Does Protesting Work?

Some of the discourse surrounding the LA protests reminds me of similar things I heard back in 2014, too. On the one hand, you have centrists and liberal pundits who are lecturing protesters about needing to remain nonviolent — which is quite easy to suggest from a work-from-home station largely insulated from the raids that working class Angelinos are enduring. On the other hand, there are the cynics — a group that, despite my best efforts, I sometimes find myself identifying with — and they are asking if protesting makes any difference at all