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
Another spoech, entitled "Communication and Reality," he delivered to the Domestic Peace Corps on December 12, 1964 . The speech, purportedly about revolutions in Africa, quickly turned to self-defense. "Whatever weapon they [racists use, that's the one I'll use;' he said. "I go for talking the kind of language he talks :' Racists could not understand nonviolence, which Malcolm believed beyond their schematic reference . "If a man is speaking French, you can talk German all night long, he won't know what you're talking about ." Violence was a common tongue which all could understand. Reciprocity, he felt, was the key to combating racism.~9 If the government wanted peace, he argued, then it should do its job in affording black people protection and equal opportunity. The onus of responsibility for peace should not fall upon black activists who did not start the violence in the first place . Defending oneself did not cause violence : it was simply a response to a pre-existing state of disorder . Malcolm worked to undermine the violent/nonviolent dichotomy perpetuated by the media by redefining self-defense as something other than violent behavior. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time t am not against using violence in self-defense . I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense . I call it intelligence.° He explained the phrnse "by any means necessary" as a measure of last resort . "Whenever teaches us never to attack, never to be the aggressor--but you can waste somebody if he attacks you :' Malcolm X, interview by Alex Haley, PIsy~Qv (May 1963), reprinted in David Gallon, ed., Malcolm X : As They Knew Him (New York : Carton & Graf, 1992), 109-L30 . 'Malcolm X, "Communication and Reality," Speech to Domestic Peace Corps, December 12, 1964, reprinted in Clarke, ed., Malcolm X: The Man and His Times , 307-320 . 92
someone is treating you in a criminal, illegal, or immoral way, why, you are well within your rights to use anything at your disposal to bring an end to that unjust, illegal, and immoral condition," he stated . He homed in on the racial double standard of self-defense, and on the difficulty in defining violence . "When it comes time for a black man to explode," he argued, "they call it violence, but white people can be exploding against black people all day long and it's never called violence ." When the rest of the nation abandoned its violent ways, then black people could become nonviolent, too-but not before then The rest of the nation proved slow to abandon its violent ways. Seeking to galvanic public opinion and prod the federal government to action, SCLC chose Birmingham in 1963 to highlight the clear record of brutality there, embodied by the city's public safety commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor. Connor's reputation for cruelty extended beyond the borders of Jefferson County, and King knew Connor would provide the spectacle of violence Pritchett had not. Officials such as Connor personified the city's reputation among blacks as violent, harsh, and repressive . SCLC designed "Project C" (for "confrontation"), as it called its campaign in Birmingham, to cripple the city economically. Demonstrations, including an economic boycott, featured a full-scale assault on racist employment practices and segregated public accommodations . The drama that unfolded included marches, demonstrations, counter- demonstrations, failings, beatings, and general chaos . The mayhem culminated May 3-7 when Connor instructed police with clubs and attack dogs and firemen with high-pressure water hoses, capable of stripping bark from trees, to charge demonstrators . The resulting 93
- 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 and 104: the sheriff again and told him that
- Page 105 and 106: characterized by hatred or meanness
- 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: qualities in themselves. Finally, a
- 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
- Page 155 and 156: Events picked up across the border
- Page 157 and 158: they were bound to precipitate a ca
- Page 159 and 160: goals of the movement. A year later
- Page 161 and 162: Sellers noted that while King was f
- Page 163 and 164: things," he said. "Everybody want t
Another spoech, entitled "Communication <strong>and</strong> Reality," he delivered to the Domestic<br />
Peace Corps on December 12, 1964 . The speech, purportedly about revolutions in Africa,<br />
quickly turned to self-defense. "Whatever weapon they [racists use, that's the one I'll use;'<br />
he said. "I go for talking the kind of language he talks :' Racists could not underst<strong>and</strong><br />
nonviolence, which Malcolm believed beyond their schematic reference . "If a man is<br />
speaking French, you can talk German all night long, he won't know what you're talking<br />
about ." Violence was a common tongue which all could underst<strong>and</strong>. Reciprocity, he felt,<br />
was the key to combating racism.~9<br />
If the government wanted peace, he argued, then it should do its job in affording black<br />
people protection <strong>and</strong> equal opportunity. The onus of responsibility for peace should not fall<br />
upon black activists who did not start the violence in the first place . Defending oneself did<br />
not cause violence : it was simply a response to a pre-existing state of disorder . Malcolm<br />
worked to undermine the violent/nonviolent dichotomy perpetuated by the media by<br />
redefining self-defense as something other than violent behavior.<br />
Because this is the situation, you <strong>and</strong> I have to preserve the right to do what is<br />
necessary to bring an end to that situation, <strong>and</strong> it doesn't mean that I advocate<br />
violence, but at the same time t am not against using violence in self-defense . I don't<br />
even call it violence when it's self-defense . I call it intelligence.°<br />
He explained the phrnse "by any means necessary" as a measure of last resort . "Whenever<br />
teaches us never to attack, never to be the aggressor--but you can waste somebody if he<br />
attacks you :' Malcolm X, interview by Alex Haley, PIsy~Qv (May 1963), reprinted in David<br />
Gallon, ed., Malcolm X : As They Knew Him (New York : Carton & Graf, 1992), 109-L30 .<br />
'Malcolm X, "Communication <strong>and</strong> Reality," Speech to Domestic Peace Corps,<br />
December 12, 1964, reprinted in Clarke, ed., Malcolm X: The Man <strong>and</strong> His Times , 307-320 .<br />
92
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