CNN Analyst: An ‘Exciting Moment for Young Protesters’ in Ferguson

Tuesday night on “CNN Tonight,” host Don Lemon asked CNN political analyst Marc Lamont Hill whether he thought the protests in Ferguson over the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case were a “generational thing.”

“Marc Lamont Hill, let’s talk,” Lemon began. “You’re in New York City, and the gentleman there said he’s up in Harlem, he’s marching, and he said, ‘Listen, this generation, we have a voice,’ and they don’t want police brutality… is this a generational thing? Is this a young people’s movement?” Lemon asked.

“Oh, it absolutely is,” Hill replied. “You know, Dr. King used to say when dogs bite us in Birmingham, we bleed everywhere. This is a reenactment of that practice. Someone got hurt in Ferguson and we’re bleeding everywhere, you’re seeing around the country protests. One of the great protest chants in Ferguson last night was, ‘if we don’t get it, shut it down.’”

“You see people shutting down highways, you see people shutting down roads, you see people shutting down games and operas over the past few months,” Hill continued. “It’s an exciting moment for young protesters. Again, the violence is one thing, and we can bracket that for a moment, and talk about the 99.9 percent of the protesters who are trying to make change with the spectacle of protest and through organized action, cop watch programs, educational interventions, voter registration drives.”

“This is what activism is like, this is what democracy looks like,” Hill concluded.

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