--- title: Tavis Smiley: Protests and Riots Could Become the New Normal description: It’s a dignity thing — democracy is threatened by racism and poverty canonical: https://time.com/3841467/tavis-smiley-racism-poverty-new-america/ author: Tavis Smiley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-30T10:09:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:17.075Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Tavis Smiley: Protests and Riots Could Become the New Normal og:description: It’s a dignity thing — democracy is threatened by racism and poverty og:url: https://time.com/3841467/tavis-smiley-racism-poverty-new-america/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17d191ccd44698bc/6987ecfce53abaa5ca4db867/freddie-gray-baltimore-protest-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: A demonstrator confronts law enforcement officers near Baltimore Police Department Western District in Baltimore on April 25, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tavis Smiley: Protests and Riots Could Become the New Normal twitter:description: It’s a dignity thing — democracy is threatened by racism and poverty twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17d191ccd44698bc/6987ecfce53abaa5ca4db867/freddie-gray-baltimore-protest-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tavis Smiley: Protests and Riots Could Become the New Normal > Sponsored content. 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Sait Serkan Gurbuz—Reuters  by [Tavis Smiley](https://time.com/author/tavis-smiley/)  ## Tavis Smiley Apr 30, 2015 10:09 AM UTC The two seminal pieces of Legislation in the 20th century happened just before the tumult of 1968–the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965\. Fifty years later, we ought to be in a season of celebration. Instead, we find ourselves in an American catastrophe. Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. Freddie Gray. On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. gave the most controversial speech of his life, “Beyond Vietnam.” A year later to the day, almost to the hour, he was assassinated. In that speech he had pointed out a triple threat facing America: racism, poverty and militarism. In 2015, what are the issues still threatening our democracy? Racism. Poverty. Militarism. King’s views about how to redeem the soul of America had fallen on deaf ears. The younger generation wanted something more tangible than nonviolence. When Magnificent Montague, one of the most well-known black radio hosts in Los Angeles, used the phrase Burn, baby, burn, that resonated. 1968 was also the year of the Mexico City Olympics, when Tommie Smith and John Carlos held up their fists with the black gloves. The young people were chanting, “Black power!” Black leaders thought they could contain the rage, helplessness and hopelessness. But they could not stop what was happening on the streets in Newark, N.J., in Detroit. And Barack Obama is not any more able to stop it in 2015 than King was in 1968\. The suffering of everyday people gets rendered invisible if they don’t find a way to express it. Are these riots, or is it an uprising? Semantics. Detroit then was a chocolate city. Baltimore now is a chocolate city. But Detroit had no black power structure. Baltimore today has a black mayor, a black police chief and a black President of the United States. And they are all essentially powerless to stop it. These riots aren’t a black or white thing–they’re a humanity thing, a dignity thing. When the mayor and the police chief and the President cannot explain to fellow black citizens why Freddie Gray is dead, somebody’s got to be held accountable. Today, you don’t have the Klan, and you don’t have Emmett Tills or Medgar Everses, but it’s more insidious in that predatory policing is happening under the rule of law. Sadly, when these incidents happen, we have a sort of fake and fleeting national conversation about police misconduct and race relations. And then we return to business as usual. Until it happens again. We must find the courage to address what kind of nation we want to be. If we don’t have the courage to do that, then I shudder to think what happens to America in the coming months and years. Protests and riots–uprisings–could become the new normal. Welcome to the new America. _Smiley is host and managing editor of_ Tavis Smiley _on PBS and author of_ [My Journey With Maya](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1478958294/?tag=timecom-20) ### Baltimore Protests, Then and Now  A man is carried away by police during riots in Baltimore, 1968. Afro American Newspaper/Gado/Getty Images  Baltimore Police officers arrest a man following the funeral of Freddie Gray near Mowdamin Mall in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  Students demonstrate during a Black Power event at Morgan State University in Baltimore on April 6, 1968. Afro American Newspaper/Gado/Getty Images  Protestors participate in a vigil for Freddie Gray down the street from the Baltimore Police Department's Western District police station in Baltimore on April 21, 2015. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  National Guardsmen seal off a business-residential section of Baltimore and prepare to use tear gas against looters on April 8, 1968. Baltimore News-American/AP  Baltimore Police form a perimeter around a CVS pharmacy that was looted and burned in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  Smoke billows from a liquor store which was looted during the third day of violence, which saw over 400 fires, in Baltimore on April 8, 1968. Baltimore News-American/AP  Fire fighters respond to a fire at a CVS pharmacy in Baltimore on April 27, 2015. Sait Serkan Gurbuz—Reuters  Baltimore City police pin down a curfew breaker in Baltimore on April 9, 1968. AP  Law enforcement officers detain a demonstrator on Gilmore Avenue near Baltimore Police Department Western District during a protest against the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on April 25, 2015. 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