A Convergence of Crises: Sudden Employment Loss and Black Lives Matter Protest Attendance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s murder during the summer of 2020 demonstrated an unprecedented scale of mobilization against police violence. This mobilization has been theorized as a response to the “triple crisis” of police brutality, coronavirus disease 2019, and its resulting economic downturn. The authors provide an analysis of the triple-crisis theory by analyzing how the rapid health crisis and economic recession related to protest participation. They collect data on protest attendance and sudden employment loss in 491 commuting zones in the United States and find that employment loss is positively and significantly associated with greater rates of Black Lives Matter protest attendance. This relationship is not observed for other protests during the pandemic, indicating a specific relationship between police brutality and economic shock rather than a general moment of heightened contention. These findings expand the social movement literature on contemporary protests, examining interconnections between systems of injustice across issue areas.