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

united behind him:'s Comparing his own people with Native Americans, he wrote: "We
like to gloat that the American Negro has lived and the American Indian has died. This is
not true . Indians fought almost to extinction, but in so doing they won respect."~ He
predicted his own actions in a tight situation .
What am I going to do if the white man strikes me? I am going to kick him in his
teeth, regardless of what Dr. King exhorts . If my white fellow Americans are
decent with me, f11 meet them more than half-way. But fm not going to let them
boot me around and then expose more surface . I don't think such behavior will
win them from or formy people .
f 11 be a bit patient, but all the time f 11 know that glory and freedom in this
world await those who fight. The white man bleeds just like anybody else . He'll
stop, think and listen if he has learned that he will and must account for every
blow he strikes~
In conclusion, he asked, "Is it better to be tolerated and despised, or hated and
respected?" e For Prattis, the answer was obvious.
The Pittsburgh Courier columnist pinpointed the greatest abjection for most black
people with regard to nonviolence : while nonviolent direct action might work effectively
within the context of organized social protest, nonviolence itself did not transfer well into
other facets of daily life . Self-sacrifice might help to de-segregate a public facility, but
who was willing, in his own neighborhood, away from the newspaper reporters and
flashbulbs, to sacrifice his own family without a fight? Of course, practically no one
~Prattis, "Nonviolence--V," The Pittsburgh Courier, December 28, 1957 .
SPrattis, "Nonviolence--IV," The Pittsburgh C~, ou~er, December 21, 1957 .
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