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
mayhem, televised before a national audience, prompted not only desegregation in Birmingham but also a wave of national sympathy, and a rash of similar protests across the South . The civil rights movement climaxed on August 28, 1%3, when a quarter million people participated in the Mac+ch on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech . The victory of Birmingham was short-lived. Less than three weeks later, on September 15, 1%3, someone bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham . The explosion killed four black girls . Many saw the bombing as an end to the nonviolent phase of the movement. As King prepared to deliver the eulogy at a joint funeral service for the little girls, novelist John Killens alluded that this tragedy marked the end of nonviolence in the movement . "Negroes must be prepared to protect themselves with guns," he said .u Malcolm X agreed . He first went on record as a naysayer of nonviolent direct action in the spring of 1%3, when he accused Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of "disarming" southern blacks in their struggle for rights . Two television interviews-one with Dr. Kenneth Clark, one with James Baldwin~onfirmed his thoughts on nonviolence in the civil rights movement. "King is the best weapon that the white man, who wants to brutalize Negroes, has ever gotten in this country," he told Clark, "because he is setting up a situation where, when the white man wants to attack Negroes, they can't defend themselves:' Malcolm denounced King in the wake of the Birmingham protests, when many protestors were injured. uKillens, quoted in Corctta Scott King, 1]1y Life With Martin Luther KinJr. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1%9), 226 . Malcolm X, interview by Kenneth B. Clark, June, 1%3, reprinted in John Henrik Clarke, Malcolm X: The Man and Ids Times (New York: Collier Books, 1969), 168-181 ; see also "Malcolm X Disputes Nonviolence Policy;' New York Times (June S,1%3) : 29. 9~4
"You can't take a black man who is being bitten by dogs and accuse him of advocating violence because he tries to defend himself from the bite of the dog."~ The "dogs" to which he referred were both literal and metaphorical . For Malcolm, as for many Americans, Birmingham in 1963 was a definitive juncture in the struggle for civil rights . The televised confrontations, water hoses, and German Shepherds elicited powerful reactions in those who saw them. For the general public, the drama of what transpired in Birmingham fixed Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the American consciousness . King himself realized in Birmingham that the nation needed new civil rights legislation. The meaning of Birmingham for Malcolm lay not in the mass marches or dime-store boycotts but in the ominous night of rioting on May 10 when city leaders and protestors reached an agreement to begin desegregation and end demonstrations . The bombing of the Sixteenth Stmt Baptist Church on September 15 upset him terribly, and he referred to it often in his speeches, and in comversation .~ When journalists suggested his call for rifle clubs might lead to armed revolution, he responded, "What would you prefer? Civil war or more Birminghams?" ie More than any other factor, what happened in Birmingham convinced Malcolm of the correctness of his position. 2`Ibid . uFor example, in his famous speech "The Ballot or the Bullet," delivered on April 3, 1964, at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Malcolm encouraged his audience to take up arms "any time you and I sit around and ttad where they bomb a church and murder in cold blood, not some grownups, but four little girls while they were praying to the same god the white man taught them to pray to . . ." See Malcolm X, `"The Ballot or the Bullet;' Malcolm X Sneaks: Selected S~eches and Statements (New York : Pathfinder, 1965 ; reprint, 1993), 23-44 . ~611rlalcolm X, quoted in Goldman, The Death and Life of Malcolm X, 135 . 95
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"You can't take a black man who is being bitten by dogs <strong>and</strong> accuse him of advocating<br />
violence because he tries to defend himself from the bite of the dog."~ The "dogs" to which<br />
he referred were both literal <strong>and</strong> metaphorical .<br />
For Malcolm, as for many Americans, Birmingham in 1963 was a definitive juncture<br />
in the struggle for civil rights . The televised confrontations, water hoses, <strong>and</strong> German<br />
Shepherds elicited powerful reactions in those who saw them. For the general public, the<br />
drama of what transpired in Birmingham fixed Martin Luther King <strong>and</strong> the civil rights<br />
movement in the American consciousness . King himself realized in Birmingham that the<br />
nation needed new civil rights legislation. The meaning of Birmingham for Malcolm lay not<br />
in the mass marches or dime-store boycotts but in the ominous night of rioting on May 10<br />
when city leaders <strong>and</strong> protestors reached an agreement to begin desegregation <strong>and</strong> end<br />
demonstrations . The bombing of the Sixteenth Stmt Baptist Church on September 15 upset<br />
him terribly, <strong>and</strong> he referred to it often in his speeches, <strong>and</strong> in comversation .~ When<br />
journalists suggested his call for rifle clubs might lead to armed revolution, he responded,<br />
"What would you prefer? Civil war or more Birminghams?" ie More than any other factor,<br />
what happened in Birmingham convinced Malcolm of the correctness of his position.<br />
2`Ibid .<br />
uFor example, in his famous speech "The Ballot or the Bullet," delivered on April 3,<br />
1964, at Cory Methodist Church in Clevel<strong>and</strong>, Malcolm encouraged his audience to take up<br />
arms "any time you <strong>and</strong> I sit around <strong>and</strong> ttad where they bomb a church <strong>and</strong> murder in cold<br />
blood, not some grownups, but four little girls while they were praying to the same god the<br />
white man taught them to pray to . . ." See Malcolm X, `"The Ballot or the Bullet;' Malcolm<br />
X Sneaks: Selected S~eches <strong>and</strong> Statements (New York : Pathfinder, 1965 ; reprint, 1993),<br />
23-44 .<br />
~611rlalcolm X, quoted in Goldman, The Death <strong>and</strong> Life of Malcolm X, 135 .<br />
95
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