Politely asking for change has never worked, and never will. History is evident of this. There’s a common thread whenever a protest happens that causes an inconvenience — whether it’s blocking traffic, occupying a public space, or hosting a rally in a major shopping district — that it’s targeting the wrong people.

With Super Bowl 50 events taking place in downtown San Francisco, people are worried about the potential for protests to disrupt the festivities.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, protesters chained themselves to their cars on the Bay Bridge, blocking traffic for around 30 minutes. The demonstrators were affiliated with Black.Seed, a self-described queer liberation group, and said the protest was in step with King’s civil disobedience with a message against police brutality.

Drivers feel they shouldn’t be hindered by the actions of the protesters when they are just trying to get home, go to work, spend money, etc. Often the questions asked include: “Why not protest in a park?” “Why now?” and “What if an ambulance couldn’t get through the protest?” The questions were usually followed by complaints about causing more traffic and that “Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t have stood for this.”

It’s ironic to see so many people invoke King’s words about civil disobedience, but look down on and criticize the modern civil rights movements going on around the country. King did, in fact, lead a peaceful demonstration over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an attempt to march to Alabama’s capital of Montgomery. The very nature of civil disobedience is to be disruptive and bring attention to the issues at hand. People seem more concerned with blocked traffic than people actually dying from what is being protested in the first place.

Blocking the Bay Bridge is, unfortunately, something to do when nothing else is working. Yes, it’s going to anger people, but it also makes other people ask “why?” and gets their attention.

Besides, the Bay Area is a haven for protests, hailing back to the 1960s with student demonstrations at UC Berkeley. Bridge protests aren’t a new phenomenon, either. On July 3, parents and children marched over the Golden Gate Bridge to protest California’s mandatory vaccine law. And the Bay Bridge has been shut down for a number of reasons in the past, including on Nov. 21, when a TV commercial shoot interrupted traffic causing massive congestion. If you live in the Bay Area or have driven into San Francisco, it’s not uncommon to run into significant traffic every day, with or without a protest.

Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. seemed “crazy” and radical for trying to effect change, until the activists won their fights and became icons of civil disobedience. Being inconvenienced is part of what it takes to see a shift in politics and breakthroughs of change.

Spencer Whitney is assistant editor for The San Francisco Chronicle’s opinion pages. E-mail: swhitney@sfchronicle.com