The Street Theater That Pretends to Change America

Something tragic happened in Minneapolis. A woman named Renée Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer during an enforcement operation. Yes, a woman died, and yes, this will get serious scrutiny and investigation.

It should.

But the national conversation has already veered away from the facts of the case and into something else entirely.

Once again, the streets are filling with crowds who believe the most effective political strategy in America is to block traffic, scream at officers, and drag the rest of the country into chaos.

And once again, they are wrong.

Protests are not about persuasion, but performance

I was scrolling through Facebook and saw clip after clip of young activists hurling themselves into roadways, confronting ICE agents, and creating dangerous situations for everyone around them.

They treat this like a badge of honor. Clips for TikTok. Street theater for social media. A chance to look brave in front of their peers.

But when they do this, they are not punishing law enforcement or government agencies. They are punishing the public.

They are punishing the mom trying to pick up her child after school.
They are punishing the worker who needs to get to his shift, or he will be fired.
They are punishing the man trying to get to the hospital for a loved one.
They are punishing the elderly person stuck in a car needing a bathroom.
They are punishing the family heading to a birthday dinner.

They harm real people. Innocent people. Everyday Americans who had nothing to do with ICE, immigration law, or federal policy.

This strategy never works. It cannot work. It only creates resentment.

If these tactics actually changed public opinion, the 2020 riots would have reshaped America from top to bottom. Cities burned. Streets were taken over. Billions in damage. Endless national conversation.

If chaos had political power, Trump would not be President right now.

But the exact opposite happened. People watched the destruction and said, “I want law and order.” They did not say, “Tell me more about dismantling institutions.”

Street conflict does not build coalitions. It builds trenches.

Ordinary Americans talk about the chaos, not the cause.

Moms and dads are not sitting at the dinner table talking about complex immigration issues. They are not debating the legal nuances of ICE interactions. They are not lecturing their children about the geopolitical context behind border enforcement.

They are talking about the insanity they saw on the highway. They are talking about the people blocking freeways during rush hour. They are talking about how frightening it is that strangers feel entitled to shut down entire cities.

When these protesters get hauled off to jail, normal people do not shed tears.

When they get pepper-sprayed, normal people are not writing poetry about injustice. When they point a moving car at law enforcement and officers respond, the public does not erupt in sympathy.

The public says, “What did they expect.”

Real persuasion never happens through disruption. It happens through credibility.

You cannot change minds by ruining someone’s day. You cannot win hearts by trapping a father on the interstate while his child waits alone outside a school. You cannot earn respect by forcing firefighters, EMTs, and police to divert resources because someone wants performative heroism.

That is not courage. That is narcissism wrapped in activism.

The shooting of Renée Good will be investigated. It should be.

But the street behavior unfolding in its wake, the theatrics, the roadway blockades, the manipulation of public space, have nothing to do with justice for Good.

They are about spectacle. They are about identity. They are about the rush of confrontation.

And while they may impress the already convinced, they alienate everyone else.

This is America’s protest problem in a single sentence

Street theater is not a movement. Street theater is a tantrum with cameras rolling.

And voters do not reward tantrums.

Leave a comment

Before you go

Martin Mawyer is the President of Christian Action Network, host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast, and author of When Evil Stops Hiding. Follow him on Substack for more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom.