Throughout our class discussions about various communities using their bodies for change, I got flashbacks to middle school science class when I first learned about potential and kinetic energy. I think the thing that makes non-violent protests so powerful is that they mirror the concept of potential energy. Potential energy is defined as “the stored energy an object has due to its position, state, or composition.” The part of the definition regarding position is what stuck out to me. For example, with the Susan Foster Reading, and how we learned about various social justice movements, particularly the lunch counter sit ins. During these sit-ins, the activists weaponized the perceived kinetic energy that the media places on the black community, that they always lash out and are always violent. With these sit-ins, they flipped that media narrative on its head by weaponizing the potential energy and power that their bodies had. I think it is so important to note how non violent protests in general tips the scales in favor of marginalized groups, such as the black community, LGBTQ+ community, disabled community, incarcerated people, and anyone whose power has been stripped away from them because of their position in society, I am in no way saying that violent protests do not also tip the scales as well, but oftentimes these communities have to resort to non violent protests because they cannot afford to further or reinforce any sort of negative sterotypes pushed onto their community.