There was nothing spontaneous about the breadth and scope of the protests that rocked the nation last month, said veteran activist Monifa Bandele, a member of the policy table of the Movement for Black Lives. “It really came off of six years of tough, exciting and inspiring mass organizing,” said Bandele. The unprecedented level of white participation was the result of “half a decade of telling non-white activists, ‘This is what it looks like, so follow the lead of Black organizations.’”