The protests changed me in a lot of ways. One way was, I was by no means a class reductionist before. But the protests really woke me up to the real struggles of oppressed communities in the US and importantly, the revolutionary potential in those communities. I remember listening to Rev Left in my car and had to pull over for a minute to absorb it when Breht said something to the effect of "what did white socialists in America ever give us?! Bernie Sanders!? Fuck that! The real revolutionary potential is with oppressed communities."
Two main things:
It clarified to me that peaceful protest is largely ineffective, and that most people's standards for what constitutes a legitimate protest are specifically standards that render them ineffective at commanding the public's attention.
It clarified that the main political faction standing against the left really is liberals/neoliberals, and that they are really fucking good at co-opting lefty movements and redirecting their energy into symbolic bullshit. And anybody with a megaphone should be ignored as a plant for the pigs, who the fuck are these cunts with the *megaphones supposed to be otherwise? Literally trying to make their voices heard over the masses is part of the giveaway, as far as I'm concerned.
Also it fucked up my relationship with my family, because they reacted by becoming more reactionary and racist.
Seriously fuck the megaphone people. Really need to drill that home for next time.