This Revolution...

...Will Be Televised.

The difference between now and 1970, when Gil-Scott Heron wrote and recorded the song I am riffing off of is that everyone now has a video camera. Every store has security cameras as well, and plenty of other eyes in the sky are watching all of our public spaces.

The amount of surveillance we live with is staggering. Your cellphone tracks your location in real-time; law enforcement agencies can gain access to that data without much trouble.

Massive databases are bought and sold in the private sector by companies that want to entice you to purchase things. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies can easily access all of that information too. There is, effectively, no privacy any longer, although most of us operate as if there still is.

Some of this surveillance has a positive effect. Have you noticed that every major terrorist event in recent times has resulted in a manhunt for the suspected perpetrator that is successful within hours or days?

That is the good news. Surveillance keeps us safe.

On the other side of the coin, police officers who employ violence against protestors cannot escape consequences either. The people being watched by the police are in turn watching the police right back. Surveillance in this age is a two-way street; very few people can live off the grid.

Governments may have sophisticated surveillance workforces but they are vastly outnumbered by...the people.

Normally this doesn't really matter but in a time like the present one, the sheer numbers of people demanding change is virtually certain to achieve at least some notable successes. My best guess is that the police departments in our cities will never be the same -- funding will be redirected into less violent methods of crowd control and discrimination against minorities will be partially eradicated.

The change will not be complete; institutional racism is too deeply embedded in our police culture to disappear overnight. But things will get better.

Some will disagree with me, with plenty of logic and evidence on their side. I admit to being an optimist who sees the hopeful signs amidst the dark clouds of despair. I don't see how so many people can march to no avail.

The demonstrations of the 1960s directly led to the end of the war in Vietnam. What progress that has been achieved in civil rights since then came directly from the non-violent protests led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his colleagues.

Real changes happened; real problems remain. Once again, after a half century has passed, millions of people are pouring out into the streets demanding justice and an end to racist police violence.

This progressive movement is feared and demonized by conspiracy theorists who increasingly have no place to hide. Their social media accounts and cellphones and propaganda are monitored along with everyone else's.

For example, the baseless theory that the 75-year-old man attacked by police in Buffalo was a member of Antifa is extremist propaganda aimed to divert gullible people from seeing the truth. But the cameras wielded by fellow protestors captured what actually happened.

Yes, this revolution is being televised in real-time. It is not 1970 any longer. The perpetrators of hate and lies can run, but they can't hide. They too are visible for all to see.

One way to gauge where all of this is headed will be to track whether voting habits evolve this November. Young people, who are leading the demonstrations for change, historically vote in far lesser numbers than older people.

Since this entire process of social activism has been overwhelmingly peaceful, a hopeful person would conclude that the process will continue at the polls in November.

But that is a long time from now. When we think back five months, most of us were not even aware of Covid-19 yet and there were no protests in the streets.

Sports were still a dominant form of entertainment in our culture; massive crowds attended games all over the country.

People still shopped at stores and malls back then; economic activity was strong. Unemployment was low, the stock market was high.

As the states open back up, some of that activity will return but not all. Many jobs will not come back. Many more people will work remotely. Freeways and public transport systems will not be as crowded.

Accordingly, carbon pollution will be at lower levels than previously was the case. The earth will be able to relax a bit as it struggles to survive the burdens of human despoilment. A window will open for the nations of the world to attack climate change. And yes the stock market will stay high, bless it.

Our children and grandchildren will begin to inherit the institutions of power. Their values and sensitivities will supplant ours. A new rhythm will define public life, just as the pace of the marching in the streets in 2020 is much faster than it was in the '60s.

There is a new urgency now; broad cross-sections of the population understand that our survival as a species is at stake, and that time may be short if we don't act.

The old will be replaced by the new. The climate deniers will be ridiculed by historians; the racists will see their public statues destroyed. One way or another, wealth will be redistributed.

The edge of that future is upon us. And, yes, this time the revolution will be televised.

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