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
accepted part of the American character, represented the normative reaction for an individual faced with antagonistic behavior. He offered Afro-Americans a means of supplanting this tradition with a far more conciliatory response. For a short time, nonviolence became-in large part due to the selflessness of those Montgomerians involved in the bus boycott-the normative method of civil rights protest. A report from Martin Luther King to Bayard Rustin summed up the state of affairs in Montgomery in 1956 : The people are just as enthusiastic now as they were in the beginning of the protest. They are determined never to return to jim crow buses . The mass meetings arc still jammed and packed and above all the buses are still empty. Every now and then we will hear some complaint, but the vast majority of the people arc dedicated to sacrificing and sticking out to the finish . I think also there is a growing commitment to the philosophy of nonviolence on the part of the Negro community . Even those who were willing to get their guns in the beginning are gradually coming to see the futility of such an approach . The question of protecting himself from harm King relegated to the realm of faith . From the beginning, he had resolved that what he was doing was extremely dangerous and, in giving his care to God, he had devoted himself to a greater cause . The issue was not his life, "but whether Negroes would achieve first-class treatment on the city's buses ." His safety was a distraction from more important issues; dwelling on it was "too great a burden to bear." King concluded that violence, "even in self-defense," ultimately created more problems than it solved . The beloved community, "where men can live together without fear," was within reach, but only through "a refusal to hate or kill" in order to "put an end to the chain of violence"; the beloved community would require "a qualitiative change in our souls" and "a 'Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter to Bayard Rustin, September 20, 1956, Box 67, VIII-34 (Correspondence "W"), Martin Luther King Collection, Department of Special Collections, Boston University. 2 8
quantitative change in our lives." s' Given that King was attracted to the Hegelian synthesis as "the best answer to many of life's dilemmas," it is curious that he was not more vocal on the subject of self-defense .s9 It was, after all, a true hybrid, a combination of violence and nonviolence. It was responsive and answering, not aggressive . It was (by definition) reactive, not offensive . In this sense, self-defense was not "violence," but a kind of unique subcategory of violent behavior, moderated by ethical considerations . It was "good violence" in that it was morallyjusti!'table. But King did not concentrate on the ethics of self-defense because, in his view, the moral imperative of nonviolence was so much greater . Many black people, impressed with the results of nonviolent direct action, questioned their own ability to adhere to its stringent demands . Others simply remained skeptical . J . Pius Barbour, editor of The National B~tist Voice , wrote a letter to King (addressing him by his childhood name) that simply asked: Dear Mike, Can you overthrow a social system without violence? Your friend, J. Pius Barbour6° Such questions prompted a highly pitched debate within the civil rights community over the SSKing, "Nonviolence : The Only Road to Freedom," El~Dy 21 (October 1966) : 27-30 . S9King, Where Do We Go From Here : Chaos or Community? (New York : Harper and Row,1967), 53 . ~°J . Pius Barbour, Letter to Martin Luther King, Jr., January 11, 1957, Box 63, VIII-16 (Cornespondence "N"), Martin Luther King Collection, Department of Special Collections, 29
- 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
- Page 7 and 8: ights movement, including : redempt
- Page 9 and 10: unnoticed, unbeknownst, or simply i
- 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
- Page 17 and 18: what is right, but Iam not sure how
- 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 and 28: professionals and faculty members f
- Page 29 and 30: But while King defused the volatile
- 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
- Page 37 and 38: the power structure."~ In other wor
- 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: aggravate ; that is, his politics o
- 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
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- 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
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- Page 97 and 98: The women propared food, and served
- Page 99 and 100: candidate for county representative
quantitative change in our lives." s'<br />
Given that King was attracted to the Hegelian synthesis as "the best answer to many<br />
of life's dilemmas," it is curious that he was not more vocal on the subject of self-defense .s9<br />
It was, after all, a true hybrid, a combination of violence <strong>and</strong> nonviolence. It was responsive<br />
<strong>and</strong> answering, not aggressive . It was (by definition) reactive, not offensive . In this sense,<br />
self-defense was not "violence," but a kind of unique subcategory of violent behavior,<br />
moderated by ethical considerations . It was "good violence" in that it was morallyjusti!'table.<br />
But King did not concentrate on the ethics of self-defense because, in his view, the moral<br />
imperative of nonviolence was so much greater .<br />
Many black people, impressed with the results of nonviolent direct action, questioned<br />
their own ability to adhere to its stringent dem<strong>and</strong>s . Others simply remained skeptical . J .<br />
Pius Barbour, editor of The National B~tist Voice , wrote a letter to King (addressing him by<br />
his childhood name) that simply asked:<br />
Dear Mike,<br />
Can you overthrow a social system without violence?<br />
Your friend,<br />
J. Pius Barbour6°<br />
Such questions prompted a highly pitched debate within the civil rights community over the<br />
SSKing, "Nonviolence : The Only Road to <strong>Freedom</strong>," El~Dy 21 (October 1966) : 27-30 .<br />
S9King, Where Do We Go From Here : Chaos or Community? (New York : Harper <strong>and</strong><br />
Row,1967), 53 .<br />
~°J . Pius Barbour, Letter to Martin Luther King, Jr., January 11, 1957, Box 63, VIII-16<br />
(Cornespondence "N"), Martin Luther King Collection, Department of Special Collections,<br />
29
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