The 2020 protests broke the historical cycle of Black rebellion followed by white reprisal

Evidence

What does come as a surprise, a welcome one, is that in 2020, the predictable cycle—white fear and violence followed by uprisings and rebellions that lead to white reprisals, retaliation, and strengthening of systems of control—didn’t play out exactly as usual. Instead, the largest racial-justice protests in history—including people of all colors and ages and from all walks of life—occurred during the Trump presidency, after a major Black rebellion, and in the midst of a global pandemic. Protesters carried aloft signs saying, BLACK LIVES MATTER and DEFUND THE POLICE, reflecting the understanding that so long as we continue to invest in the types of punitive systems of organized violence that have oppressed and controlled Black people for centuries—rather than in the programs, policies, and forms of structural change that Black communities need to thrive—we will never achieve a truly inclusive, egalitarian democracy that honors the dignity and value of Black lives. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 409

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s framing of this book as a case study in how origin stories shape what counts as deviation vs design — the 2020 break in the cycle is a candidate for a genuine deviation.