Outside agitator is a term that has been used to discount political unrest as being driven by outsiders, rather than by internal discontent. The term was popularized during the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, when Southern authorities discounted African-American protests as being driven by Northern white radicals, rather than being legitimate expressions of grievances.[1][2]
The term gained further prominence during the George Floyd protests, with local officials in Minneapolis claiming that most protesters were not from the city, despite jail records and social media indicating otherwise.[3] The term was also used during the Ferguson unrest in 2014.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Cindy Milstein (October 21, 2015). Taking Sides: Revolutionary Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism. AK Press. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-1-84935-232-1.
- ^ Leslie Vincent Tischauser (1998). Black/white Relations in American History: An Annotated Bibliography. Scarecrow Press. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-0-8108-3389-0.
- ^ Brett Murphy; Josh Salman; Dak Le (May 31, 2020). "Officials blame 'out-of-state' agitators but those at the heart of protests are homegrown". USA Today. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
- ^ "Unmasking The 'Outside Agitator'". NPR. June 10, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2021.