Protesting Black Inequality: A Commentary on the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter

Using the theoretical scaffold of the relative deprivation theory, we present a commentary that delineates: (a) the 4 stages of social movements (e.g., emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline) and (b) sociopolitical and ethno-generational leadership, networks, narratives and tactics of the Civil Rights Movement compared with the Black Lives Matter. We provide a commentary on the 2 social movements’ precipitating events during the emergence and coalescence stages. Also, the social-psychological pressures of mainstream social justice protest during the bureaucratization and decline stages are explored to highlight the emotional toil that threaten social movements and the lives of its leaders.