Ferguson protesters broke with church-led civil rights performance to challenge policing.

Evidence

These young people engaged in acts of civil disobedience to disrupt the traditional theater of America’s racial politics. No charismatic preacher stood at the front of the march. No long sermons. Just a concerted effort to force those in power to hold Darren Wilson accountable for the senseless death of Michael Brown. That specific demand came with a broader claim about how we police black communities in this country and how black people are criminalized (no matter what they are doing). In short, these young people challenged our racial habits. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 593

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows ‘racial habits’ operating as criminalization of black people regardless of conduct, contrasted with conventional preacher-led civil rights theater.
• XREF: connects to: Ferguson protest organizers trained clergy in detailed civil-disobedience protocols — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 568; Confronting heavily armed police required Ferguson protesters to abandon fear — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 580