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
nonviolence, and Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955-the genesis of nonviolence in the black struggle for equality-provides a logical place to starts With much personal hardship, to the paradoxical delight of local blacks, the boycott dragged on . After the first few mass matings, his friends and peers, mostly Dexter members, decided it was too dangerous to let King drive around town by himself anymore . Recognizing the threat of white retribution, they offered to escort him to and from meetings . They organized into a corps of drivers and bodyguards, using what weapons they had ; for example, the Reverend Richmond Smiley toted his tiny .2S-caliber Beretta.6 As the activists worked out a strategy for the boycott, outside forces complicated matters . On the evening of January 30, 1956, dynamite rocked King's home. An angry crowd gathered at the scene. One black man challenged a policeman who attempted to push him aside : "I ain't gonna move nowhere . That's the trouble now; you white folks is always pushin' us around . Now you got your .38 and I got mine ; so let's battle it out."~ King intervened, speaking to the crowd : I want you to go home and put down your weapons . We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence . . . We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us . We must make them know that we love them . Jesus still cries out across the centuries, "Love your enemies ." This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love .° SAdam Fairclough has pointed out the difficulties in disaggrcgating King's philosophical tenets . Sec Fairclough, "Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Quest for Nonviolent Social Change," Phylon 47 (Spring 1986) : 3 . 6Branch, Parting the Waters, 161-62. ~Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound, 89. e~, 89-91 . See also Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom (San Francisco : Eiarper and Row, 1958 ; reprint, 1986), 137-138 . 6
But while King defused the volatile situation with a message of peace, he prepared for war. Armed sentinels guarded the parsonage at night as repair work got underway. One of King's friends from college offered to guard him personally with a shotgun . King and the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, minister of the First Baptist Church, decided to arm themselves with side arms . "We felt we ought to be ready," Abernathy later recalled . "I asked King if he had any means of protection for him and his family. He said the only weapon he had was a butcher knife . He asked, `What do you have?' I said, `The only thing I have is a razor.' We decided that we should go downtown together and buy some weapons for our protection ." 9 King's words and actions sent conflicting messages, reflecting a mind uncomfortable with senseless violence, yet unprepared to succumb without a tight . The day after the bombing, King called on Alabama Governor James E. ("Big Jim") Folsom for state protection . Folsom offered to have state officers watch King's home, but King pressed further . "What we would like to have is to have you issue a 9Abemathy, quoted in David J. Garrow, 8earina the Cross : Martin Luther King . Jr. and the Southern _h_rictian i_~9_rierchi~ _nnf rr"ne~ (NeH, york~ William Morrow and Co ., Inc ., 1986), 62 . It was this matter-of-fact decision which led to the uneasy scene at King's house, two months later, in which Worthy almost sat on a handgun . See ;eye note 1 . In late 1%3, King would admit to having a gun in Montgomery. "I don't know why 1 got it in the first place;' he mused. "I sat down with Coretta one night and we talked about it. I pointed out that as a leader ofa nonviolent movement, I h~ no right to have a gun, so I got rid of it:' King, quoted in Time (Jan . 3, 1964) : 27 ; see Garrow, 8earin~s, 62, 642 note 48 . Despite his insistence that he had banned firearms at the parsonage, a visitor in late February 1956, reported that King's bodyguards possessed "an arsenal:' Letter from Glenn E. Smiley to John Swomley and AI Hassler, Febrauary 29, 1956; Clayborne Carson, ed. The Paoers of Martin Luther King . Jr. (3 volumes, Berkeley: University of California Pc+ess, 1994-) 3 : 14 note 60. In further notations this source will be referred to as The KingP~rs .
- Page 1 and 2: CCVII. RIGHTS & SELF-DEFENSE : THE
- Page 3 and 4: Civil Rights and Self-Defense : The
- Page 5 and 6: It was not until the 1950's and 196
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- Page 11 and 12: nonviolence . It is not a complete
- Page 13 and 14: happen, and the time for defense is
- Page 15 and 16: during this period currently lie do
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- Page 19 and 20: could be argued that King's middle-
- Page 21 and 22: people customarily initiated it . F
- Page 23 and 24: "The Other Cheek" : ReUn9ubhing Sel
- Page 25 and 26: expressed an urge to "give as good
- Page 27: professionals and faculty members f
- Page 31 and 32: (FOR), and William Worthy, a black
- Page 33 and 34: practicability of his position: '~4
- Page 35 and 36: Additionally, Bayard Rustin reporte
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- Page 39 and 40: available to the Negro in his strug
- Page 41 and 42: (toughmindedness) and love (tenderh
- Page 43 and 44: compelling arguments for the moral
- Page 45 and 46: and faggot. For example, in 1889, J
- Page 47 and 48: His first impulse when threatened w
- Page 49 and 50: aggravate ; that is, his politics o
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- Page 53 and 54: '~P~opk With StrenSth": Questioning
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- Page 61 and 62: NAACP had always appealed, he scour
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But while King defused the volatile situation with a message of peace, he prepared for<br />
war. Armed sentinels guarded the parsonage at night as repair work got underway. One<br />
of King's friends from college offered to guard him personally with a shotgun . King <strong>and</strong><br />
the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, minister of the First Baptist Church, decided to<br />
arm themselves with side arms . "We felt we ought to be ready," Abernathy later recalled .<br />
"I asked King if he had any means of protection for him <strong>and</strong> his family. He said the only<br />
weapon he had was a butcher knife . He asked, `What do you have?' I said, `The only<br />
thing I have is a razor.' We decided that we should go downtown together <strong>and</strong> buy some<br />
weapons for our protection ." 9 King's words <strong>and</strong> actions sent conflicting messages,<br />
reflecting a mind uncomfortable with senseless violence, yet unprepared to succumb<br />
without a tight .<br />
The day after the bombing, King called on Alabama Governor James E. ("Big<br />
Jim") Folsom for state protection . Folsom offered to have state officers watch King's<br />
home, but King pressed further . "What we would like to have is to have you issue a<br />
9Abemathy, quoted in David J. Garrow, 8earina the Cross : Martin Luther King .<br />
Jr. <strong>and</strong> the Southern _h_rictian i_~9_rierchi~ _nnf rr"ne~ (NeH, york~ William Morrow <strong>and</strong><br />
Co ., Inc ., 1986), 62 . It was this matter-of-fact decision which led to the uneasy scene at<br />
King's house, two months later, in which Worthy almost sat on a h<strong>and</strong>gun . See ;eye<br />
note 1 . In late 1%3, King would admit to having a gun in Montgomery. "I don't know<br />
why 1 got it in the first place;' he mused. "I sat down with Coretta one night <strong>and</strong> we<br />
talked about it. I pointed out that as a leader ofa nonviolent movement, I h~ no right to<br />
have a gun, so I got rid of it:' King, quoted in Time (Jan . 3, 1964) : 27 ; see Garrow,<br />
8earin~s, 62, 642 note 48 . Despite his insistence that he had banned firearms at<br />
the parsonage, a visitor in late February 1956, reported that King's bodyguards possessed<br />
"an arsenal:' Letter from Glenn E. Smiley to John Swomley <strong>and</strong> AI Hassler, Febrauary 29,<br />
1956; Clayborne Carson, ed. The Paoers of Martin Luther King . Jr. (3 volumes, Berkeley:<br />
University of California Pc+ess, 1994-) 3 : 14 note 60. In further notations this source will<br />
be referred to as The KingP~rs .
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