In a mid-May interview, Frances Fox Piven predicted “waves of mass protest” in the United States’ near future. Since then, the country has erupted into an unprecedented multiracial mass movement against police brutality.

It’s no surprise that Piven predicted this uprising, given that she has spent the last fifty years studying the background conditions that enable mass protest to emerge. Piven’s attention to the dynamics of protest, her study of race and class in US social movements, and her experience as a welfare rights and electoral organizer give her an essential perspective on this moment.

Mie Inouye spoke with Piven about the conditions that contributed to the current uprising, the reasons for its multiracial character, the role of organizers in a movement moment, property destruction as a tactic, the movement’s electoral implications, and the possibility of a revolution in the United States. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.