3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

have to say that I know very little about the man ."'~6
King wondered if Gandhi's methods
could be transposed to the American South . Smiley inundated him with books such as
Richard Grcgg's Power of Nonviolence (1938) to show that they could be . ~~
The Power of Nonviolence used a clever metaphor to explain nonviolence . Grcgg,
who had studied Gandhi's methods while living in the Mahatma's ashram in India, conceived
of nonviolence as "a sort of moral jiujitsu." Jiujitsu is an Eastern martial art that relies on
throwing an opponent off balance . As an unexpected reaction to attack, nonviolence, like
jiujitsu, would cause an opponent to falter. The person attacked would then control the
situation as the assailant was "thrown" into a reassessment of his values and moral
assumptions .~g
Smiley saw King as a skeptical initiate of nonviolence . Writing to colleagues in the
Fellowship of Reconciliation soon after his arrival to Montgomery, he told them that King
wants to do right, but is too young and some of his close help is violent. King
accepts, as an example, a body guard, and asked for [a] permit for them to cant' guns .
This was denied by the police, but nevertheless, the place [King's house] is an
arsenal . King sees the inconsistency, but not enough . He believes and yet he doesn't
~6Smiley, quoted in Garrow, Bearing the Cross , 68 .
~~Carson, The KingPapers 3 : 19 .
~ SRichard Grcgg, The Power of Nonviolence rev . ed . (London : George Routledge,
1938) . King would maintain a vibrant correspondence with Grcgg. The two exchanged ideas
regarding their books . In 1959, Grcgg instructed King on the particulars of travel in India,
including bedding, eating, and dealing with mosquitoes . Grcgg, letter to King, January 23,
1959, Box 27, IV, 1, Correspondence "G ;' Martin Luther King Collation, Department of
Special Collections, Boston University. Grcgg also educated King with regard to Gandhi,
sending him a copy ofJoan Hondurant's Conquest of Violence (1958) and a two-volume set
by Gandhi's secretary, Pyarclal, who chronicled the Mahatma's last~. Grcgg, letter to
King, December 20, 1958, Box 27, N,1, Correspondence "G," Martin Luther King
Collection, Department of Special Collations, Boston University.
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