3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives 3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
direct action, but self-defense had proved successful in the stnrggle, too : a fact eclipsed by the r+eductionist simplicity of the "violenVnonviolent" dichotomy. When discussing the civil rights movement, journalists, scholars and activists all used violence to dune nonviolence, and vice versa.3 This tradition stemmed from a natural tendency to understand a difficult concept in terms of its opposite . Imported from Hinduism, nonviolence was, literally, a foreign concept to most Americans; violence, on the other hand, was something which most could understand . Accordingly, a dichotomy of sorts came into play which offered a relatively simple way to describe the actions of protestors : nonviolent or violent, which was to say, Gandhian or not . Activists were either willing to take up arms to ensure black equality or they were not . In their assessments of the movement, the American public would come to embrace the violenVnonviolent dichotomy . If Americans would use violence to define nonviolence in the mid-late 1950's, then they would conversely use nonviolence in the early-mid 1960's to define violence and its place in the civil rights movement. Etymologically, "violence" meant the opposite of nonviolence (at least in relation to organized protest). That is, if nonviolence meant abstaining from violence as a matter of principle, then violence meant using force ; if nonviolence required loving one's enemies, then violence was ~-nonviolence, presumably For an example of this dichotomization, see J . H. Griffin, "On Either Side of Violence," Satu y Review 4S (October 27, 1962): 38 . For examples in black periodicals, see "Violence versus Non-violence," [photo editorial] F~4py 20 (April 1965) : 168-69 ; C. Oglesby, "Revolution : Violence or Nonviolence," 13 (July/August 1968) : 36-37 ; see also A. J . Muste, "Rifle squads or the beloved community," 9 (May 1964): 7- 12 . 82
characterized by hatred or meanness of spirit.4 But the original definitions of these words became confused through misuse . In their quest for simplicity, fed by the demands of their readerships, journalists who tracked the movement often failed to grasp the nuances involved and used words such as "nonviolence" and "pacifism" interchangeably.s Nonviolence, to them, meant passive resistance, gradualism, or sometimes even acquiescence . Conversely, they interpreted violence within the movement to mean murder, or retributive action against whites 6 The word "violence," Nonviolence, as conceived by Martin Luther King, Jr., meant love or purity of heart. He often reinforced the notion of anti-nonviolence when criticizing violence rhetorically. For example, in 1967 he wrote : "Violence is the antithesis of creativity and wholeness . It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible ." Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here : Chaos or Communitv? (New York : Harper and Row, Publishers, 1967), 6l . See also Martin Luther King, Jr., "Nonviolence : The Only Road to Freedom," F~4Qy 21 (October 1966) : 27-30+ . Mahatma Gandhi took great pains to distinguish between satyagraha (what he sometimes called "non-violence") and passive resistance, which he termed "the reverse of resistance by arms." See Louis Fischer, The Essential Gandhi : His Life. Work, and Ideas (New York : Vintage, 1962), 87-88 . SFor an example of nonviolence as pacifism, see "Negro Tries Passive Resistance," [photographic essay] New York Times MaQ~azine (May 28, 1961) : 12-13 . Martin Luther King, Jr. initially refert+ed to nonviolence as passivity himself. "He didn't even use the word [nonviolence] at first," the Reverend Glenn Smiley has noted . "He used `passive resistance' almost entirely." Smiley, quoted in David J . Garrow, 8earina the Cross : Martin Luther King Jr. . and the Southern Christian Leadershig Conference (New York : Vintage, 1986), 72. DDavid Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, would describe this phenomenon expertly in his autobiography, in which he discusses a press conference in 1968 : The reporters think we'll shy away from our allegiance to self-defense . Aren't you violent? they ask, over and over again . No, we're not violent, we consistently answer. Violence is what is being done in Vietnam, where napalm burns the innocent to death . Violence is people going unemployed six months of the year, living with dnrgs and alcohol in their community. Violence is most assuredly a police force that harasses, terrorizes, and kills the people it is being paid to protest . But violence is not us standing with our guns saying simply, No, you can'tcome in here like you used to and 83
- Page 53 and 54: '~P~opk With StrenSth": Questioning
- Page 55 and 56: united behind him:'s Comparing his
- Page 57 and 58: paratroopers from the 101" Airborne
- Page 59 and 60: Williams respected what he called "
- Page 61 and 62: NAACP had always appealed, he scour
- Page 63 and 64: Montgomery was buried without incid
- Page 65 and 66: motorcade with gunfiro when the car
- Page 67 and 68: slavery and oppression . Tire Negro
- Page 69 and 70: S-6 . at the heart of his nonviolen
- Page 71 and 72: act : anyone who would utilize nonv
- Page 73 and 74: folkways . Because they believed th
- Page 75 and 76: the South, found themselves spearhe
- Page 77 and 78: Brown ." sa That same month, Willia
- Page 79 and 80: pumping hundrr~ds of thousands of d
- Page 81 and 82: making better men either of themsel
- Page 83 and 84: He likened racism to a disease, a m
- Page 85 and 86: escalated . Rioting broke out. Then
- Page 87 and 88: Williams' ideas came to fruition in
- Page 89 and 90: When juxtaposed with the ideas of M
- Page 91 and 92: But if Willisms "made just as much
- Page 93 and 94: Whatever his place in prevailing hi
- Page 95 and 96: thinking merit special attention by
- Page 97 and 98: The women propared food, and served
- Page 99 and 100: candidate for county representative
- Page 101 and 102: tide of nonviolent diroct action ;
- Page 103: the sheriff again and told him that
- Page 107 and 108: terms of "`violence' versus `nonvio
- Page 109 and 110: than as separate entities, seenKd q
- Page 111 and 112: The best descriptor of Malcolm X wa
- Page 113 and 114: qualities in themselves. Finally, a
- Page 115 and 116: someone is treating you in a crimin
- Page 117 and 118: "You can't take a black man who is
- Page 119 and 120: attacked . Now, fve never been the
- Page 121 and 122: have, he wondered, to stop the loca
- Page 123 and 124: precluded him from being involved.
- Page 125 and 126: Malcolm "proved" his detractors to
- Page 127 and 128: Malcolm reveled in ambivalence, and
- Page 129 and 130: While his views on integration, whi
- Page 131 and 132: He summed up his speoch by doclarin
- Page 133 and 134: journalist, labeled them "the South
- Page 135 and 136: shifted from Jonesbom to 8ogalusa,
- Page 137 and 138: cost. The struggle for black equali
- Page 139 and 140: point, the Deacons had ban quietly
- Page 141 and 142: Under the aegis of their charter an
- Page 143 and 144: them ; they were attuned to the law
- Page 145 and 146: the head, causing a gash . Leneva T
- Page 147 and 148: One thing is apparent in this year
- Page 149 and 150: mistake" ; the presence of the Deac
- Page 151 and 152: done:' Sims said, "we walked like m
- Page 153 and 154: he waa killedj, but I believe he wa
characterized by hatred or meanness of spirit.4<br />
But the original definitions of these words became confused through misuse . In their<br />
quest for simplicity, fed by the dem<strong>and</strong>s of their readerships, journalists who tracked the<br />
movement often failed to grasp the nuances involved <strong>and</strong> used words such as "nonviolence"<br />
<strong>and</strong> "pacifism" interchangeably.s Nonviolence, to them, meant passive resistance,<br />
gradualism, or sometimes even acquiescence . Conversely, they interpreted violence within<br />
the movement to mean murder, or retributive action against whites 6 The word "violence,"<br />
Nonviolence, as conceived by Martin Luther King, Jr., meant love or purity of heart. He<br />
often reinforced the notion of anti-nonviolence when criticizing violence rhetorically. For<br />
example, in 1967 he wrote : "Violence is the antithesis of creativity <strong>and</strong> wholeness . It<br />
destroys community <strong>and</strong> makes brotherhood impossible ." Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do<br />
We Go From Here : Chaos or Communitv? (New York : Harper <strong>and</strong> Row, Publishers, 1967),<br />
6l . See also Martin Luther King, Jr., "Nonviolence : The Only Road to <strong>Freedom</strong>," F~4Qy 21<br />
(October 1966) : 27-30+ . Mahatma G<strong>and</strong>hi took great pains to distinguish between<br />
satyagraha (what he sometimes called "non-violence") <strong>and</strong> passive resistance, which he<br />
termed "the reverse of resistance by arms." See Louis Fischer, The Essential G<strong>and</strong>hi : His<br />
Life. Work, <strong>and</strong> Ideas (New York : Vintage, 1962), 87-88 .<br />
SFor an example of nonviolence as pacifism, see "Negro Tries Passive Resistance,"<br />
[photographic essay] New York Times MaQ~azine (May 28, 1961) : 12-13 . Martin Luther<br />
King, Jr. initially refert+ed to nonviolence as passivity himself. "He didn't even use the word<br />
[nonviolence] at first," the Reverend Glenn Smiley has noted . "He used `passive resistance'<br />
almost entirely." Smiley, quoted in David J . Garrow, 8earina the Cross : Martin Luther King<br />
Jr. . <strong>and</strong> the Southern Christian Leadershig Conference (New York : Vintage, 1986), 72.<br />
DDavid Hilliard, Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, would describe this<br />
phenomenon expertly in his autobiography, in which he discusses a press conference in 1968 :<br />
The reporters think we'll shy away from our allegiance to self-defense . Aren't you<br />
violent? they ask, over <strong>and</strong> over again . No, we're not violent, we consistently answer.<br />
Violence is what is being done in Vietnam, where napalm burns the innocent to death .<br />
Violence is people going unemployed six months of the year, living with dnrgs <strong>and</strong><br />
alcohol in their community. Violence is most assuredly a police force that harasses,<br />
terrorizes, <strong>and</strong> kills the people it is being paid to protest . But violence is not us<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ing with our guns saying simply, No, you can'tcome in here like you used to <strong>and</strong><br />
83
Change language