Many, many activist groups and people try to compare themselves to the now-legendary activists of the (1955-1980) Civil Rights Movement. As someone who’s read a couple of CRM books (and who played a minor role in writing one), I thought this “Democracy Now!” segment served as a tutorial for those who want to legitimately make that claim in the 21st century.

A young man by the name of Tim DeChristopher walked past the “symbolic” protests and actually took direct action that:

a) disrupted, stalled or thwarted the status quo, and

b) met his very specific goal

He wasn’t engaged in the symbolic pouring of blood (or red paint) on a bomb or bomber. He wasn’t trying to “draw attention to the issue.” He wasn’t trying to “generate discussion.” He had a specific activist goal, did his research, found a way to act (courageously) and then acted, accepting some real consequences.

Now THAT’s the CRM I read about.  🙂