Why You Should Protest In Rich Neighborhoods

America’s decision makers don’t live in low income neighborhoods. Most of our country’s monsters occupy mansions in the hills and luxury high-rises that keep them hoisted above the hell on earth that their greed has created. So why do the vast majority of America’s protests happen in places the powerful don’t give a fuck about?

Back in the early ‘90s, the LAPD brutalized Rodney King, in what was one of the first times in modern American history where police brutality wasn’t only caught on camera, but was also widely covered by the mainstream media. Despite the overwhelming evidence that the officers were in the wrong, all of the officers who faced criminal charges for the beating of Rodney King were acquitted until the federal government stepped in and pressed charges some months later.

Naturally, when all of the officers involved were acquitted locally, people were pissed. And this anger manifested into what we know today as the LA Riots. Some people speak fondly of the LA riots, but it’s hard to understand why. The people who suffered during the LA riots weren’t police officers or the ultra wealthy who benefit from the incredibly racist and classist status quo. The protests, which quickly turned into a full scale riot, happened primarily in South Central Los Angeles. The homes and businesses that were burned were homes and businesses that belonged to the working class. The people who were injured and killed were among the most disadvantaged members of the proletariat. The LA riots could be described as understandable anger manifesting into collective self-harm. 

San Francisco is similar. When protests (or riots) take place in the Bay Area, they’re never in places where the wealthy are inconvenienced. While marching in the Mission District certainly makes a statement, it’s unfortunately not a statement anyone with power really listens to. When Downtown Oakland burns, most people shrug and chalk it up to “Oakland being Oakland.” 

This is why protests, or even riots rarely lead to change. If you want political change, you have to make the wealthy as uncomfortable as possible. This means taking up space in their neighborhoods. When was the last time Pac Heights saw a protest?

While police tend to protect affluent areas, the police have their limits. They’re not gods. They’re people with finite resources. Back in 2020, Michel Moore, then chief of the LAPD, the largest police department in the state said, “We can handle one 10,000-person protest, but ten 1,000-person protests throughout the city will overwhelm us.”   

Imagine the impact demonstrations could have if you had one in Noe Valley, one in Pac Heights, one in Nob Hill, one in Glen Park, one in Saint Francis Woods, one in Forest Hill, and so on with a thousand or more demonstrators. SFPD would be spread too thin to respond. Say, hypothetically, the Bay and Golden Gate bridges were also being blocked at the time. The City would effectively shut down. And the elite, through nothing else but pure desperation, would have to be willing to at least acknowledge your demands. 

Fuck centralized protests in downtowns and low-income areas. 2025 is about decentralized protests in rich neighborhoods. If you want things to change, if you want politicians to listen, you have to adapt. So adapt. Also don’t riot, that just gives them an excuse to bring in the National Guard. Also riots usually hurts normal people just trying to survive.

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