Have recent protests been effective?

In a week full of protests around our region — over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the election of Donald Trump and the anniversary of the death of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis — MPR News host Kerri Miller along with a few guests examined the importance of protests in American politics.

Are today's protest strategies — stopping construction or closing streets and highways — an effective way to bring about significant change?

Guests

Megan Ming Francis, an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Washington and author of, "Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State."

Aimee Allison, a senior vice president of PowerPac+, and co-director of the Democracy in Color campaign.

Wesley Lowery, a reporter with the Washington Post and author of, "They Can't Kill Us All."

Below are key points from the conversation, to hear the entire segment, select the audio link above.

On how protests have changed, Megan Ming Francis

"I think people pursue protests in part because political institutions do not respond to their interests."

"In the first quarter of the 19th century ... African Americans took to the streets in the South and in the North in part because they felt that political institutions abandoned them. And there was this need and a belief that citizens on the ground could move institutions and they could react, that institutions could respond to the mobilization."

"To what's different from how we think about traditional civil rights and African American protests is ... it seems to be different that more people from different walks of life are involved. It's not necessarily based on the church and religious organizations, in terms of organizing. And it's not necessarily male-lead and I think that is really, really exciting. "

On why people protest, Aimee Allison

"Protests aren't counter culture anymore. They are an essential part of the democratic process."

"The young people (protesting President-elect Donald Trump) who are under eighteen who walked out of high schools and middle schools and elementary schools from East Los Angeles do not have other political expression. They can't vote. Walking out is their way of saying they do not accept the messages from the President-elect. They don't think it was a democratic process, and they're expressing what they can. They are doing what they can."

"When you have 100,000 people including students in Los Angeles (protesting) it's an indication ... that there are a lot of other activities that go along with the protests in the street. For people who say that doesn't do anything, we have to understand that because protests are part of how democracy works in our country now, there are people who are planning media, political and policy strategies and other kinds of fights that aren't visible in the street ... It's the tip of the spear."

On why the perception of protesters is often wrong, Wesley Lowery

"Those of us who are particularly inclined to be a part of protests, people in the media who by our jobs would never go marching or who otherwise have not been engaged politically, we bring with ourselves a very reflective skepticism, like why would you shut down my freeway? That isn't accomplishing anything. Why don't you people go vote?"

"That often misses the point of these demonstrations. People who take to the streets, whether that be after a police shooting, or even right now, after the election of Donald Trump we're seeing protests in dozens of cities. Many of them are doing that because they feel as if engaging in the political process otherwise has not worked for them. "