Pro-Sandinista rally, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, June 1979
Photographer: David Gonzalez

Clearly the election of Donald Trump has revived interest in mass protest among the rank and file of the Democratic Party and its left-leaning allies, and it may seem to some as if we’re in the midst of a “revival” of truly vital protesting after decades of apparent hibernation. One might even conclude that the 1980s and 1990s will go down in history as a quiescent era of reaction and conformity.

Don’t believe it.

In recent decades, protests have never not been a thing—in the nation’s largest city, New York, there hasn’t ever been a year that wasn’t marked by significant protests over topics like abortion, AIDS, housing, police brutality, foreign affairs, queer rights, animal rights, and anti-war demonstrations.

In the more recent political era, there has been a notion that successful protests are always peaceful protests, but “Whose Streets? Our Streets! New York City: 1980–2000,” the remarkable exhibition currently at the Bronx Documentary Center (614 Courtlandt Avenue) gives the lie to that claim as well. The powers that be, including the police, aren’t always willing to permit righteous protest to take place in a peaceful manner, and sometimes blood is shed, automobiles are overturned, and large objects are set on fire.

The show ends on March 5, so if you’re in the vicinity, make sure to get out and check it out before it closes.

(Also, take part in any protests in your area that conform to your particular views!)
 

Nuclear Freeze Rally, Central Park, Manhattan, June 1982
Photographer: Richard Sandler
 

Memorial to AIDS victims, Central Park, Manhattan, June 1983
Photographer: Alon Reininger
 

The Guerrilla Girls, feminist art activists, Manhattan, 1985
Photographer: Lori Grinker
 

ACT UP protest for for AIDS drugs, research and funding, Federal Plaza, Manhattan, June 1987
Photographer: Donna Binder
 

ACT UP member Mark Harrington arrested at demonstration to lower the prices for AIDS drugs. Manhattan, March 1988
Photographer: Richard Renaldi
 

A woman wearing a fur coat walks past anti-fur protesters, Manhattan, 1989
Photographer: Gabe Kirchheimer
 

Pro-choice demonstrators in downtown Manhattan protest the Supreme Court’s Webster decision, which imposed limitations on Roe v. Wade, Manhattan, 1989
Photographer: Nina Berman
 

Homeless activist Keith Thompson and others protest for affordable housing in Alphabet City, Manhattan, August 1989
Photographer: Q. Sakamaki
 

“Day of Outrage” March protesting of the race mob killing of African American youth Yusef Hawkins in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, August 1989
Photographer: Mark Peterson
 

ACT UP at the Waldorf Astoria, Manhattan, 1990
Photographer: Dona Ann McAdams
 

Reverend Al Sharpton leads a protest over the attack that killed 16-year-old Yusuf Hawkins, Slave Theater, Brooklyn, May 1990
Photographer: Brian Palmer
 

Activists and Salvadoran expats protest death squad murders in El Salvador, Manhattan, September 1990
Photographer: Edwin Pagan
 

During the forceful eviction of the homeless from Tompkins Square Park, some of park’s residents burn their tents in protest, Manhattan, December 1989
Photographer: Q. Sakamaki
 

ACT UP die-in at the LBGT Pride Parade, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, June 1991
Photographer: Donna Binder
 

Police officer throttles a man NYPD accused of throwing bottles at them during three days of race riots following the death of Gyanese-American Gavin Cato, a seven-year-old boy killed after being hit by a vehicle driven by Yosef Lifsh in the motorcade of Lubavitcher Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, August 1991
Photographer: Brian Palmer
 

Crown Heights riots, Brooklyn, August 1991
Photographer: Linda Rosier
 

Pro-Choice march, Manhattan, 1992
Photographer: Sandra Lee Phipps
 

Pro-choice march, Manhattan, 1992
Photographer: Meg Handler
 

Protesters demonstrate for several days in Washington Heights in the wake of the shooting of Jose “Kiko” Garcia by an undercover police officer during a drug sweep of the neighborhood, Washington Heights, Manhattan, July 1992
Photographer: Ricky Flores
 

Demonstrations in the wake of the shooting of Jose “Kiko” Garcia by an undercover police officer during a drug sweep of the neighborhood, Washington Heights, Manhattan, July 1992
Photographer: Ricky Flores
 

Squatters defend their building on East 13th Street, Manhattan, 1995
Photographer: Andrew Lichtenstein
 

Squatters and their supporters form a protective line in front of their building on East 13th Street after police in riot gear arrived to evict them from their homes, Manhattan, 1995
Photographer: Andrew Lichtenstein
 

Supporters of the Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibit “Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection,” which irritated Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who proposed curbs on the content in the show, Manhattan, October 1999
Photographer: Les Stone
 

Women in Black New York City wear “The Dresses” to a celebration of International Women’s Day at the United Nations, Manhattan, 2000
Photographer: Lisa Kahane
 
via Hyperallergic

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Fox News dickhead punched at labor protests in Michigan
Manhattan May Day protest turns nasty