What is Peaceful Protest?

It's no secret that when word got around the news of the recent death of Jacob Blake, we would know that the civil rights BLM, "Black Lives Matter" movement would organize protest in response to the supposed killing of an unarmed black man, Jacob Blake. This tragic incident comes months after the infamous murder of George Floyd, who died during an incident with police officers. This protest incident occurred in Portland, Oregon, a city that has become infamous for its riots and Antifa activities. It did not surprise me when I saw the news that a supporter of the President, was shot and killed during an encounter with a BLM protester. This got me wondering, where have we gone as a society, when it comes to free speech. I asked myself if anyone ever truly read the first amendment and understand how much access it gives people. Some protesters say their behavior may be justified and that it is just peaceful protests going on out there in America. I believe, and have no choice but to believe, that every American born citizen has the right to protest what ever they want. But do we understand what a peaceful protest means? I started asking myself this question during the George Floyd protests. By this time, I am sure everyone has seen protest in regards to police brutality and how these protest unfold in the street. Every time I put on the news channel to see what was up in the world, all I saw was RIOTS. Some may refer to those protests as peaceful, but those were RIOTS. According to study.com a peaceful protest is defined as "Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, or other methods, while being nonviolent." As a society, I feel as though we have forgotten what a peaceful protest is. At the same time of saying this, I have seen videos of peaceful gatherings, real peaceful protests, they did not involve explosions, fire works, breaking windows, assaulting law enforcement, or fist fights with other citizens of the city. RIOTS are what the media is portraying in the news and leading people to believe that all these protestors are doing is rioting and looting and destroying property. From a personal perspective, and as a Cary, North Carolina resident, I have seen these protests in person. They start off very peaceful, with people just walking around the streets, with their signs, and not engaging with law enforcement who was deployed to watch the event to ensure everyone's safety, it wouldn't be until later that night that things started to get out of hand. This would be when Antifa gets involved and just starts to cause havoc. This leaves the officers with no choice but to abide by the law and use lethal force to get things under control. These encounters are recorded and given to the media for them to display as what the "peaceful protest" look like. Now a days, it is so confusing to determine what truly makes a peaceful protest now a days. In a world so confusing, and one that seems to be forgetting about the existence of God, it is true that we are struggling on how to function as a society and there's so much violence and hate in today's world that we need to remember how the first amendment works, and to remember that God is real and he can fix this. A peaceful protest is literally defined by what I said above.