What's the history of 'outside agitators'? Here's what to know about the label and campus protests

Many college and city leaders have blamed outside organizers for recent protests at universities around the country against U.S. support of Israel’s war in Gaza. On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said “outside agitators” working to “radicalize our children” were leading students to use extreme tactics. At a growing number of campuses, that label has been used to justify the use of force. It's part of a long history of state and federal officials dismissing protest movements as the work of outsiders. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in 1963 from the Birmingham jail: “Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea."