Outrage, fear, and demands for change continue to fuel protesters all over the country and in Austin a week since George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, died after a police officer used his knee to pin Floyd's neck against the ground.
"There is a precedent when we think of the 1960s and the civil rebellions that we saw and the political uprisings in the context of the civil rights, black power era," said Dr. Peniel Joseph, professor of public affairs at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin.
Joseph says violence during the civil rights era dwarfs what cities are seeing today in the wake of daily demonstrations. Yet, the protests still show some similarities to that time including protest conduct and the police's use of force in response to the crowds.
"When we think about Selma, Alabama and the Edmond Pettus Bridge in 1965, those were Alabama State troopers that attacked peaceful protesters. When we think of Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, the water hoses and German shepherds [were] unleashed on peaceful protesters," said Joseph. "So there is a large history of law enforcement as protection or the tool to protect the status quo, whatever that status quo may be."