with this particular incident and this is when people started talking. The occurrence was completely over the edge and millions of times showed the issue of underprivileged colored people in America.

There are actually hundreds of other activism movements in the US itself, but in my opinion, these ones are the most painful and yet the most productive and are still holding their effect.

All in all, student movements are extremely important. It seems sometimes that even in democratic world politicians are too powerful. They are a small group of people representing the whole country and there are occasions when their own interests are the priority.

This is what all protests and activism are there for. Show everyone that people have a voice and it must be stronger than the political one. Students, as a pretty large layer, are the most active. They are more passionate because they do understand that all changes will influence them directly.

So, whenever they do not agree – they go to the streets and show what they actually want. It is impossible to be considerate regarding everyone’s feelings but it is important for the government to represent the majority and student activism is exactly what helps with that.

Additionals:

Sumona

Sumona is the publisher for RSLOnline. Besides her professional commitments, she is also used to spending time sharing sentient blogs regarding topics like Technology, Business, fashion, fitness, and more. Follow more of her contributions in SmartBusinessDaily and FollowtheFashion

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