"I don't agree with the protests."

My husband and I were talking to a friend of ours last night and the conversation turned to the protests last summer that were sparked by the murder of George Floyd. My husband asked her why she thought things have been quieter this summer. Her response was this:

"I don't agree with the protests and I really don't think they were necessary. I'm hearing about the Tulsa massacre from both sides. I didn't know anything about that before! Other topics are being discussed too - everyone is talking about the important things. So I don't think we needed the protests."

That didn't sound quite right to me, so I asked this question:

"How much of that conversation was a direct result of the protests, though? If people hadn't kept up a sustained fight and sustained pressure, would we all be talking about it now? Or would we all still know nothing about Tulsa and all the other race-based human rights violations and abuses we're confronted with now?"

She didn't have an answer. So, what do you think? Were the protests necessary to confront people with the awful realities of racism in America or would we have somehow stumbled into the current national conversation without them?