Galleria stores close during protest inside mall

From Houston's ABC affiliate, KTRK:

Protesters took to one of the busiest intersections in Houston in order to get their message out about the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. But in addition to the street-side protest, about 100 demonstrators headed inside the Galleria mall.

And

Some stores, including Neiman Marcus, Michael Kors, Microsoft and Macys, shut down temporarily. All the stores have since opened up.

Some shoppers questioned if this was really the best way to protest.  

More here.

When I posted this article on facebook, there was the usual concern trolling about the disruption of commerce, lost money, etc.  Here's a bit of how I responded.

I think that, generally, the whole idea of protest is to disrupt the normal proceedings of life. Otherwise, people can just go about their daily business and totally ignore the whole thing, staying ideologically safe and sanitized in their bubble-of-privilege enclaves.

People who condemn protests for shutting down roads and highways, commerce, etc., wouldn't be talking about it at all without the disruption.

Changing the way people perceive "the way things are" cannot be pretty or nice. Toes must necessarily be stepped on. We're all in this together, whether we want to admit it or not. To start talking about small businessmen is to miss the point entirely.

Also, screw the Galleria. It's a luxury mall for high end retailers. This is exactly the place that needs disruption. Every day.

'Nuff said.

Another article on the Galleria protest here.

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