Seizing the Stage Social Performances from Mao Zedong to Martin Luther King Jr., and Today Jeffrey C. Alexander

Social protest should not be conceptualized instrumentally, as a process that depends only upon social networks and material resources. Such factors provide the boundary conditions for sym- bolic action, but they determine neither its content nor its outcomes. In order to seize power, one must first seize the social stage (see Eyerman 2006). Seizing the stage, producing social dramas, and projecting them successfully to audiences — these are difficult and contingent cultural accomplishments, even for those who possess top- down, authoritarian control. For great power to be perceived as legitimate, equally great performances need be sustained. As producers and directors, dictators try to create ideologically saturated public performances. Massive show trials, such as those Stalin produced in the 1930s, display orchestrated confessions, which are reported by journalists and distributed in recordings and films. Tightly choreographed, ritual-like, mythopoeic, leader-affirming convocations are aesthetically reconstructed as electrifying and projected by filmmakers to millions of potential audience members beyond the immediate event. The Nazis’ 1934 Nuremberg rally, for exam-

TDR: The Drama Review 61:1 (T233) Spring 2017. ©2017 14 Jeffrey C. Alexander

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Seizing the Stage 15 US News & & News US Magazine Collection) Magazine Report World Figure 2. Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool, during the 1963 1963 the during Pool, Reflecting the surrounding Crowds 2. Figure courtesyLeffler; K. of Warren by (Photo DC. Washington, on March Division, Photographs and Prints Congress of Library performative

will be Social Life will be Drama of and his The and M. Luengo) 2016, with E. Breese (Cambridge

To the degree that political the degree that To It narrated was a decades-long social drama. American civil rights movement African The Figure 1. (facing page) Black protesters kneeling before city hall, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. (Glasshouse (Glasshouse 1963. Alabama, Birmingham, hall, city before kneeling protesters Black page) (facing 1. Figure Photo) Stock Alamy / Images regimes, authoritarian or dem- authoritarian regimes, to be more allow power ocratic, that same to easily challenged, stage degree seizing the social In becomes still more difficult. situa- more pluralistic social required for the elements tions, a pow- a social protest to project con- erful performance that become nects with audiences, separated from one another re- To (see Alexander 2004). protest fuse these elements, performances must be artfully from assembled from scratch, Supplication the bottom up. authentic and and inspiration, heartfelt dramas of sacrifice, The medi- become central. ation of extra-­ conditions — interpretive, and demographic material, resources — becomes significant as well. acute and and punctuated this story with episodes of and visualized chronic social suffering, by many to be the great- is now considered If Martin Luther King Jr. wrenching social tension. it is not only because he was a political American of the 20th century (see Branch 1988), est public stage King seized the extraordinary dramatist. leader and moral visionary; he was also an American African He coached his American history. more effectively than any figure in modern their protests so provocatively that the followers in nonviolent tactics and choreographed King used in which violent and repressive responses, movement’s actions consistently generated across King’s dramas of sacrifice and redemption were splashed turn to shape public resistance. Northern whites identified with the America’s television screens and headlined in newspapers. Such pow- catharsis when the black masses triumphed. and experienced movement’s sacrifice, and iterations of its nonviolent dramatizations erful public dramaturgy inverted state power, against anti-civil violence have continued through to the present day. ple, with its tens of thousands of its tens of thousands with ple, in attendance, Nazi worshippers and amped was reconstructed Riefenstahl in her up by Leni (1935). Will of the Triumph published by Polity Press in June 2017. [email protected] in June Press published by Polity Jeffrey C. Alexander is a social theorist who writes in the areas of politics and culture. His most recent recent His most of politics and culture. Alexander is a social theorist who writes in the areas C. Jeffrey Digital Culture, Professional Democratic Codes, Reconsidered: Journalism of Crisis book is The Future Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

16 Jeffrey C. Alexander African American protestagainstpoliceviolencein American citiestoday. communist revolution, themid-20th-century American civilrightsmovement, andthemostly tice (Woods 2016). SocialperformancetheorycanilluminatetheartofprotestduringChina’s Truth andReconciliationprocess(Goodman2016)tonativepeople’sdemandsfor social jus- and Bacon’sRebellion(Reed2013)theIraq War (Alexander2011a);fromSouth Africa’s Mast 2012; Alexander andJaworsky2014)the Arab Spring(Alexander2011b)toterrorism explore awidevarietyofempiricalsituations, frompresidentialcampaigns(Alexander2010; macrosociological modelofsocialperformance, “cultural pragmatics” hasbeenemployedto studies asinitiatedbyRichardSchechner([2002]2013). Inadditiontoconceptualizingthis theory of Victor Turner (Edles1998;SmithandHowe2015), andcontemporaryperformance 2005), intheaestheticturnofCliffordGeertz(Alexander, Smith, andNorton2011), thedrama Performance theoryhasrootsinthelaterworkofÉmileDurkheim(AlexanderandSmith Max Weber initiatedand Talcott Parsonscontinued(see Weber [1922]1978;Parsons 1937). understanding ofactiondevelopedbyKarlMarxaswelltheaction-theoreticalapproachthat empirical applicationsofsocialperformancetheory. This approachchallengestheeconomic Since theearly2000s, culturalsociologistshavebeendevelopingtheoreticalunderstandingsand A NoteonSocialPerformance Theory challenges that must bemetinrealtime, thecomplexprocessofacting outideasandgettingan event merelyasan “express embodimentofastructureideas” (xv)ignoresthe performative sis presentstheChineserevolution asan “exegetical creation.” Butseeingsuchanextraordinary account ofrevolutionaryprocess doesn’tgonearlyfarenough. Their politicaldiscourse analy- center ofwhichhebecomesateacher” (298). republic” (xi). With thisvision, Mao “was abletorefractandgenerateafieldofforce, attheepi- the terriblecircumstancesandconditionsoflifeprevailingin China” thevisionofa “utopic ­stories, texts, andlogicalprescriptions” from Chineseand Western traditions, pulling “out of nity” (1994:75). The storyteller-in-chief oftheChineserevolution, MaoZedong, culled “myths, with others[...sothat]thepropertyofstorybecomes property ofthediscoursecommu- burden ofstorytellingfromtheshouldersindividualby enablingthatpersontoshareit ceptualize therevolutionaryorganizerasastoryteller, “an agentwithaspecialabilitytoliftthe ist, ratiocinativeconceptionofideologytowardaGeertzian, thicklysemioticone, theycon- line ofculturalMarxistthinkingintoapoststructuralistframe. Movingawayfromareduction- olution, In theirradicalreinterpretationofMaoiststrategyinthedecades precedingtheChineserev- The Textual Background andItsLimits of thelawscapitalbutbecausedramaturgicalpowersBolshevikparty. never havepredictedit. GramsciknewthattherevolutioninRussiahadsucceedednotbecause revolutionary newspaperheedited, ironicallysuggestingthatMarx’sscientifictheorycould created adouble-entendrebannerheadline, “Revolution againstCapital,” inAvanti, theItalian prince,” takinghiscuefromMachiavelli. In1917, whenLenin’srevolutionsucceeded, Gramsci service ofsocialistideas. Antonio Gramsci(1959)dubbedtheCommunistParty “modern lutionary mobilization, organizingBolshevismasanactive, pragmatic, top-downpartyinthe Attacking thefallacyofeconomism, Lenin([1902]1966)putideologyatthecenterofrevo- depicting workersasprotoscientistsfollowingrational, instrumentalplans. Leninknewbetter. ­dramaturgical engines. LetMarxpretendtherevolutionrespondsmerelytoobjectiveinterest, rial interest. It’saverydifferentstoryinsiderevolutionarymovements, however. They are radical theoristsconceptualizethisnecessityasdeterminedbytheunstoppableforceofmate- Revolutionary socialmovementstelltheworldthattheireventualtriumphisinevitable, and Revolutionary Protestin20th-CenturyChina Apter andSaichareforcefullyantimaterialist andanti–“rationalactor,” buttheirculturalizing Revolutionary Discourse inMao’sRepublic, David Apter and Tony Saichtransformedthis Seizing the Stage 17 the long hair, the long the long hair, — Figure 3. Chairman Mao going to Anyuan, 1968. Artist: Lin Lin Artist: 1968. Anyuan, Chairmanto 3. going Mao Figure this times, million 900 estimated an Reproduced Chunhua. 1920s the in man young a as Anyuan visiting Mao of depiction Image (Heritage Revolution. Cultural the of icon an become to was Photo) Stock Alamy / Ltd Partnership - all — all this — creative, unscripted gestures and movements, props and staging, official and dissent- props and staging, unscripted gestures and movements, creative,

—

fingers, the baggy clothes, the earthy expressions, the fact that he scratches himself with the fact that he scratches expressions, the earthy the baggy clothes, fingers, was very careful to arrange himself to project [Mao] the same fingers that hold the brush. (1994:301) just the image he wanted. Apter and Saich offer a tantalizing glimpse into the black box of dramaturgy when they situ- Apter and Saich offer a tantalizing glimpse [Mao] makes himself part of the process. Narrating the stories and writing the texts, becomes significant Everything associated with his person also In the end, however, Yan’an is portrayed simply as “a semiotic space” and Mao as a leader “in and Mao as a leader “a semiotic space” is portrayed simply as Yan’an however, In the end, “inte- an sole possession of an inversionary discourse capable of generating public support,” a diverse commu- “capable [of] unifying that proved and icon” symbols, rior system of codes, But was discourse itself sufficient to unify a fragmented and demoralized community? (69). nity” What allowed the ideological revivification Yan’an? What actually transpired in the caves of Apter and metonymies Mao creates a code,” “Using metaphors process to unfold successfully? dwelling and above dress, acts, “that enables the narrative to endow gestures, and Saich argue, But much more must also have been (99). all language and literacy with the power of signifiers” involved ing interpretations, unresponsive and silent audiences but also cries of delight. audiences but also cries of delight. unresponsive and silent ing interpretations, need attention. the Chinese communist movement went where Yan’an, ate Mao’s storytelling inside the caves of escape the ruling Guomindang party in 1937–38: to “Long March” into hiding after their remains to be conceived. Clearly, Clearly, remains to be conceived. “com- Mao had the ability of municating to listeners a feel- ing of privileged access to the interpretive wisdom of a mind but the com- (85), in motion” the feel- municating process, even ing of privileged access, the attribution of wisdom formatives” (75) keeps us in the (75) keeps formatives” Austin’s (1962) inside J.L. dark, box, narrowly linguistic black is achieved where performativity The drama- by speaking itself. sets the turgical process that process that the directing stage, the organizes a mise-en-scène, or the skillful creativity of actors the organizational lack thereof, and symbolic challenge of creat- ing the appearance of a seamless actors, fusion between audience, and animating script audience to believe them. “For “For believe them. audience to shared with others,” stories to be Saich acknowledge, Apter and want to listen” “people must conceptualizing just but (75), folks to want to listen how to get suggest simply To is the thing. per “words themselves became Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

18 Jeffrey C. Alexander

senger as on the substance and syntax of the message itself” (5). senger asonthesubstanceandsyntaxofmessageitself” Perry insiststhatitrequires “active effort,” thatit “hinges asmuchupontheskillsofmes- resonated withtheirtargetaudience” (4). Conceptualizingthisprocessas “cultural positioning,” the revolutionariesmanagedtointroducesuchradicallynewmessagesandmethodsinwaysthat texts” (2012:5). What suchanapproachleaves “unanswered,” sheargues, “is thequestionofhow speeches, films, festivals, andothercommunicativematerialsaretreated[...]asdisembodied breaking” study(Ho2015), “it isoftenconductedasdiscourseanalysisinwhichwritings, ences hasbeenunderwayforoverageneration,” ElizabethPerrywritesinAnyuan,her “path-­ revolution abletobeginmakethingsright. “Although the ‘cultural turn’inthesocialsci- alizing thespacebetweensignifierandsignified, werescholarlyinvestigationsintotheChinese Only afterperformancestudiesbegantoopenuptheblackboxofdiscoursetheory, conceptu- and Action in Theory Performance texture ofsocialperformance;theydonotexplainthem. n.31) toidentifyactsofpersuasiveideologicalspeech, buttheseconceptsfinessethedetailed Apter andSaichmakereferencetosuchtermsas “simulacrum” and “spectacle” (130–31;388 addresser andaddressee” (224). Bindingspeakerandaudiencesistheambitionofperformances. text, interpretingtheirexperiences, andexpressingthemselvesinpublicutterancesthatbound made byaninspiredaudience. Performanceismorethanamatterof “people poringoverthe ceived” (xv). Claimsofauthenticity, however, mustbedramaticallyredeemed. and thesystemof[Maoist]ideaswerealwaysthere, anenduringauthenticitywaitingtobeper be felicitous. Apter andSaichnote “the revolutionaries’claimthatboththe[Marxist]dialectic is what’sempiricallyandheuristicallyatstake. Fortextstobeinternalizedperformancemust and labileperformancecomestoberegarded asanabsorptive, repetitive, andsolidarizing­ enough tosuggest “a personhasabsorbedandinternalizedtheritual” (182). Howacontingent need toknowishowthefusionbetweenspeakerandaudienceactuallyaccomplished. Itisnot a usefulindicatorofcultural-pragmaticsuccess, butwhatexactlydoesitmeasure? What we coal miners.” Incontrastwithhisoff-keyclothing, thespokenlanguage ofthecharacterMao tion betweenmentalandmanuallabor” ratherthansomebody “anxious tointeractwithlowly projected the “sight ofaprivilegedintellectual,” acharacterembodying “the Confuciansepara- robe wasoutofkilterwithhisavowedlyrevolutionaryscript. The longblueMandaringown Perry recounts, it “left adeepimpressionupontheworkers” (2012:48–51). Still, Mao’sward- made ofoiledpaperanddressedinalongblueMandaringownthesortwornbyteachers,” ited Anyuan shortlyaftertheParty’sfounding. When hearrived “carrying aHunanumbrella of theChineseCommunistParty’s(CCP)firstgreatorganizingsuccess. MaoZedongvis- 1. Authenticity isnotsomethingalreadythere, waitingtobeperceived;itisanattribution That “an individualhasbecomeassimilatedintoadiscursivecommunity” (182)iscertainly those of the authors’ cited. analysis, in other words, is my own interpretation of the framework that has informed these recent studies, not (Sun 2013:5). The theoretical movement I am here oriented cultural to tracingperformatively from poststructural and phenomenology cal dimensions in CCP policy” (Chen 1986:100) and in terms of “the traditions of both classical psychoanalysis approacha performative In the same manner, both Yung-fa Chen and Feiyu Sun cal concept of “emotion work” that in was its equally framing.performative to describe a historical intervention of Chinese culture, and in an earlier, also widely noted effort, (2002) deployedPerry the acultural sociologi- tioning,” to instantiate efforts ideologyas insideindicating moreChinese revolutionary Marxist traditional forms arguments from turn. Inthe performative Despite these clear signals, neither Perry nor the other scholars whose work I employ in this section draw their In theearly1920s, thesouthcentralChineseminingtownof Anyuan providedthescene — Sigmund Freud, Herbert Marcuse, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and Paul Ricoeur” — describe their own contributions as “show[ing] of the psychologi the importance - Anyuan, Perry presents her principal theoretical term, “cultural posi- — whose writings I employ below elaborate to further 1

ritual - Seizing the Stage 19 station, station, language of the the of ­language expectation, expectation, to the loud accompaniment — most of whom shared his Hunan shared his Hunan most of whom

2 — gamely pranced from the coal mine to the railway ­ gamely pranced from the coal mine to the “the shiny metal badge that (acquired in France) he sported “the shiny metal badge — — - ward this recalling been have may , he Art and Literature on Forum Yenan the at Talks

In November 1921, after completing this scouting mission, Mao sent his young communist after completing this scouting mission, In November 1921, Li did more, however, than just dress the part. He contrived to script his organizing efforts than just dress the part. however, Li did more, Li decided that the night school should stir up greater interest in the workers’ club, To Lantern Festival [...,] an occasion when the host a lion dance at the time of the annual and who displayed their skills arts masters, local elite sponsored exhibitions by martial One of performing spirited lion dances. thereby attracted new disciplines in the course You a highly adept performer by the name of of Li’s new recruits to the workers’ club, Red Gang was a low-level chieftain in the You was persuaded to take the lead. Congnai, lion’s He dutifully donned a resplendent whose martial arts skills were second to none. and for this occasion by local artisans, tailor-made costume, of cymbals and firecrackers stopping along the way at the general headquarters of the company, the chamber of com- of the company, stopping along the way at the general headquarters the Hunan and Hubei native-place associations, James Episcopal Church, St. merce, the performance As intended, his respects. and the homes of the gang chieftains to pay to which followed the sprightly dancer back attracted a huge and appreciative crowd, Contrary to popular ­ his disciples. the workers’ club to learn how to enlist as Two decades later, in Mao’s Mao’s in later, decades Two - revolution whole art the and into well fit literature that “ensure to order in that, insisted when he shift robe the “Since 1942:3). (Mao audience” of problem “the to responsive artistsCCP more be to needed arymachine,” suggested, Mao cadres,” their of and soldiers and artpeasants and workers, of consists literature our for audience cul- between disconnect the Addressing (3). well” them knowing and them understanding of arises problem “the thoughts and feelings of our writers and artists should be fused with asserted that “the tural elites and masses, Mao the learn conscientiously should they fusion, this achieve “to that advising masses,” the of those masses” (4; emphasis added). But “if you want the masses to understand you,” Mao warned, you must “undergo a a “undergo must you warned, Mao you,” understand to masses the want you “if But added). emphasis (4; masses” began I changed. feelings own my how of experience the mention might I “Here (4). tempering” of process long dirty. were peasants and workers [and] people clean only the were intellectuals that felt [and] student a as life I after [...W]earingBut [...] worker a to belonging clothes on put not would I intellectuals[,] other of clothes the (4). changed” fundamentally [I] workers with revolutionarya lived became and 2. protégé Li Lisan to Anyuan to begin the hard work of actually organizing a local labor move- Anyuan to begin the hard work of actually protégé Li Lisan to clothing of revolutionary asceti- had draped his character in the modest Whereas Mao ment. around the grimy coal mining town “sashayed ostentatiously He differently. Li saw things cism, in a fash- coat and tie, Western either in a long Mandarin gown or in stylish dressed Anyuan, of proved as “flamboyant manner” Li’s Yet, (Perry 2012:61). attention” ion designed to attract detail One costuming demeanor. as Mao’s more restrained workers” “captivating to ordinary noted of Li’s was particularly on his chest.” The badge “generated persistent rumors of Li Lisan’s invulnerability to swords “generated persistent rumors of Li Lisan’s The badge on his chest.” (61). “did nothing to dispel them” adding the communist organizer tells us, Perry and bullets,” Li’s possibly foreign- connecting had a performative function, The material accouterment “a cue The shiny badge seemed to take folktale. seeming ideology to a widely beloved Chinese authority rested upon their reputation for supernat- from Elder Brother dragon heads whose “Li Lisan actively encouraged the belief this prop, By deploying Perry explains. ural powers,” his travels ‘five foreign countries’ bestowed during that he enjoyed the magical protection of abroad” (61). ritual. inside the dramatic forms of traditional Hunan performed was a much better fit. “Thanks to his rural upbringing and colloquial dialect,” Perry colloquial dialect,” rural upbringing and “Thanks to his was a much better fit. performed workers easily with the “was able to converse Mao records, origins.” Regarding the wardrobe malfunction, Mao proved a quick study. After only a week of After only a week a quick study. Mao proved the wardrobe malfunction, Regarding origins.” scene: into the local to fit more seamlessly his character’s outfit he had restructured immersion, more which were favor of a pair of trousers, his scholar’s gown in he had shed end, “By week’s (2012:48–51). mining pits” forays down into the suitable for Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

20 Jeffrey C. Alexander workers’ club[...]ledustonearby villagestoperform” (96). trial citiesas Anyuan tothecountryside. As oneworkerrecalled, everySunday “the headofthe lecture formatsbecamewidely deployed asCCPorganizingeffortsspreadfromsuchindus- Local operahadlongbeenpopular amongChinesevillagers, andthetheatrecostume- the workers’clubauditoriumto enthusiasticaudiencesnumberingathousandormore” (96). ‘Our Victory,’” Perry writes, “the costumelectureswerepresentedineveningperformances ‘The Roadto Awakening,’ ‘The EvilsofProstitutionandGambling,’ ‘The PatrioticBandit,’ and tic entertainmentthatwaspartdramaandlecture” (96). “With moralistictitlessuchas the writingandstagingof31 “costume lectures,” describedbyPerryas “a hybridformofdidac- tainment asa10-year-old child, recalledthevividatmosphereofliveperformances. very good” isconfirmedbythememoriesofanelderlyworkerwho, havingwitnessedtheenter claimthat “the propagandaeffects”The departmentchief’s ofsuchperformativeefforts “were its performativeambition. the headofCCP’sentertainmentdepartmentin Anyuan duringthoseearlyyearsexplained toward inventinglivelierformsofculturalcommunication” (Perry2012:95). Sixdecadeslater, a largepercentageoftheunskilledlaborforceatcoalmine.” Organizerswere “directed capture theworkers’attention, especiallywhenitcametotheyoungerworkers, whocomprised realized that “ideologically orthodoxarticlesandlectures[...]werenotalwaysthebestwayto the workers’club. 2012:60). LiLisan’simaginativerecruitmentdriveresultedinalargeinfluxofnewmembersto more thanahundredyearsoldandhisnameis Teacher Ma[Marx], abeardedgrandpa” (Perry founder ofourschoollivesfar, faraway. To findhimonemustcrossthesevenseas. He’snow Liling [LiLisan’snativecounty, justacrosstheprovincialborderinHunan], buttheancestral lion dancer You Congnaiputittothethrongsofwould-bedisciples, “Our teacher’shomeisin tional pedagogy In additiontosuchexplicitlytheatricalperformances, the Anyuan workers’cluborganized against thecapitalistsinmine. (95–96) of struggle[and]hope[d]thatonedaywetoowouldbeableto takeupgunsandstruggle plot ofthisdramadeeplymovedusall. Iadmiredtheworking classforitsfearlessspirit how theRussianworkingclasshadtakenuparmstostruggle against thecapitalists. The italists. ItalsoshowedhowtheBeardedMarxhadengaged inrevolutionaryactivity, and inside theclubaboutterribletreatmentofworkersunderleathershipscap- laboring lifeoftheworkersinminepits. Irememberonenightwatchinganewplay the mainhallofclubwaspacked. Gaslampswerelit. Manyoftheplaysreflected ple toproduceandperform “civilized plays” [wen mingxil The entertainmentdepartment[ofthe Anyuan workers’club]organizedtheyoungpeo- workers butalsopeasantsfromthesurroundingareas. (inPerry2012:95) imperialism, anddefeatingwarlordism. [...] These playsdrewlargeaudiences, notonly [...] The contentincludedopposingtheexploitationofworkersbycapitalists, overcoming staged playsthere. Ourplayshadnosetscriptsbutwereself-writtenandself-performed. workers’ clubhadjustbeenopened, andeveryweekweheldeveninggatherings formances, culturalstudies, andvariousrecreationalactivities[...] The renovated Anyuan We oftenorganizedyoungerworkersintheworkers’clubthroughsinging, dramaticper While thenowwidelysubscribed Anyuan workers’clubsponsoredcourses, LiLisanquickly It soonbecameclearthatthecommunistshadsomethingaltogetherdifferentfromtradi- interested instudying, comewithus. (Perry2012:59–60) ger studymartialarts. Instead, weshouldallstudydiligentlyatthenightschool. Anyone however, themartialartsmasterannouncedtoassembledaudienceweshouldnolon- — whether oftheConfucianliterary(wen ) variety.) orthemartialarts(wu As ]. Whenever thesewerestaged, - - Seizing the Stage 21 - - According to official documents, suku According to official documents, The strategy began with the Fang Pin Wen Ku method — which translates as Wen The strategy began with the Fang Pin 3

In order to avoid the perceived and real existential danger of being classified as reaction- In order to avoid the perceived and real existential suffer the villagers had to present the work team with a personal narrative of their aries, - Suku is the practice of confessing individual suffering in a political context and in a col or to the term Suku means to tell of one’s suffering, In Chinese, lective public forum. or to confess, to pour out, to speak, Su means to tell, in public. pour out one’s bitterness, (Sun 2013:2) and suffering. pain, while the term Ku means bitterness, ing as poor or hired peasants. If this narrative depiction of their personal suffering and If this narrative depiction of their personal suffering ing as poor or hired peasants. the mandatory skepticism of the work oppression was convincing enough to overcome (36) classification. “good peasant” they would be rewarded with the team and cadres, was dramaturgical; it aimed to however, Ku, Wen The deeper ambition of Fang Pin Sun’s ability to document the CCP’s culturally pragmatic strategy depends on access to unpublished, intrapartyunpublished, to access on depends strategy pragmatic culturally CCP’s the document to ability Sun’s performativeabout open efforts the documents rah-rah the than obstacles and more much are which documents, (1986:xix). explicitly documents external and internal the contrasts Chen consumption. public for issued CCP sources. unpublished previously on primarily relies also Perry Whenever we arrived someplace, the band members would beat drums and play trumpets would beat drums the band members we arrived someplace, Whenever which there would a program after Then we would perform to attract a crowd. and flutes (96–97) welcomed by the peasants. [that] was warmly be a lecture weapon of propa- no more powerful “there was argued, journalist Edgar Snow American it was this Confession, in his 2013 Social Suffering and Political As Feiyu Sun demonstrates 3. “to visit poor families, to inquire of their sufferings” (Sun 2013:35ff). CCP work teams entered CCP work (Sun 2013:35ff). to inquire of their sufferings” “to visit poor families, They visited poor fami- in hand. “experience technique” peasant villages with what Sun calls the a matter of uncon- This was not purely asking probing questions about their personal lives. lies, violence and the threat of physical was involved, strained call and response; symbolic violence never lay far behind. referred to sharing “an oral personal history about being persecuted by class enemies [...] for “an oral personal history about being persecuted by class enemies referred to sharing listeners [and] reaffirming one’s own class stand- the purpose of inspiring class hatred in the decidedly himself provides a more elaborate, Sun (Chen 1952:331; in Sun 2013:2). ing” dramaturgical definition. Ostensibly, such visits were about ideology, pedagogical exercises aimed at restructuring cog- such visits were about ideology, Ostensibly, peasants how to “to teach the Sun writes, dialogue,” “It was the professed aim of this nition. and identity in a ready-made narrative language reflect upon and interpret their circumstances (37). which the political ideology of the CCP provided” or suku. “speaking bitterness,” induce the experience of ganda in the Communist movement than the Reds’ dramatic troupes” (Snow [1938] 2007:123– (Snow dramatic troupes” than the Reds’ Communist movement ganda in the it was the Red occupied new areas, “when the Reds Snow observed that 24; in Perry 2012:113). ideas of the Red program, gave them rudimentary the fears of the people, Theater that calmed (Snow win the people’s confidence” to quantities of revolutionary thoughts, and dispensed great for the Chinese revolution, A self-proclaimed cheerleader 2012:113). [1938] 2007:124; in Perry Making use success. gives the misleading impression of easy performative Snow in his account that the Chinese Chen argues to the contrary Yung-fa the historian of internal party documents, “a tol- teaching gave peasants Centuries of Confucian audience to crack. peasantry was a tough devotion to harmony and injustice that amounted to unquestioning erance for poverty and would have to be convinced to The peasants were conservative; they (1986:173). passivity” become revolutionaries. “speaking bitter withholding quality of peasant-audiences that triggered the CCP’s reluctant, ness” campaign. ness”

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

22 Jeffrey C. Alexander dramatic effect. CCP organizersaboutwritingthescript, settingthestage, preparingtheaudience, andgaining 1947, entitledSukuandRevenge: SukuEducation’sExperienceandMethod, and exploiters” (2013:56). A handbookdistributedbythe CCP’sPeople’sLiberation Army in story ofmiseryandhardshiptofeelhatredoutragetoward thespeaker’spersecutors explains, “to makethemempathizewiththeSukuspeaker’sfeelings “An exemplaryspeakerduringaSukumeetingwouldfirsttouchthelistenersemotionally,” Sun ical actorsinhand, massmeetingswereorganizedtolet “suffering drawoutsuffering” (55). ing andconfession-inducingstorytellingtechniques. With thiswell-rehearsedcastofpolit- whom theyconsidered “exemplary narrators,” proceeding totraintheminemotionallyarous- ling social-cum-culturalinventions. Inthecourseofvillage visits, partycadreslocatedpeople umentarian way. As Hintondescribesit: ers to CCPeffortsferretingoutpropertyownerswhohadcollaboratedwithJapaneseoccupi- how Hintonimplicitlyemploysaperformativeapproachtofansheninthechapterdevoted against landlords, andpartycadres’determinedeffortstoretrainthem. Itisinstructivetosee Bow villagein1948, hedocumentsthefearfulrecalcitranceofpeasantstotakeaggressiveaction tal, ideologicallysuffused, rose-coloredreconstructionofthelandreformcampaigninLong complex organizationaleffortthatmovedpeasantsfromtolerantfatalismtoangryactivism. In theCCP’simmenselandreformcampaign, “fanshen” (literally “turning over”)referredtoa One partyorganizerdescribedsukuas “the blastingfuseofthemassFanshen movement” (46). recording revenge[...]Createan atmosphereofsufferingthatispersuasive. [...] The fol- such aspreparingtheSukusetting, organizingmemorial ceremonies, preparingformsfor the morepain, themore hatred, andthemorehatredpowerful[...]Usetasks [...] Fromsufferingtopain, andfrompaintohatred. The moresuffering, themorepain, All thepeoplelisteningshould feelandshareinthesufferingtilleverybodycriesbitterly At thecoreoffanshenwassuku, oneoftheChineserevolution’smostoriginalandcompel- minds. ([1966]2008:112–14) plot tounfoldtheythemselveshadmountthestageandspeakoutwhatwasontheir [still] waited, fascinated, asifwatchingaplay. They didnotrealizethatinorderforthe and aboveitaclearsharp “Ah” fromanoldman’sthroat. [...But]thepeopleinsquare ant everstruckanofficial. Agasp, involuntaryandbarelyaudible, camefromthepeople was asifanelectricsparkhadtensedeverymuscle. Notinlivingmemoryhadanypeas- the meetinghowmuchyoustole,” hedemanded. The blowjarredtheraggedcrowd. It intolerable. Hejumpedup, struckKuo Te-yu onthejawwithflatofhishand. “Tell man?” Again therewassilence. Kuei-ts’ai, thenewvice-chairmanofvillage, foundit felt. [...]Noonemovedandnospoke. “Come now, whohasevidenceagainstthis repaid” [...]. The peasantswerelisteningto everywordbutgavenosignastohowthey [...] Letusspeakoutthebittermemoriesofpast. Letusseethattheblooddebtis Remember howwewereoppressed. The traitorsseizedourpropertyandkickedus. stood, T’ien-ming steppedforward. “Comrades, countrymen. [...] This isourchance. betrayed. [...] As thesilentcrowdcontractedtowardspotwhereaccusedman found himselfstandingbeforeacrowdofseveralhundredstolidpeasantswhomhehad Kuo Te-yu, runningdogofthelandlords, informer, torturer, grafter, andenemystooge, duct apublicmeetingofthewholepopulationverynextday. And soitwasthat them overtothecountyauthoritiesforpunishment. [...] The youngmenagreedtocon- enemy collaboratorsandtheirbackersatpublicmeetings, exposetheircrimes, andturn and announcedtothemthepolicyofcountygovernment, whichwastoconfrontall T’ien-ming calledalltheactiveyoungcadresandmilitiamenofLongBowtogether In — despite Hinton’sinsistencethatheismerelyrecordingwhattranspiredinarealistic, doc- Fanshen: of RevolutionA Documentary inaChinese Village , William- Hinton’smonumen — to feelsadlisteninga offers detailedadviceto Seizing the Stage 23 - - As a result, all depic- As a result, 4

During the cultural revolution, the “revolutionary operas” scripted and produced by Jiang Qing, the celebrity celebrity the Qing, Jiang by produced and scripted operas” “revolutionary the revolution, cultural the During a played and opera traditional replaced 1939, in Yan’an in wife Mao’s became who activist political and actress evi- little is there however, years, these during power political outsized her Despite role. propaganda significant expertisetheatrical performativitythe to contributed revolutionaryChinese of more politics Qing’s that dence per- social staging thing; one is drama theatrical Staging 1984). (Terrill before decades the in conceived, broadly performativepoli- a for had gift Zedong intertwine.historically often they though Mao another, quite formances performedor theatre. wrote for never he though tics, lowing message of political consciousness should be instilled: The poor, all under the all under The poor, instilled: should be of political consciousness lowing message we are broth- are all one big family; the poor in this world are all suffering; and heavens, the roots of to abolish ourselves, unite together to save and we should ers and sisters, (in Sun 2013:57–60) and repression. class exploitation all those one person’s Suku, after only in the town of Chengguan, In the Suku assembly where went back home, Some people started bellowing and to cry. peasants had already to incomplete statistics, According cried bitterly together [...]. the whole family again 4551 of them cried bit- who did Suku in the whole of the year. there were 5184 peasants bitterness about starva- There were 323 peasants speaking their terly during Suku [...]. speaking their bitterness bitterness about begging for food; 115 tion; 546 speaking their bitterness about relatives being killed by ban- about scattered family; 116 speaking their an cadres and people become one family; cadres felt dits [...] In the Suku Movement, People persuaded the cadres to stop crying. aching to see the people’s crying; people Sun (in Communist Party is also our poor!” The “This is the Communist Party! said: 2013:46–47) Past expressions of bitterness not only became the articulation of individual and collective Past expressions of bitterness not only became The party-state sought to indoctrinate students through face-to-face oral reports by The party-state sought to indoctrinate students before Liberation [in order] to educate stu- older people that emphasized their suffering bitter story of an a personal, Turning dents so that they would not forget the past [...] ses- older person into a public political asset was the essence of the recalling-bitterness the appro- [...] Selecting the right person to speak and creating sions around the country. priate theatrical atmosphere was crucial to the success of recalling bitterness and evoking 4. Such cadre-organized dramas often succeeded in producing political catharsis on a mas- political catharsis succeeded in producing dramas often Such cadre-organized in 1947, also prepared Assembly,” “Poor Peasants’ Suku report entitled An internal sive scale. “every district started when during the Land Reform movement described what transpired the cadre issued a Despite its self-promotion and pseudo-numeracy, (46). practicing Suku” gives some indication of the illustrates their performative ambition and report that strikingly success. scope of suku’s dramatic its performative deployment before the 1949 revo- While this discussion of Suku focuses on with which the same dramaturgical structure functioned as a powerful organizing tool lution, and emotions of the masses after the revolution Maoism sought to shape the self-perception bitter “recalling was fuelled by the for example, 1960s, The Cultural Revolution of the as well. ness” campaign, which treated the prerevolutionary episodes of speaking bitterness not as per which treated the prerevolutionary campaign, ness” “individual memories of the documents how Wu Guo but as objective descriptions. formances, out by the Chinese socialist state to construct a class- formerly oppressed were gradually teased class struggle ‘old China’ [...that] aimed at reenacting based collective memory of the pre-1949 2014:247). (Wu collective memory” and reinforcing class awareness by invoking and thus were successfully incorporated but also involved rituals and performance, memories, and Chinese popular culture. into the larger institution of propaganda

tions of the old society were dissociated from “objective realities” and became “representational “representational and became “objective realities” tions of the old society were dissociated from (247). realities” Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

24 Jeffrey C. Alexander not towhiteSouthernstatepower, buttotheaudienceofNorthernwhites. to persuasion. Aiming atinfluence, notpower, itgeneratedsymbolicdramas, projectingthem, could beneitherviolentnorevenimplicitlycoercive. The movementcouldhaverecourseonly plex mixtureofracialfearsanddemocraticpolitics, themovement’sstruggletogainsuchpower was anefforttoremovethebarriersblockingblackaccessstatepower. Butbecause ofacom- In myownwork, I’veproposedanalternativeexplanation. Certainly, thecivilrightsmovement Southern whiteoppressorsforcontrolovermaterialresources(McAdam1982;Payne1995). struggle over “naked power” (Morris2007), astrategicbattlebetweenSouthernblacksandtheir partial triumph. dinary socialmovementchallengedthissystemofdomination, achievingagreat, ifstillonly ing population, remainedstigmatizedanddisempowered. Inthe1950sand1960s, anextraor blacks becameencagedbyacastesystem, evenasblacksinthenorthernUnitedStates, agrow- just adozenyearsafterNorthernvictory, furtherblackemancipationwasblocked. Southern tury earlier, theCivil War (1861–65)hadabolishedslavery, butwith theendofReconstruction, tive advantage, sothefelicityofsuchprotestsbecomesthatmuchmoredifficulttosustain. ological scripts. Bottom-upprotestsbyrelativelypowerlessmovementshavenosuchperforma- via partyorstatecontrol, suchthatsymbolicviolence “adds value” tothedramaticpowerofide- While revolutionaryorganizationsneedtobeartful, theyoftenpossessleversofcoercivepower Century America Mid-20th Civil RightsProtestin bine aestheticandmoralpowerinamannerthatmadeitsublime(seeBurke[1757]1990). olutionary dramamayhaveseemedtoexuderealismandverisimilitude, butitworkedtocom- revolutionary artofprotestthatfusedproducers, scripts, actors, scenes, andaudiences. The rev- truthful informationthatrespondedtoobjectiveclassinterests, butratherbecauseitforgeda hearts. As thoseinsidemovement leadershipknewfullwell, however, King’stacticswereactu- tics weredesignedtopersuadeSouthernwhites, appealing totheirChristiananddemocratic nect withallofthematthesametime. MartinLuther King publiclyclaimedthatnonviolenttac- great majoritywasunmovedandturnedaway. indeed, theyweremostoftendefeated. A fewwhite Southernershadtheireyesopened, butthe Vis-à-vis the immediateaudienceofSouthernwhites, civilrightscampaignsseemedweakand, ence wasa “third party,” thewhitecitizens whowerewatchingthisconfrontationintheNorth. Civil rightsmobilizationsseemedtobedirectedatSouthern institutions, buttheirrealaudi- 5. In recentdecades, socialscientistshavetendedtointerpretthecivilrightsmovementasa Consider, forexample, the African American civilrightsmovementinthe1950–60s. A cen- The Chinesewereabletomakerevolution, notbecausetheirCommunistPartyprovided ness. (260–61, 263) recall howformerlyurbanstudentswerere-educatedbyoldpeasantsaboutpastbitter memoirs oftheCulturalRevolution’ssent-downyouths, writteninthe1980sand1990s, trained furthertoensuretheywereeloquent, emotional, andabletocryeasily. [...]Many ence wasthemaincriterioninselectingspeakers. After beingchosen, thespeakerswere lessly inpainwhentheirnarrationsreachedaclimax[...] The abilitytotouchtheaudi- emotional responsesfromtheaudience. [...] Trained peasantoratorswouldgulpword- matic performances that could be projectedmatic performances to white audiences in the North. the south. It was not only King First, of course, there had to BE a movement. King’s had to successfully mobilize performances black masses in Modern audiencesaredispersed, layered, andfragmented. Performerscannothopetocon- This wasnotthedirectioninwhichcivilrightsmovement ostensiblyaimeditsmessage. —

as director and star — but the cast of black foot soldiers who created the dra- 5

- - Seizing the Stage 25 Figure 4. The last leg of the march through Mississippi and into Jackson, June June Jackson, into and Mississippi through march the of leg last The 4. Figure Ralph Abernathy, Reverend Abernathy, Juanita left: from second row, Front 1966. Stokely Meredith, James Jr., King Martin Luther Reverend King, Coretta courtesy of Stock; Take / Herron Matt by (Photo McKissick. Carmichael,Floyd Works) The Image 6 , the cultural language that set the background for the civil rights langue, — “insistence on - American movements engaged and pro African the speech acts by which paroles,

— would eventually soften

There were, of course, some Southern whites who did support the black movement (Sokol 2006), and while most most while and 2006), (Sokol support did who whites Southern movement black the some course, of were, There women 1997), Kalin and supporters: (Bauman rabbis active 1997), (Campbell clergy fewa were passively, so did and 2007), Klibanoff and (Roberts editors 2004), (Michel students 1997), Murphy 2011, Moody 2009, (Little supportmoral local from “covert that argues Chappell While 1991). Sullivan and (Robinson people business supportsuch that is point the rarely (1994:xvi), black protestors” to encouraging “immensely was people” white 1994), (Chappell agitators” “inside as functioned have indeed may whites Southern of handful A overt. became and empathy experiencing Southerners White observingaudience the to invisible outside. the from were they but drama, rights civil national the performativethe on In placed scene. publicly be not could sympathy displaying elites. repressive and masses racist represented who reservedwas figures for Southerner white of “role” the The deep cultural languages shared by black and white Americans were formed by secu- Americans were formed by and white The deep cultural languages shared by black From Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to W.E.B. Du Bois, the leaders of African the leaders of Du Bois, W.E.B. to Tubman From Frederick Douglass to Harriet satyagraha 6. lar strains of anti-authoritarian republican and liberal thought, alongside the religious themes alongside the religious and liberal thought, lar strains of anti-authoritarian republican their own seeing with Jews in Pharaonic Egypt, Blacks identified of prophetic Christianity. the rebel- Whites traced their national mission to fate and possibility in the Exodus story. in a bat- and in post-Revolutionary times saw themselves locked lion against King George III, During the first and despotism. empire, tle for democracy vis-à-vis European aristocracy, whites from identify- racism prevented however, American experiment, three centuries of the with Only gradually, ing their own emancipation narrative with the black struggle for freedom. tested against their oppressive social worlds, the strategic scripts they projected not only to fel- the strategic scripts they projected not tested against their oppressive social worlds, low blacks but to whites in the civil surround. movement’s American protests were social actors who had a flare for the dramatic and could command American protests were social actors who of these lead- all differing in ideology and ambition, Though often sharply the public stage. American con- They possessed an intuitive feeling for the all-important capacity. ers shared one, might be in Saussure’s terminology, They grasped what, both white and black. , science collective called the American

imperial hearts and change imperial hearts and change what worked But British minds. was for late imperial Britain America of not felicitous in the of most The racism Jim Crow. and mass, elite Southern whites, for them was far too ingrained to be responsive to satyagraha of African American an kind. Despite his Christian idealism, He King knew this in his bones. but had grown up in this South, whites that It was the satyagraha of Northern he had studied for his doctorate in New England. King had in mind (King 1957). truth” ally designed to produce quite ally designed enough, True effect. a different about non- King’s thinking come from his violence had master of the study of another Mahatma protest, art of civil Gandhi believed Gandhi. that iterative performances of Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

26 Jeffrey C. Alexander Michigan. of Creative courtesy (Photo by rmhermen; Commons) Montgomery bus boycott, on exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Figure 5. The bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat sparking the right toprotestfor 1990:26). CitingKing’s ringingdeclarationthat “one oftheglories America” was “the deeper. There isdeepdetermination[...]toriseup againsttheseoppressiveforces” (inLentz gious script: “This bussituationwastheprecipitating factor, butthereissomethingmuch Meier 1965). was capableofrhetoricallyinspiringferventemotionalidentification andmoralinspiration(see one whocouldpresenthimselfasfearlessinthefaceofpolice-state levelsofrepressionandwho and legalrepresentation(Branch1988). The socialdrama alsorequiredaheroicleadingactor, thousands offinanciallystrappedblackpeoplewithprivatetransportation, bailtogetoutofjail, and moralclaritythroughunpredictableupsdowns; enough materialpowertoprovide tion oftheunfoldingmise-en-scène;scriptingsuppleenough tomaintaindramaticplotting on atightlyknitproductionteam;rigorousbackstagerehearsalofcivilactors;continuousdirec- wide rangeofperformancesbefusedfelicitouslytogether. The successoftheprotestdepended named MartinLutherKingJr. to leadtheupheavalthatensuedwouldbeanewarrivalinlocalministry, ayoungpreacher ­herself servedassecretary. What couldnotbeknownbeforehand, however, wasthatthechoice test. Infact, themovehadbeenlongplannedbylocalchapterofNAACP, whereParks December 1955, hercourageousactionhadtheappearanceofaspontaneousindividualpro- democratic roleofanti-Christintheircivilreligiousscripts. such movementdramassubvertedSouthernwhitepowersbyseducingthemtoplaytheanti-­ and choreographed, inwhichhehimselfplayedtheleadingactivistrole. Time andtimeagain, mies intoimaginedones, largerthanlifefiguresinamoralityplaythathedesigned, scripted, white reporterspowerfullyaffectedbythetranscendentnotes Kingstruckinhiscivilreli cast andchorusfortheMontgomerymovement, butalso nationally, toNortherncitizens, via it notforhiscolor, manyawhite cott, Montgomery protestincivilrather thanracialoreconomicterms. After thesuccess of theboy- Sustaining thenonviolentMontgomerybusboycottover12longmonthsrequiredthata When RosaParksrefusedtomovethebackofbusinMontgomery, Alabama, in Not onlydidKingprojecttheblackprotestscriptlocally, totheblackmasseswhowere Time magazineputKingonitscover, describinghimas “what manyaNegro right,” Newsweek, atthetimeaninfluential weeklymagazine, framedthe — would liketobe” (inLentz 1990:34). identification develop. potential forsuchmutual Colored People), didthe for the Advancement of National Association (the organizations astheNAACP Du Bois, andsuchpublicizing ers asDouglass, Tubman, and sive Af the emergenceofsuchpersua- formed themfromrealene- whites intomerefoils. Hetrans- however, KingturnedSouthern practice ofhisprotestdramas, civil rightsprotests. Intheactual as theostensibleaudiencefor King Jr. setupSouthernwhites the ReverendMartinLuther preternaturally gifteddramaturg, religious, personallygutsy, and A highlyeducated, deeply rican American perform rican American — and, were - - Seizing the Stage 27 Figure 6. An African American woman being carried to a police police a to carried being woman American African An 6. Figure 1963. NY, Brooklyn, in demonstration a during wagon patrol Works) Image courtesy The of Archives; Underwood the by (Photo

Montgomery was the first Montgomery When white police with their thanks As Northern whites witnessed these unfolding acts of the civil rights drama in what, act in a series of protest events of protest events act in a series ramped up dramatic that steadily a decades-long social tension, plotted the victory drama that over anti-civil evil. of civil good vividly There were the fraught, sit-ins reported lunch counter after wave where wave of 1960, protestors of nonviolent student There were arrested and jailed. risky were the murderously which Freedom Rides in 1961, beat- were met with horrendous on the ings and were televised pro- nightly news as courageous brutality. tests against criminal fire hoses and ferocious dogs attacked black school children in the Alabama, in Birmingham, it became a summer of 1964, drama that captured and out- raged the Northern civil imag- ination as never before (Eskew one year later, 1997); and when, Alabama state police shot non- violent marchers determined to cross a bridge in Selma, the drama aroused the deep- exploding est moral anxiety, had cho- Movement leaders (Garrow 1978). throughout the Northern collective consciousness they knew that the white leaders in these towns sen Birmingham and Selma precisely because and antidemocratic displays; and the protest events were particularly prone to racist outbursts unfolding mise- and artfully controlled throughout choreographed, rehearsed, were scripted, the artifice of drama can never allow itself to be seen: as Coleridge explained, Yet, en-scènes. dismissed Southern whites suspension of disbelief. ­dramatic effect depends upon the willing as authen- but white Northern audiences viewed them civil rights protests as trumped-up hype, White as powerful dramatizations of the moral truth of racial oppression. tic and deeply sincere, witnessing racial unrest, Northern audiences were also exposed to the drama at closer range, protestors in the North. and arrests of black violence against blacks, of “lost cause” their sentimental sympathy for the seemed like real time, to television news, King con- have never [...] scattered our efforts,” “We Southern whites gradually evaporated. (in Garrow “but have focused upon specific symbolic objectives” fided to a journalist in 1964, Cathecting with the black pro- has real effects. King understood, Symbolic power, 1978:321). Northern citizen-audiences demanded that fed- not their Southern white opponents, tagonists, In 1964 eral power be deployed to protect powerless blacks and punish their white oppressors. abolished segregation laws, acting in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination, Congress, and 1965, Northern state power invaded the and passed legislation insuring black civil and political rights. Many called it the second Reconstruction. states of the old Confederacy. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

28 Jeffrey C. Alexander larger audienceof “all humankind” (Alexander2013). felicitous politicaldramasplayedoutinthepublicsquare, intheirownlocalesandbeforethe ceeded intakingstatepower;allofthemgeneratedextraordinarysymbolicforce. They were the Arab Spring, Occupy, theUmbrellaprotestinHongKong. Someofthesemovementssuc- Philippines, Velvet RevolutionsinCentralandEasternEurope, Tiananmen Square, Obama, the periodicresult:SolidaritymovementinPoland, thePeoplePowerRevolutionin the civilsphereisrestless. Episodesofliminality, andsocialdramasdemandingcivilrepair, are repression (Alexander2006). Dissatisfactionwithexistingsocialarrangementsischronic, and structure, notonlyintheUnitedStatesbutalsoglobalcivilsociety. utopian socialperformancethat, oversubsequentdecades, becameadeeplyengrainedculture nected withtheperformancesfromoutside. Itinitiatedanarrativearc, asequentialiterationof lective imaginary, projectingtableauxbeyondlocalscenestohundredsofmillionswhocon- The 1950s–60scivilrightsmovementwas American focused, butitalsoinspiredtheglobalcol- A New Black Subject “Black Lives Matter” in21st-Century America

to createeachperformativeelement;skill, fortitude, andfortuna wererequiredtoweavethem against policeviolencethathasgatheredforcesince2012. Extraordinarycreativitywasneeded state forcesfromexercisingrepression. ics, suchasjournalistsandintellectuals;sufficient leverage vis-à-vismaterialpowertoblock the meansofsymbolicproduction;sympatheticinterpretationongoingperformancesbycrit- mise-en-scenès. Successfullyfusingaudience, script, andactorswouldrequire, aswell, accessto ers, dramaturgswhocouldproduceprotestperformancesanddirectorsmanagetheir race andclassdemoralizedbypoliticalfatalism. There wouldalsohavetobestronglead- scenes thatcouldappealto, energize, andperhapsevenunifycitizen-audiencesfragmentedby oriented scripts. These scriptswouldalsohavetobemadewalkandtalk, informingdramatic cities intheearly21stcentury, thereloomedtheenormouschallengeofforgingnewaction-­ crystallized inthemid-20thcenturyandconditionsofpoorblackinhabitantsinner other elementsofperformancetobebroughtintoplay. Betweentheblackprotesttraditionas matic speechactsratherthanemanationsofculturalstructures, andtheyrequireeachofthe performances situatedintimeandspacethatareinformedbythem. The latterarelikeprag- tations But, asIhopehavemadeclear, thereisanenormousdistancebetweenbackgroundrepresen- olent setofbackgroundrepresentationsuponwhichlaterblackprotestsfeltcompelledtodraw. century civilrightsmovementleftbehindadeeplyingrainedculturestructure, anintenselyred- American scene last fewdecades, butwithanewcivilrightsmovementthathasonlyrecentlyemergedonthe 7. The utopianidealofcivilsolidaritysitsuneasilyinaworldsocialinequality, stigma, and These disparateelementshave, indeed, beenbrought intoplacebytheblackmovement a transforming script, for the radical civil society movements that emerged after the socialist utopia faded. This differencenonviolence was critical for such performance. is what allowed it to become a central inspiration, contrast, the US civil rights movement was oriented toward radical reform, not revolution, and its embrace of Che for their scripts. However, Maoism and its iterations were revolutionary, not civil society movements. By leftist groups as the Weathermen and the Black Panthers, who drew upon interpretations of Mao, Fanon, and violence as a vanguard of such plary trigger (Alexander 2016), much performances less the revolutionary Western and Fidel Castro) and 1960s (Che Guevara) that promoted violent agrarian revolution and, quite often, exem- Without the Maoist script, it is hard to imagine the strands of anticolonialism in the 1950s (e.g., Frantz Fanon change in 1949, created a similarly powerful narrative arc that reverberated on the global stage for decades after. thatThe constituted iterative the Chinese performances Revolution, before and after the Communist regime In thisfinalsection, however, Iamconcerned, notwithsuchglobalramifications, northe — the culturalstructuresthatprovidelangue — the BlackLivesMattermovement. The iterativeperformancesofthemid- 7 for symbolicaction — and theconcrete Seizing the Stage 29 the underlying values — quickly and powerfully —

Working- and middle-class had peopled the 20th-century movement for Americans African and middle-class Working- on behalf of the the potential for social protest however, In principle if not in practice, has such a performatively powerful black civil rights movement In the years since 2012, But Neither police violence in Black communities nor resistance to that violence are new. a new source of critical something new has emerged: a new focus for anger and despair, There are surely many reasons and creativity. a new catalyst for social imagination hope, [...One] factor has certainly that a movement has developed at this particular moment. metaphors, chants, hashtags, been the skill with which organizers have deployed symbols, and images in order to communicate and goals of the movement. Every social movement develops a cache of symbols. These movement develops a cache of symbols. Every social and goals of the movement. They tap into our emotions and symbols give coherence to dispersed grassroots efforts. use them to mark our collective identity and to capture We encourage us to learn more. (2015) famously short attention spans. with their the attention of media outlets, civil rights, supplying crucial cultural capital. They brought education and professional skills to They brought education and professional supplying crucial cultural capital. civil rights, with its powerful bonding and bridging institutions and the black church, the task of protest, which pub- provided not only generalized trust but protected spaces within (Putnam 2000), were not Because these kinds of resources 1984). lic performances could be rehearsed (Morris agency was its capacity for exercising political nearly as available to the new racial underclass, severely curtailed. into along with the possibility of leveraging widespread social criticism underclass remained, contradic- Despite fissures, its depredation. civil repair of the institutions that have sustained remains the civil sphere in the US backlash, and conservative weak-kneed liberalism, tions, can its ideals and institutions on call if the right social arrangements potentially empowering, one a performatively powerful social movement, create such arrangements requires To be made. suffering that new networks of meaning can form that can so effectively dramatize underclass from the civil sphere and the core groups who between marginalized racial groups excluded it. occupy secure and influential places within but it Police violence against black people had been routine for decades, begun to take shape. highly evocative, created organizers online when changed This marked. publicly been rarely had When circulating them virtually on their social networks. condensed slogans and visual symbols, producing choreo- tens of thousands took to the streets, their cell phones and computers lit up, Once routine, graphed demonstrations that contrasted black innocence with . Paul undeniable abuses of civil authority. police shootings now became dramatized as egregious, Kuttner has it right: together into the iterative sequence that has allowed African Americans, once again, to seize the to once again, Americans, African that has allowed the iterative sequence together into stage. nation’s political Acting Subject Becomes an The Underclass African decades since it had been formed, movement was the Black Lives Matter By the time had civil rights movement of the mid-century The victory so. had been able to do Americans 2016) had been pried loose The gates of the ghetto (Duneier it was partial. but been decisive, such Yes, (Landry 1988). and businessmen professionals, clerks, workers, American African for but their free- 2015), 2012, racial stigma (Anderson to far-reaching groups remained subject the uneducated, when they left the ghetto, However, vastly expanded. dom of movement was and a racial underclass formed, city, in the inner were left behind, and unemployed unskilled, class and the abject residue of degrading admixture of a dominated always an often desperate, fence around this Racial and class prejudice built a cultural 1987). a still despised race (Wilson and prisons police, courts, agents, real estate (Patterson 1998); politicians, group inner-city kind (Massey and Denton 1993; and material coercive, an administrative, exercised controls of high rates, males especially were incarcerated at alarmingly black Young M. Alexander 2012). were white. not lead to imprisonment if the perpetrators often for acts that would Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

30 Jeffrey C. Alexander Rick Scott. charged withmurderbyaspecial prosecutorappointedbyconservativeRepublicanGovernor the clothingMartinworewhen hewaskilled” (Miller2012). Two weekslater, Zimmermanwas “We wantarrests!” and “We areall Trayvon,” manycladinhoodedsweatshirts “symbolic of formed amonthaftertheshooting, organizedamarch inNew York whereprotestorschanted represented aspresidentoftheUnitedStates. The Million HoodiesforJusticeprotestgroup, himself andother African American parentsbutforamuchbroader swathofcitizenswhomhe [...] IfIhadason, hewouldlooklike Trayvon” (inShear2012), hewasspeakingnotonlyfor identification, dramaticallyavowing, “WhenI think aboutthisboy, Ithinkaboutmyownkids further thanithadeverbeenextendedbefore. When President Obamapubliclycrystallizedthis pected, pushingtheenvelopeofinterracialmoralresponsibility andemotionalidentification turned outtobeabroadlysympatheticnation. The reaction wasaselectrifyingitunex- armed self-defense, thousandsprotested, andtheirdemonstrations surprisedandrivetedwhat Zimmerman, claimingFlorida’sso-calledStand-Your-Ground statuteallowedhisexerciseof with outrageoverracismandcivilirresponsibility. When thelocalpolicechiefrefusedtoarrest on 26February2012, thenationalblackcommunityand itswhitesupportersfilledtheairwaves Zimmerman, aneighborhoodwatchcoordinatorforgatedcommunityinSanford, Florida, performative effect. their verisimilitudetheresultofasingularfusionbetweenactorsandaudienceenhancedby Certainly, thedemonstrationswereheartfelt. Their authenticity, however, waschoreographed, grassroots, springingupfromtheunderclassvictimsthemselves. Yet, thiswasnotthecase. edented waveofdemonstrationsagainstpolicebrutalitylookedspontaneous, asiftheywere American citizen-audiences? As theyunfoldedontelevisionandcomputerscreens, theunprec- How weresuchlargelyblackprotestperformancesabletoaffectthestillmajoritywhite Performing IndignationandExtendingIdentification (Pew 2015). both thatracismisabigproblemandmoreneedstobedoneachieveracialequality” shares inallregionsofthecountry, andacrossalldemographicpartisangroupssay the statusquobytwotoone: “This shiftinpublicopinionisseenacrosstheboard. Growing tion, Americans whobelieveddeepchangeswereneededoutnumberedthosesatisfiedwith needed toachieveracialequality(2015). ByJuly2015, afterthreeyearsofsocialmobiliza- opinion was[...]closelydivided” onthequestionofwhethersignificantchangeswerestill cation withtheunderclass. Untilrecently, accordingtothePewResearchCenter, “public value ofblacklivesin America” (2015). bring outtoeveryprotest, haveturnedeverypolicekillingintoanationalreferendumonthe lar manner: “The swiftnesswithwhichthemovementnowacts, andthevolumeofpeopleitcan In theNewYork Times JayCaspianKangdescribesthedramaticeffectofprotestsinasimi- began tomatter. way Americans thinkaboutpolicetreatmentofpeoplecolor.” The livesofpoorblackpeople When 17-year-old highschoolstudent Trayvon MartinwasmurderedbyGeorge The impactofsuchsymbolicreferendahasbeentoextendsympathyandidentifi- tained. (McLaughlin2016) political flashpoint, entirelybecauseofthesenseemergencythatmovementhassus- significantly ontherise. Nevertheless, policekillingshavebecomefront-pagenewsanda it. [...]Evidencedoesnotsuggestthatshootingsofblackmenbypoliceofficershavebeen that, until, now, hasremainedmostlyinvisibleoutsidethecommunitiesthatsufferfrom The Movementhasmanagedtoactivateasenseofredalertaroundchronicproblem “The BlackLivesMattermovement,” accordingtoMichaelMcLaughlin, “has reframedthe Seizing the Stage 31 rallying cry,” according to the New rallying cry,” Figure 7. The Black Lives Matter movement march on Tampa Street in downtown downtown in Street Tampa on march movement Matter Lives Black The 7. Figure / Jones Octavio by (Photo 2016. July 11 Park, Gaslight Lykes to back FL, Tampa, Works) Image courtesy; The of Times Bay Tampa “Mike Brown is an emblem,” a protestor in Philadelphia declared (AP “Mike Brown is an emblem,” second —

and were circulated by iconic black figures, celebrities from music, film, sport, theatre, theatre, sport, film, celebrities from music, and were circulated by iconic black figures, —

We aren’t just focused on ourselves as just athletes [...] We collectively understand that We aren’t just focused on ourselves as just athletes [...] We The more attention we can bring and aware- this is an issue that needs to be addressed. (in Zillgit It’s a citizen issue. it’s a people issue. It’s not a color issue, ness to it is great. and Strauss 2014) In December 2014, when a grand jury refused to issue indictments for Eric Garner’s murder, murder, when a grand jury refused to issue indictments for Eric Garner’s In December 2014, Fifteen months after that, after that, Fifteen months The demonstrators outside the Cleveland arena welcomed these gestures, seeing their potential The demonstrators outside the Cleveland arena welcomed these gestures, for connecting with a much wider audience beyond. and politics. Across from the Broadway NYPD police station, African American actors staged American African NYPD police station, Across from the Broadway and politics. a Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets basket- Outside a precision rap-and-dancing protest. James donned an superstar LeBron on the inside, while, thousands milled in protest, ball game, we have to do better [...] “as a society, to national media, proclaiming T-shirt, “I Can’t Breathe” Nets guard Jarret article, In the same USA Today for one another no matter what race you are.” Jack explained: As protestors chanted these words in cities and . 2015:A1) Yee and Stolberg, (Healy, Times York projected indexical gestures that would be immediately they also campuses across the country, in sol- they raised their arms above their heads, For example, recognized as ritual re-enactment. surrendering was according witnesses, the black teenager who, idarity with Michael Brown, when he was shot. Americans African Performed with anger and resolve by urban protests heated to a fever pitch. their dramatic words and choreographed repression, in the face of potentially dangerous police rico- reported by mainstream journalism, and, movements were streamed live by social media of solidarity Chanting and raising their arms in archetypical gestures cheted around the nation. and interstate highways, blocked local and in public squares, demonstrators marched and fear, Their slogans and ges- and political events. religious holidays, interrupted shopping centers, tures became totems 2014) when Zimmerman was acquit- when Zimmerman outrage once again civil ted, boiling over with the ignited, an Eric Garner, news that father of six, American African NYPD had died when a white 20-­ officer put him in a of his chokehold in the course and weeks In the days arrest. of protests that mushroomed theatri- highly across US cities, staged; protes- were “die-ins” cal middle of tors lay down in the and demonstrators busy streets, final publically chanted Garner’s When, “I Can’t words, Breathe.” just one month after Garner’s a August 2014, on 9 killing, white police officer in Ferguson, shot another young Missouri, pro- Michael Brown, black man, These sec- stop shooting!” “I don’t have a gun, Brown’s last words were, tests exploded again. a national ­ “became ular prayers of pleading and protest, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021 all over the USA. (Photo by David M. Grossman; of The courtesy Image Works) in New York City against police racial black men bias and the killings of unarmed Garner murder in Staten Island, NY, thousands marched on 13 December 2014 Figure 8. Sparked by the Grand Jury verdicts in Ferguson, MO, and the Eric 32 Jeffrey C. Alexander form todeclaimaboutrepression, resilience, anddestiny: to thesacredtraditionofblackcivilrights, providingone oftheorganization’sfoundersaplat- #BlackLivesMatter hadbeencreatedthedayGeorgeZimmermanwentfree, butintheyear

organization, andthebroadeponymousmovement It wasinthemidstofFergusonproteststhatBlackLivesMatter Black Lives MatterSeizestheStage Committee, declared: ential African American mediacommentator, nowinterimchairoftheDemocraticNational observed bypoliticalcommentatorswhogaugedshiftingopinion. DonnaBrazile, theinflu- bolic actionsgeneratedacollectiveeffervescencethatpulsatedoutwardingreatwavesandwas 8. Healy etal. 2015) forever etchedinthecomplicatedstoryofracialbiasourcriminaljusticesystem. (in ager lyingforhoursonthestreet. Justlike “I can’tbreathe” willnevergoaway. They are cence [...]Inmanyways, itwillalwaysresonateasasymbolofanunarmeddeadteen- “Hands up, Don’tShoot” hasbecomealargersymbolofthedesiretoproveone’sinno- Projecting gesturesandvoicesfromsuchgrandstageshadanimpact. The ritual-likesym- and Strauss2014) Anybody thathasanytypeofpublicvoiceneedstostandupanddosomething.” (Zillgit protestor identifyinghimselfonlyasL.B. said. “They knowthey’reontheirgrandstage. “That’s aresultofthembeingeducatedbrothersandhavingslightmoralcompass,” a police brutality against Blackpolice brutality people” (Freelon et al. 2016:9). ­organizations, individuals, protests, and digital spaces dedicated to raising awareness about and ultimately ending the organization. At the same time, the two terms are sometimes used to refer to a third idea: the sum of all leads prospectivebers (along with many others) use the hashtag, which in turn almost certainly members to “Clearly there is some degree of overlap between #Blacklivesmatter and Black Lives Matter: organization mem- — emerged onthepublicscene. TeleSUR linkedtheorganization form wasBlackLivesMatter. group thatwouldbuildthisplat- States” (teleSUR2014). The political platformintheUnited terms the gatheringinperformative and describedthepurposeof three days,” teleSURreported, vene inFergusonoverthenext lenge stateviolencewillcon- coalition determinedtochal- teleSUR isrevealing. “A national ist Spanish-languagewebsite temporary accountbytheactiv- et al. 2016). A breathlesscon- jumped ahundredfold(Freelon ber ofvisitorstoitswebsite tion inFerguson, andthenum- Rides thatfedtheconflagra- Brown, #BLMledtheFreedom After themurderofMichael following itwasrarelyevoked. — — the hashtag, the “to re-envisionaBlack 8

Seizing the Stage 33 -

- from across the con Missouri, will gather in Ferguson, close to 600 people On Friday, “The Black Lives (BLM) Ride. the Black Lives Matters part of States, tinental United Patrisse explains co-organizer of our generation,” is the Freedom Ride Matters Ride Freedom and history of the 1960s out of the spirit The BLM Ride comes [...] Cullors. Ride is a call “The BLM [...] to end racial segregation. that aimed Rides to Mississippi our des- together and re-articulate the country to come Black people across to action for move this country out of a cycle believe that in order to “We [...] Cullors. stresses tiny,” Ferguson and nationally. both locally we have to rise up, of destruction and trauma, and also our immense that exists in Black communities, ­represents both the repression Toolkit. and Organizing Advocacy advocates BLM in their National resilience [...],” (teleSUR 2014) was a fulltime organizer religion and philosophy, A UCLA graduate in to be sur I continue a damn shame in itself. That’s btw stop saying we are not surprised. Stop giving up on black And I will continue that. prised at how little Black lives matter. (in Cobb 2016:35) Our lives matter. us. I love I love you. lives [...] black people. because I believe an organizer is the small- I identify as an organizer versus an activist The organizer is the person who gets the press est unit that you build your team around. cam- the person who helps to build and launch together and who builds new leaders, the targets will be and how we’re going to and is the person who decides what paigns, (Cullors 2016) change this world. a Brooklyn-based It was somebody from outside the founding group of invisible organizers, for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, a nonprofit dedicated to social jus- a for Human Rights in Oakland, for the Ella Baker Center #BlackLivesMatter from She created the hashtag city (Cobb 2016:36). tice issues in the inner Zimmerman’s acquittal. on the day of George friend a Facebook post by her America who is cheering and celebrating “there’s a section of Garza wrote, “The sad part is,” Garza y’all.” get it together GOTTA We that makes me sick to my stomach. And right now. later added: and San Diego, at the University of California, Garza studied anthropology and sociology Workers Oakland office of the National Domestic worked as a special projects director in the of #BLM’s The third member representing 20,000 caregivers and housekeepers. Alliance, who built rights organizer in Brooklyn, a writer and immigration Tometi, founding trio is Opal journalist in the words of New Yorker so that, a social media platform on Facebook and As Cobb put (26). “connect with one another” could use the hashtag to “activists” Jelani Cobb, (26). about how to turn the phrase into a movement” “began thinking the three women then it, Activists and Directors, Producers, Organizers, writing scripts for the highly visible became invisible dramaturgs, Tometi and Cullors, Garza, Looking it. but behind They were not on the scene, public performances of their organization. such responsibilities distinguishing Cullors claimed the role of producer and director, back, and handling the mise-en-scène. from participating in real-time performances who actually coordinated the Freedom activist and friend of Cullors named Daniel Moore, and Boston. Philadelphia, Angeles, Los Portland, Chicago, York, Rides to Missouri from New former school administrator then a 29-year-old Moore was soon joined by DeRay Mckesson, drove Twitter feed, images and texts unrolling on his transfixed by the from who, In Ferguson, 600 miles to Ferguson to immerse himself in the actual protest scene (Kang 2015). Louis native St. a 25-year-old met , Mckesson at a street-medic training session, organizing street-level all-in, The two became hands-on, who had studied journalism in college. showing up for virtually every event in the weeks and avidly sharing information and partners, months ahead. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

34 Jeffrey C. Alexander Creative Commons) Minneapolis, , 25 November. (Photo by Tony Webster; of courtesy department’s precinct fourth from 15 November to 3 December 2015. Figure 9. Black Lives Matter protestors occupied the Minneapolis police linked. The triggeringpostsofanonymous leaders, suchasGarza andCullors, wereelabo - several, eachonetemporally, spatially, anddemographically independent eveniftopicallyinter ment wasaseriesofinterrelated butseparatedcallsandresponses, notoneperformance but matic difficultiesofachieving dramatic success. words, thevery “de-fusion” ofperformativeelementsthatunderscoresthecultural andprag- ing scriptsandactors, ononeside, fromaudiences, on theother technology, suchunderstandingstruncatetheperformative process, elidingthechasmseparat- selves toinitiatetheshockwavespulsatingthroughoutbroader civilsurround. Beguiledby highlighted itsonlinepresence, asifsoftwaresavvyplusanger andgritweresufficientinthem- When journalistsandsocialscientistsbegantoexaminethenew BLMprotestmovement, they The DoubleMovement appearances onTheLateShowwithStevenColbertandDaily with Trevor Noah. ’s mayor. Soon after, cladinsignatureredsneakersandbluevest, hemadeguest astic, evenadulatorytone(Kang2015). Mckessonlater announcedhiscandidacytobecome Magazine, alengthyaccountfilledwithappealingcolorphotos- and markedbyanenthusi This passageisfromaspreadaboutMckessonandElziein 2015 issueoftheNewYork Times television andcomputerscreens. largely anonymous “black subject” whosegatheringpowerwasincreasinglyseenandheardover shootings, thetwobecamepublicallyvisiblepersonaestandingoutfromemerging, butstill Ferguson” (Cobb2016:36). As iterationsofblackprotestunfoldedinresponsetolaterpolice That thisgapwasreal, andimmensely challenging, explainswhytheBLMprotestmove- and aleatherjacket:thebeautician’sdaughterchannelingBlackPanther. (Kang 2015) DeRay’s vest Twitter account.)Elzieoftenworedarklipstick, apairofoversizesunglasses bright bluePatagoniavest, whichhenowwearseverywheregoes. (Someonecreateda begun wearingredshoesandashirttoprotests. Later, hereplacedthisoutfitwitha appealing personalitiesandsoonbecameeasilyrecognizablepersonas. Mckessonhad Pretty soon, MckessonandElziewereappearingregularlyon TV andradio. They were Elzie andMckessonsoonbecame “the mostrecognizablefiguresinthemovement — (Kang 2015) were cheerfullysarcastic. detailed, whereasElzie’s were usuallysoberand Mckesson’s tweets officers alikebyname. to protestersandpolice ing videoandreferring tweeting [...and]integrat- Mckesson, too, waslive- at theburnedQuickTrip. monks whoshowedup testers, oftheBuddhist made tofeedotherpro- wiches sheandherfriends organizers, ofthesand- took photosoftheprotest testers andthepolice. She tations betweenthepro- observers oftheconfron- most reliablereal-time Elzie [...was]oneofthe making invisible, inother - Seizing the Stage 35 - the kind —

social media produced the — — the number of times any two sites link to each each to link sites two any times of number the The second finding concerns not the — 9 conducive to building trust between connections” — “In the case of the Black Lives Matter Web network,” Freelon and network,” Web “In the case of the Black Lives Matter 10 the researchers found an “extremely diffuse” network, one “clearly conducive to one network, “extremely diffuse” the researchers found an —

is one, and only 30% of ties have a weight greater than one)” (Freelon et al. 2016:16). al. et (Freelon one)” than greater weight a have ties of 30% only and one, is

—

“With a graph density of .003 [...] only a tiny fraction of all the links that could exist within the network actu- network within the exist “Withcould that links the all of fraction tiny a only [...] .003 of density graph a that meaning .02, of density a has nodes of number same the with network random a comparison, a As exist. ally sites cases, of 97% (in sites between reciprocity little is ties. There possible all of percent two contains network the few reciprocal, or unidirectional Whether site). latter the from in link a receive don’t site another to out linking weight tie average (the site one any to links multiple have sites other connec- direct with sites of 75% than news more [and] sites are network Matter Lives Black entire the of “59% news [W]e’vesites. veryis are network the whole, a as that out pointed sparse. BlackLivesMatter.com to tions connect primarily they that meaning dense, extremely are newsamong connections network the in sites However, 2016:17). al. et (Freelon non-newsto so less much and sites” another, one to The heart of the movement is [...] shutting down streets, shutting down Walmarts, shut- Walmarts, down shutting is [...] shutting down streets, The heart of the movement make people feel as want to We where people feel comfortable. ting down any place Tamir about Eric Garner, about feel when we hear about Mike, uncomfortable as we (in Kang 2015) basis. to experience what we go through on a daily want them We Rice. not even have concrete did not aim to seize power; most did The BLM street protests the portrayal of protest in the news media produce such vicarious symbolic experience, To tweets between 1 June 2014 and In their massive study of 40.8 million movement-related 9. 10. formances via mainstream media. Mckesson hoped, of course, this more distant audience would of course, Mckesson hoped, media. formances via mainstream he was in this second phase, that, but he confessed he was organizing, identify with the dramas the choir. actually preaching against to create dramatic performances that was communicative, rather, Their ambition, demands. cathexis generating an emotional of underclass others, would trigger sympathy for the suffering in the posi- (whites mostly) “ordinary people” putting that would extend cultural identification, what we go through on a daily basis.” “experience making them tion of the oppressed, It begins with journal- This is the second act of the Black Lives Matter performance. was key. that their news organizations project outward ists interpreting the protests and filing stories The first circuit of the double movement and the internet. television, via print, black bodies into the streets directives to a committed network that brought The second performative circuit new black subject. performance of the racial underclass as a The new black subject had to more distant audience. aimed to re-fuse this protest with a much and in a sympathetic way. groups, be recognized by influential white core - (2016) reconstruct the network structure of BLM’s digital commu Freelon et al. 31 May 2015, kind of double movement I am proposing here. findings suggest precisely the Two nications. than strong composed of weak rather decidedly loose, The first is that the digital network was “dense net- Instead of a among which there was relatively little exchange back and forth. ties, work with many reciprocal ties rated by on-scene actors, such as Mckesson and Elzie, and retweeted to a network of hundreds to a network of hundreds and retweeted as Mckesson and Elzie, such actors, rated by on-scene the of people into “ready to bring thousands and “in place” as who were viewed of organizers 2006) layered audience (Rauer responders in the These first (Kang 2015). a tweet” streets with “When I tweet, way: Mckesson put it this “re-fused.” waiting to be and committed, were primed mis- the audience for his He was confident (Kang 2015). preaching to the choir” I’m mostly was on-scene organizer What this street. protest on the become actors performing sives would effects that such choreographed bodily displays were the however, not quite as certain about, and listening to the street per those watching at one layer removed, would have on audiences which, according to Freelon and his colleagues, would be ideal for “circulat[ing] ideas for how “circulat[ing] would be ideal for according to Freelon and his colleagues, which, to mobilize” broadly distributing and circulating information” (16). broadly distributing and circulating information” geography of the network, but the substantive identity of its nodes. By far the most frequently but the substantive identity of its nodes. geography of the network, and most of these not individuals or protest groups, connected hubs were media organizations, media were mainstream. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

36 Jeffrey C. Alexander 15 November 2015. (Photo by Tony Webster; of Creative courtesy Commons) following the officer-involved . Minnepolis, Minnesota, precinctpolice fourth building during the Black Lives Matter occupation Figure 10. An activist holds a “Black Lives Matter” sign outside the Minneapolis saying “all livesmatter”;Sanders added “racial justice” andpenalreformtohislistofpolitical Democratic “contenders [...]recalibratedtheirmessagesand tone”:O’Malleyapologizedfor Working,” oneliberalblogheadlined(Moore2015a). of blackmen. “Black Activists Are LiterallyStealing the Stagefrom2016Contenders ing downchantsfromangryactivistswholinkedhis1994crime billtothemassiveincarceration justice andrace. At arallyinPhiladelphia, herhusband, formerPresidentBillClinton, triedfac- reform fromclasstorace. In Atlanta, BLMinterrupted aspeechbyHillaryClintononcriminal BLM activiststookoverthemicrophone, demandingthe candidateextendhiscallsforradical in Phoenixandbeganchantingslogans” (Helsel2015). At aSandersrallyinSeattle, twofemale tors tookcontrolofa “Netroots Nationforumfeaturing[Bernie] SandersandMartinO’Malley 2016), especiallyofnationallyvisiblepoliticalcampaigns(seeEligon2016). BLMdemonstra- tinued, attentionshiftedtomoretargeteddisruptions(Aron2015;Ruffin2016;Stockman tively independent, locallybasedactivistgroups. While scatteredstreetdemonstrationscon- more orlesssimultaneously, bythetens, sometimeshundredsofthousandspotentiallyatten- ous storiesonmediablogs. These werepickedupbyparticipantsinsidethedemonstrationsand, bodily inrealspace. Initiatingthesecondperformativecircuit, reporterspostedcontemporane- nalists. Alerted, reportersthenputthemselvesimmediatelyonthescene, virtuallyinrealtimeor ings amongactivists, whichweresubsequentlyposteddirectly, orredirected, tointerestedjour Directives fromprotestorganizersnotonlytriggeredstreetperformancesbutmassiveretweet- be widelydistributed” (16). colleagues conclude, “what primarilygetsproducedanddistributedisnews, whichismeantto 11. It certainlyappearedtobethecasethat, inresponseto thedisruptiveconfrontations, This empiricalinformationilluminatestheneuralstructuresofdoublemovement. aged 18–29. Americans and 172 Hispanics, for a total of 430 as compared with 494 whites. One-third of the victims were of 2016 (Sullivan3 months et al. 2016). Those killed in 2015 were minorities, 258 African disproportionally Post discovered there had been 990 fatal police shootings in 2015 (Kindy et al. 2015) and 250 in the first Not the police killings themselves, however. In a 12-month Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation, the broke intomorethan30rela- BLM’s nationalorganization than before” (Howard2016). and “there werefewerprotests transform intosomethingelse,” momentum begantoshiftand cess,observed, theTimes “the was successful.” With thatsuc- York Times reported, then “it police brutalityexisted,” theNew convince more Americans that of BlackLivesMatterwas[...]to turn. new nodesonthenetworkin many ofwhomre(re)tweetedto tive watchersontheoutside, seemed toabate. sies concerningpolicekillings Later in2015, thecontrover nization andtacticschanged. as theprotestmovement’sorga- structure remainedinplaceeven This two-partperformative 11 “If thegoal — Washington And It’s - - Seizing the Stage 37 - digital observed,celeb- collects “he Times Times 12

It is revealing that, while recounting Mckesson’s many accomplishments, the accomplishments, many Mckesson’s recounting while that, revealing is It rity ‘friends’ (Azealia Banks, Jesse Williams, Susans Wojcicki and Sarandon, Rashida Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross) Ross) Ellis Tracee Jones, Rashida Sarandon, and Wojcicki Susans Williams, Jesse Banks, (Azealia rity ‘friends’ half, a and year last the over was “because, this explained and names,” first their by solely them to refers [...and] countrythe traveling vio- police protest to movement, Matter Lives Black the of face known best the been has he 2016). (Howard lence” Having these women by her side has provided Mrs. Clinton with powerful and deeply Clinton by her side has provided Mrs. Having these women And American voters. African witnesses as she makes her case to sympathetic character human, a raw, operation, an often cautious and poll-tested they have given her campaign, (Chozick 2016a) feeling. and sometimes gut-wrenching rather than but, candidates, tactics were also directed at Republican BLM’s newly disruptive analyzed in described the sequence of iterative demonstrations Times While the New York must Protagonists another major obstacle. characters proved The lack of larger-than-life 12. Times headlining: “Bill the New York responsive, felt compelled to be publicly too, Clinton, Mr. (Chozick 2016b). Black Lives Matters Protesters” With Showdown Clinton Says He Regrets at highlighting what activists these protests appeared to be aimed eliciting supportive responses, The tactic seemed particu- whiteness of the conservative movement. regarded as the uncaring white sup- The violent responses of his Trump. the candidacy of Donald larly effective vis-à-vis anxieties but also Republican not only Democratic, porters to BLM’s provocations intensified real estate developer’s campaign. York character of the New “over the line” about the anti-civil, protest movement of the 21st century to date” American “the most formidable this section as with BLM’s performative power remained relatively constricted in comparison (Kang 2015), one must ref- why, explain To predecessor. what had been generated by its mid-20th-century for There were problems, were not quite there. erence elements of social performance that A more The persuasive reach of disruptive indignation is limited. with BLM’s script. example, from pathway from suffering to salvation, powerful myth would have laid out a redemptive or the idea of exceptionalism” “American perhaps underscoring underclass to social justice, precluded any connection however, secular tone of BLM, The America as God’s chosen people. American civil religion (Bellah 1970). with and ­ online discourses, collective subjects, be embodied in order to become heroic; persona to DeRay Mckesson may have been the only distinguishable images are not enough. but his 2016 remained remarkably anonymous, have emerged from a protest movement that (Eligon and “name recognition” for want of Baltimore mayoral campaign still floundered conversation” “drives the CNN claimed Mckesson In late December 2015, Stolberg 2016). Times reported Mckesson Magazine the New York Four months later, (Sidner and Simon 2015). White House so “has been to the and Greatest Leaders list last year” World’s “was on Fortune’s Such claims of char (Howard 2016). anymore” many times that he says he doesn’t get nervous American radar Mckesson registered on the were vastly overstated. however, ismatic authority, He did not become a collective representation center. but he didn’t penetrate its sacred screen, the racial underclass or the protest drama’s multicultural either for of black suffering and hope, the in the words he spoke, did not embody, Mckesson and multiclass audience on the outside. for justice. American aspirations African contemporary or the lines of his face, tone of his voice, famous Mckesson was more a celebrity, An effective organizer who became a recognizable face, than a genuine hero. for being famous, priorities (Moore 2015b); and Hillary Clinton began a “” campaign, campaign, Movement” “Mothers of the a Clinton began 2015b); and Hillary priorities (Moore Tamir Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Martin, Trayvon of the mourning mothers encouraging their and paying with her campaign” and travel the country “to organize Sandra Bland and Rice, Describing 2016a). debates (Chozick Democratic presidential they could attend the expenses so of it bolstered the authenticity noted how Times the New York of this dramatic tactic, the impact performance: of her campaign’s the vitality and verisimilitude character and Hillary Clinton’s Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

38 Jeffrey C. Alexander lives intotheheartofareluctantlyresponsivenation. journalists, bringingtheraciallyaffirmativedemandthatblacklivesmatterasmuchwhite gans, andgestures, triggeringmassive African American protestand, fusingwithsympathetic newly digitalmeansofsymbolicproduction, itsorganizersprojectedcompellingnarratives, slo- cling thenewblackunderclass, BlackLivesMatterforgedanactiveblacksubject. Deployingthe of American life. Fiftyyearslater, evenassocialscientistslaidoutthestructural forcesencir audience, gainedsignificantpoliticalpower, andmademajorrepairsintherentracialgarment drama theyforgedtogetherprojectedaredemptivenarrativethatrivetedtheNorthernwhite tive geniusofMartinLutherKingJr. andhissupportingstaffthatfinallygavethem voice. The ers, African Americans sufferedmostlyinsilencefordecadesafterslavery. Itwastheperforma- to crybittertears. Despitetheprotestsofgenerationscriticalintellectualsandlegalreform- formed intoalarger-than-life persona, aheroicsavior, andthepeasantmasses hadtobetaught but thepartyitselfhadtomaketheseclasscontradictionscomedramaticlife. Maowastrans- becomes legitimate. the triumphofjustice, sopowerfullyfusingwithdistantaudiencesthatdangerousinsurrection first seizethecollectiveimagination, projectingdramasonthestageofsociallifethatdepict movements shouldbeunderstoodassocialperformances. To seizepowerinthestate, onemust ally powerfulbecausetheysucceed. To explainthisseemingparadox, Ihavearguedthatsocial Social movementsdonotsucceedbecausetheyaremateriallypowerful;becomemateri- Conclusion Apter, DavidE., and Tony Saich. 1994. Revolutionary Discourse inMao’sRepublic. Cambridge, MA:Harvard Anderson, Elijah. 2015. “The White Space.” SociologyofRaceandEthnicity 1, 1:10–21. Anderson, Elijah. 2012. “The IconicGhetto.” InBringingFieldwork Back In:Contemporary Urban Alexander, Michelle. 2012. TheNewJimCrow:MassIncarceration inthe Age ofColorblindness.New York: Alexander, JeffreyC., PhilipSmith, andMatthewNorton, eds. 2011. Interpreting Clifford Geertz:Cultural Alexander, JeffreyC., andPhilipSmith, eds. 2005. TheCambridge CompaniontoDurkheim.New York: Alexander, JeffreyC., andBernadetteN. Jaworsky. 2014. ObamaPower. Cambridge:PolityPress. Alexander, JeffreyC. 2016. “Dramatic Intellectuals.” Journal International ofPolitics, Culture, andSociety:1–18. Alexander, JeffreyC. 2013. “The Arc ofCivilLiberation:Obama–Tahrir–Occupy.” Philosophy andSocial Alexander, JeffreyC. 2011b. Performative Revolution inEgypt: An Essay inCultural Power. London: Alexander, JeffreyC. 2011a. Performance andPower. Cambridge:PolityPress. Alexander, JeffreyC. 2010. ThePerformance ofPolitics: Obama’s Victory andtheDemocratic forPower Struggle . Alexander, JeffreyC. 2006. TheCivilSphere . New York: OxfordUniversityPress. Alexander, JeffreyC. 2004. “Cultural Pragmatics:SocialPerformancebetweenRitualandStrategy.” References The Chinesecommunistmovementclaimeditarosefromtheclashofobjectiveinterests, University Press. Thousand Oaks:SagePublications, Inc. by Elijah Anderson, Dana Asbury, Duke W. Austin, EstherChihyeKim, and Vani S. Kulkarni, 8–24. Ethnographic Research, New Press. Investigations intheSocialSciences. London:PalgraveMacmillan. Cambridge UniversityPress. DOI 10.1007/s10767-016-9240-8. Criticism Bloomsbury. New York: OxfordUniversityPress. 22,Sociological Theory 4:527–73. 39, 4–5:341–47. The Annals ofthe American Academy ofPolitical andSocialScience , vol. 642, edited - Seizing the Stage 39 www.nola.com/crime/index Accessed 17 July 2016. 25 November. 13 April:A18. . Moscow: International Publishers. . Writings The Modern Prince and other . London: Routledge. Africa. and Reconciliation in a New South Truth Solidarity: Staging www.laweekly.com Accessed 1 March 2016. 9 November 2015. , LA Weekly . New York: Simon and Schuster. York: New 1954–63. Years, King America in the Waters: the Parting Making Revolution: The Communist Movement in Eastern and Central China, 1937–1945. China, in Eastern and Central The Communist Movement Making Revolution: , Times New York

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. and Bernhard Giesen, Alexander, edited by Jeffrey C. and Ritual, Pragmatics, Cultural Action, Symbolic Cambridge University Press. York: New 193–217. Mast, Jason L. Impact, Center for Media and Social and the online struggle for offline justice.” #Blacklivesmatter, http://cmsimpact.org/resource/beyond-hashtags-ferguson Accessed 17 July 2016. 29 February. -blacklivesmatter-online-struggle-offline-justice/. University Press. Yale /news/these-savvy-women-have-made-black-lives-matter-the-most-crucial-left-wing-movement . -today-6252489 , Picayune Times protests planned.” .ssf/2014/11/national_ferguson_protest_mike.html. Press. Alabama University of Tuscaloosa: 1880s to 1990s. Harper and Row. York: New Providence House Publishers. Hopkins University Press. Berkeley: University of California Press. . http://nyti.ms/1qoblen Accessed 17 July 2016. April. 13 , 9 April:A12. Times York and Giroux. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 7 February:A1. Changed.’” Movement Today.” Today.” Movement But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. The Local and National Movements But for Birmingham: 1997. T. Glenn Eskew, In Social Performance: How Social Movements Move.” “Performing Opposition or, 2006. Ron. Eyerman, “Beyond the hashtags: #Ferguson, 2016. Clark. and Meredith D. McIlwain, Charlton D. Deen, Freelon, New Haven: Act of 1965. Rights Voting and the Jr., Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, 1978. David. Garrow, 2016. Tanya. Goodman, (AP). 2014. “Thousands protest nationally after Ferguson grand jury decision, more decision, after Ferguson grand jury protest nationally “Thousands 2014. (AP). Associated Press Clarendon Press. Oxford: . Words with Things How to Do 1962. J.L. Austin, Civil Rights, Southern Rabbis and Black Voices: The Quiet 1997. eds. and Berkley Kalin, Mark K., Bauman, 168–89. Bellah, Robert N. edited by Belief, In Beyond America.” Religion in “Civil 1970. N. Robert Bellah, 1988. Taylor. Branch, University Press. Oxford: Oxford A Philosophical Enquiry. (1757) 1990. Edmund. Burke, TN: American Dilemma. Franklin, and the Gray Duncan You: Also with And 1997. D. Will Campbell, Baltimore: Johns . in the Civil Rights Movement White Southerners Agitators: Inside 1994. David L. Chappell, Shanghai: Guangyi Press. [People’s Dictionary for Study]. Renmin Xuexi Cidian 1952. ed. B., Chen, 1986. Yung-fa. Chen, , Times New York Emerge as a Force for Hillary Clinton.” Victims “Mothers of Black 2016a. Amy. Chozick, New Showdown with Black Lives Matters Protesters.” “Bill Clinton Says He Regrets 2016b. Amy. Chozick, 14 March:33–40. , The New Yorker Lives.” “The Matter of Black 2016. Jelani. Cobb, http://patrissecullors.com/bio/. Accessed 17 July 2016. “Bio.” Patrisse Cullors. 2016. Patrisse. Cullors, Strauss Farrar, York: New the History. of an Idea of a Place, The Invention Ghetto: 2016. Mitchell. Duneier, . after Franco to Democracy Transition The Symbol and Ritual in the New Spain: 1998. Laura Desfor. Edles, , Times New York by Protests.” Emboldened Move From Street to Ballot, “Activists 2016. John. Eligon, ‘Baltimore’s Mind-Set Has Arrest, After Gray’s Year “A 2016. Gay Stolberg. and Sheryl John, Eligon, 1959. Antonio. Gramsci, Aron, Hillel. 2015. “These Savvy Women Have Made Black Lives Matter the Most Crucial Left-Wing Left-Wing Most Crucial Matter the Black Lives Have Made Women Savvy “These 2015. Hillel. Aron, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

40 Jeffrey C. Alexander Moore, DarnellL. 2015a. “Black Activists Are LiterallyStealingthe Stage from2016Contenders Moody, Anne.2011. Miller, Jared T. 2012. HoodieMarch’inNew York“‘Million RalliesSupportfor .” Time, Michel, GreggL. 2004. for aBetterSouth: Struggle StudentOrganizingThe Southern Committee, 1964–1969. Meier, August. 1965. “On theRoleofMartinLutherKing.” NewPolitics 4, 1:52–59. McLaughlin, Michael. 2016. “The Dynamic Historyof#BlackLivesMatterExplained: This ishowahashtag McAdam, Doug. 1982. Political ProcessandtheDevelopment ofBlack Insurgency, 1930–70. Chicago:University Mast, Jason. 2012. ThePerformative Presidency: CrisisandResurrection DuringtheClinton Years .New York: Massey, DouglasS., andNancy A. Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation andtheMakingof Mao Zedong. 1942. Talks atthe Yenan Forum onLiterature and Art . 2May. Accessed 17July2016. www Little, KimberlyK. 2009. You MustBefromtheNorth:Southern White Women intheMemphisCivilRights Lentz, Richard. 1990. Symbols, theNewsMagazines, andMartinLutherKing. BatonRouge:LouisianaState Lenin, Vladimir. (1902)1966. WhatIstoBeDone?New York: BantamBooks. Landry, Bart. 1988. TheNewBlack Middle. Class Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress. Kuttner, Paul. 2015. “Black SymbolsMatter.” Cultural Organizing, 10 August. Accessed 17July2016. http:// King, MartinLuther, Jr. 1957. “Nonviolence andRacialJustice.” 74, ChristianCentury 6February:165–67. Kindy, Kimberly, MarcFisher, Julie Tate, andJenniferJenkinds. 2015. “A Year ofReckoning:PoliceFatally Kang, JayCaspian. 2015. DemandIsSimple:StopKillingUs.’” NewYork “‘Our Magazine, Times 4May. Howard, Greg. 2016. “DeRay Mckesson Won’t BeElectedMayorofBaltimore. So Why IsHeRunning?” Ho, Denise Y. 2015. “The PowerofCulture.” Review1, ThePRCHistory 2:5–6. Hinton, William. (1966)2008. Fanshen: ofRevolutionA Documentary inaChinese Village. New York: Monthly Helsel, Phil. 2015. LivesMatter’ Activists DisruptBernieSandersSpeech.”“‘Black NBCNews,9August. Healy, Jack, SherylGayStolberg, and Vivian Yee. 2015. “Ferguson ReportPuts ‘Hands Up’toReality Test.” /black-activists-called-out-bernie-sanders-jeb-bush-hillary-clinton-and-martin-omalley#.8ktXIiucn. Working.” Rural South. New York: RandomHouse. -new-york-rallies-support-for-trayvon-martin/. 22 March. Accessed 17July2016. http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/22/million-hoodie-march-in New York: PalgraveMacmillan. .huffingtonpost.com/entry/history-black-lives-matter_us_56d0a3b0e4b0871f60eb4af5 transformed intoamovement.” TheHuffington Post, 29February. Accessed 17July2016. www of ChicagoPress. Cambridge UniversityPress. Underclass. Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress. .marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-3/mswv3_08.htm Movement. Jackson:UniversityPressofMississippi. University Press. culturalorganizing.org/black-symbols-matter/. /sf/investigative/2015/12/26/a-year-of-reckoning-police-fatally-shoot-nearly-1000/. Shoot Nearly1000.” Washington Post, 26December. Accessed 17July2016. www.washingtonpost.com .html. Accessed 17July2016. www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/magazine/our-demand-is-simple-stop-killing-us /deray-mckessonwont-be-elected-mayor-of-baltimore-so-why-is-he-running.html?emc=eta1&_r=0. New YorkMagazine, Times 11 April. Accessed 17July2016.www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/magazine Review Press. -bernie-sanders-speech-n406546. Accessed 17July2016. www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/black-lives-mattr-activists-disrupt New York Times, 6March:A1. Identities.Mic., 13 August. Accessed 17July2016. http://mic.com/articles/123796 Coming of Age inMississippi: The Classic Autobiography ofGrowingUpPoor andBlack inthe . . — And It’s Seizing the Stage 41 . 48, 4:615–28. 48, Quarterly The Sociological . New York: Free Press. York: New Action. The Structure of Social 1, 2:254–87. 2:254–87. 1,

. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. University of Fayetteville: 1958–1963. Schools, DC: Basic Civitas. University of California Press. Berkeley: Struggle. 2:111–28. 7, International Quarterly California Press. www.people-press.org/2015/08/05/across-racial Accessed 17 July 2016. August. 5 Racial Equality.” -lines-more-say-nation-needs-to-make-changes-to-achieve-racial-equality/ Vintage. New York: of a Nation. Awakening Press. Virginia Charlottesville: University of www.blackpast.org/perspectives/black-lives-matter-growth Accessed 17 July 2016. . Blackpast.org -new-social-justice-movement. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/obama-makes-first-comments Accessed 17 July 2016. -on-trayvon-martin-shooting/. http://edition.cnn.com/2015 Accessed 17 July 2016. 28 December. , CNN.com violence and silence.” . /12/28/us/black-lives-matter-evolution/ Press. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0802196101. Accessed 17 July 2016. Random House. York: Vintage. York: http://mic.com/articles/123666/two-years-later-black 2016. Accessed 17 July August. 10 , Identities.Mic. . -lives-matter-faces-critiques-but-it-won-t-be-stopped#.kE68fRkeH Free Press. York: New and Schuster. Berhard Alexander, edited by Jeffrey C. , and Ritual Pragmatics, Cultural Action, Symbolic Performances: Press. Cambridge University York: New 257–82. Mast, and Jason L. Giesen, Sociology Breaking the Silence: Little Rock’s Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Emergency Women’s the Silence: Little Rock’s 1997. Breaking Alderman. Sara Murphy, 1937. Talcott. Parsons, . Washington, Washington, American Centuries. Two in of Slavery Rituals of Blood: Consequences 1998. Orlando. Patterson, and the Mississippi Freedom Tradition The Organizing Got the Light of Freedom: I’ve 1995. M. Charles Payne, Mobilization: An in the Chinese Revolution.” Work “Moving the Masses: Emotion 2002. Elizabeth J. Perry, University of Berkeley: . Tradition Mining China’s Revolutionary Anyuan: 2012. Elizabeth J. Perry, Achieve Say Nation Needs to Make Changes to More Racial Lines, “Across 2015. Pew Research Center. in Civil Rights Studies. New Directions 1991. eds. and Patricia Sullivan, Armstead L., Robinson, The Growth of a New Social Justice Movement.” “Black Lives Matter: 2016. G. Herbert II, Ruffin, London: Routledge. 3rd ed. , An Introduction Studies: Performance (2002) 2013. Richard. Schechner, 23 March. , Times New York Martin Killing.” Trayvon “Obama Speaks Out on 2012 Michael D. Shear, of to break the cycle Trying “The rise of Black Lives Matter: 2015. and Mallory Simon. Sara, Sidner, Cambridge University York: New . as Social Drama Climate Change 2015. and Nicolas Howe. Philip, Smith, New of the Birth of Chinese Communism. Account The Classic China: Red Star Over (1938) 2007. Edgar. Snow, New 1945–1975 . of Civil Rights, Age in the White Southerners Goes My Everything: There 2006. Jason. Sokol, The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and the The Civil Rights Struggle, The Press, The Race Beat: 2007. and Hank Klibanoff. Gene, Roberts, . for Change Communities Organizing Black of the Civil Rights Movement: The Origins 1984. Aldon D. Morris, .”“Naked Power and The Civil Sphere 2007. Aldon D. Morris, Simon York: New American Community. of The Collapse and Revival Alone: Bowling 2000. Robert D. Putnam, In Social Memorial.” Warsaw Brandt’s Kneefall at the Willy Action: “Symbols in 2006. Valentin. Rauer, of Cultural American Journal A Study of Bacon’s Rebellion” “Charismatic Performance: 2013. Isaac. Reed, Moore, Darnell, L. 2015b. “Two Years Later, Black Lives Matter Faces Critiques, But it Won’t Be Stopped.” Stopped.” Be Won’t But it Faces Critiques, Lives Matter Black Later, Years “Two 2015b. L. Darnell, Moore, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00620 by guest on 29September 2021

42 Jeffrey C. Alexander Zillgit, Jeff, andChrisStrauss. 2014. “Protests greetPrince William andKateatCavaliers-Nets.” USA Wu, Guo. 2014. “Recalling Bitterness:Historiography, Memory, andMythinMaoistChina.” Twentieth- Woods, Eric Taylor. 2016. ACultural Sociologyofthe Anglican MissionandtheIndianResidentialSchools in Wilson, William Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The InnerCity, theUnderclass, andPublicPolicy. Weber, Max. (1922)1978. Economy andSociety: An OutlineofInterpretive Sociology. Edited byGuentherRoth Terrill, Ross. 1984. The White BonedDemon: A Biography ofMadameMaoZedong.New York: William teleSUR. 2014. “2014 FreedomRide Arrives inFerguson Today.” 29 August. Accessed 17July2016. www Stockman, Farah. 2016. “On CrimeBillandtheClintons, Young BlacksClash With Parents.” NewYork Sun, Feiyu. 2013. SocialSufferingandPolitical. China Confession:SukuinModern PekingUniversitySerieson Sullivan, John, DerekHawkins, KateMcCormick, Ashley Balcerzak, and Wesley Lowery. 2016. “In fatal /cavaliers-nets-protests-william-kate-lebron-james-i-cant-breathe-shirts/20122331/ Today. 9December. Accessed 17July2016. www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/12/08 China39,Century 3:245–68. Canada: The LongRoadto Apology. New York: Palgrave. Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress. and Claus Wittich. Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress. Morrow. .telesurtv.net/english/news/2014-Freedom-Ride-Arrives-in-Ferguson-Today-20140829-0032.html. Times,18 April:A1. Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 1. World Scientific:Beijing. -undisclosed/2016/03/31/4bb08bc8-ea10-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html. 2016. shootings bypolice, 1in5officers’namesgoundisclosed.” Washington Post ,1 April.17 July Accessed www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-fatal-shootings-by-police-1-in-5-officers-names-go .