The power of protest on policing: Black Lives Matter protest and civilian evaluation of the police

• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Author: James E. Wright,Dongfang Gaozhao,Kenneth Dukes,Da'Shay Templeton
• Date: 01 January 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13498

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The power of protest on policing: Black Lives Matter protest

and civilian evaluation of the police

James E. Wright II

1

| Dongfang Gaozhao

1

| Kenneth Dukes

1

|Da’Shay Templeton

2

1

Askew School of Public Administration and

Policy, Florida State University, Tallahassee,

Florida, USA

2

College of Education, Florida State University,

Tallahassee, Florida, USA

Correspondence

James E. Wright II, Askew School of Public

Administration and Policy, Florida State

University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.

Email: jwright4@fsu.edu

Abstract

In 2020, police brutality against Black Americans catalyzed Black Lives Matter

(BLM) protests across all 50 states. Though BLM protests continue to permeate

society, few scholars explore how these protests change Americans’perceptions

of the police. To investigate this phenomenon more meticulously, we adminis-

tered an online survey experiment—oversampling Black American participants—

to measure how protest culture, specifically BLM protests, influences civilians’per-

ceptions of the police. Our survey found that (1) Black American participants have

a lower evaluation of police performance, but a higher evaluation of the BLM

Movement than White American participants; (2) the presence of a general protest

negatively impacts peoples’perception of safety, police trustworthiness, and

police performance; and (3) a BLM protest casts a stronger effect on White Ameri-

can participants than on Black American participants. Using Critical Race Theory

and QuantCrit these findings suggest that the visibility of BLM protests changes

both Black and White perceptions of the police to varying degrees.

Evidence for Practice

•Protests within a city negatively impact peoples’perception of safety, police

trustworthiness, and police performance.

•White Americans feel less safe in cities that have a Black Lives Matter protest.

•Using a Critical Race Theory framework to evaluate policing can contribute to

the development of a race-conscious practice, which will ultimately upend the

neutrality that is assumed within public organizations.

INTRODUCTION

Civilian perception, satisfaction, and trust in government

are topics of great interest in public administration.

According to the Pew Research Center (2019), civilian

trust and satisfaction with the government have

maintained relatively low levels (less than 25% approval)

in the last decade. Furthermore, multiple grassroots and

social movement organizations surfaced in the United

States, partly attributed to the lack of trust and satisfac-

tion in federal, state, and local governments. Organiza-

tions, such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the MeToo

Movement, push for change in the public sector, ranging

from increased police accountability to making more

comprehensive federal sexual harassment laws. While

both organizations play an intricate role in holding public

bureaucracies accountable, BLM has held more protests

against state-sponsored violence and state actors.

In 2012, George Zimmerman beat, shot, and killed a

young Black American boy, Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman,

a Neighborhood Watch Captain armed with a gun, felt

threatened by an unarmed teenager who carried Skittles,

a cell phone, and a bottle of ice tea (Dahl, 2013). Martin’s

death and Zimmerman’s acquittal sparked national out-

rage across Black communities not seen since the Civil

Rights Movement (Jones-Eversley et al., 2017). In 2013, a

Facebook message of solidarity written by Alicia Garza to

all Black people, followed by Patrisse Khan-Cullors’

#BlackLivesMatter led to a new movement

(McBride, 2019). The BLM Movement further developed in

the following year when Tamir Rice’s death in conjunction

with the non-indictment of police officer Darren Wilson

over the death of Michael Brown caused fresh indignation

(Anderson & Hitlin, 2016; Gallagher et al., 2018). Since

then, the BLM Movement has involved street demonstra-

tions to oppose police violence.

Received: 14 April 2021 Revised: 21 March 2022 Accepted: 23 March 2022

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13498

130 © 2022 American Society for Public Administration. Public Admin Rev. 2023;83:130–143.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/puar