Expert Commentary: University of Richmond Black Politics Scholar Shares Insights on Protest Strategy

“Protest without strategy is ineffective,” says Andrea Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Richmond. “In the spate of protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others named and unnamed, there is a lot to be said about the disruption of non-violent passive resistance by police and what is wrong with the strategies and tactics of demonstrations today.”

A teenage participant in the Sanitation Workers strike, Simpson was there at the last march led by King - the one that ended in a “riot.” She has dedicated her academic career to researching the Environmental Justice Movement and effective protest strategy.

“There is compelling literature on ‘leaderless movements’ and ‘bottom-up’ resistance, and I have to question the approach to protest politics,” Simpson says. “We, of course, need local organizers and leaders, but protest without strategy is ineffective.”

Simpson is a scholar of U.S. politics with concentrations in Black politics and the politics of gender and intersectionality. The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association named her first book, The Tie that Binds the “Best Book of 1998 on Racial Identity”. 

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Media wishing to connect with Simpson for comments should contact Lindsey Campbell, media relations specialist, at lcampbe4@richmond.edu.