Non-Violence as the Bigger Statement Essay

In the documentary _Eyes on the Prize_, John Lewis- an attendee of the 1960 Nashville lunch Counter Sit-In, regales the use of passive resistance in their press out for racial par, verbal expression We took our seat in a very orderly, pacifist(prenominal) fashionWe moreover if sit in that respect, and we cut through to sit all day farsighted But for me, Ill tell you it was similar being involved in a holy crusade. It became a badge of abide by (PBS). The accompli dispose Rights Movement, which began in 1954, was so deep impactful largely in part to the queer nature of its participants actions against their opposition. uncommon physical tactics or revenge was threatened against the livid opposition on the mordant insurgents behalf in order to achieve what they sought. Instead, the African Americans took a stance of nonviolent resistance as their gun of choice, hoping to reach a middle fuzee of peace between all of the provinces careers. Some of the historical and morphological causes at the core of this stance were the steering of Martin Luther magnate Jr., the organized deal to disinvest long-standing norms of racial segregation within the white communities, and the effort to raise certainness to a blind policy-making system.In introducing the ideal of hearty insurgency, Doug McAdam says, At the close of 1876-1930 period, the southerly black population was only just beginning to develop the institutional potential so vital to the generation of brotherly insurgency (McAdam 94). Historically, black southeasterlyern Americans had experienced little to no sense of unneuroticness as a corporation it would take soulfulness or something with enough passion and dedication to bring them together. Obtaining a leader to affect much(prenominal) idealistic views for the African American race is practically a requisite to incite immense social change. An personal digital assistant is the heart of the grounds, because they diffu se centralized advocate and coordination (McAdam 47). Having Martin Luther King Jr. as a guiding force behind the Civil Rights Movement was, arguably, the biggest motivation for non-violence as a directive in community institutions during this period.In his _Letter from Birmingham Jail_, often called the Call for Unity, Dr. King says, In whatsoever nonviolent campaign there atomic number 18 four basic stairs collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist duologue self-purification and direct action (Letter 2). Martin, born and brocaded in the church, came from humble beginnings his father, a pastor, sermonized more ideals of a future of peace and the effectivity of words over physicality. Dr. King went on to preach the ideals of a future establish on equality, regardless of skin illusion or nationality, to his take placeers. His goals primarily focused on the rising slope of the nation as a whole- as one- rather than just the rise of the African American race. In his _ cabbage exemption Movement Rally Speech_, he stated, The pitch blackness needs the white man to relieve him from his fears.The white man needs the lightlessness to free him from his guilt (King). Dr. King was aware that for there to be peace and winner for our country, we would have to learn to coexist as one community, instead of having one dominating race in some(prenominal) aspect. In another excerpt from the kale rally, he summarizes his intent with nonviolence, saying, Nonviolence does not flirt with doing nothing. It does not mean passively evaluate evil. It means standing up so hardly with your body and soul that you cannot turn a appearance to the low places of violence and hatred. I am still convinced that nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, it cuts without wounding (King). In result, his practices flourished, inspiring others to come together and follow in his footsteps. Historically, it also aided that characteristicly only violence had be en used to fight battles and/or change things in the past, which had only gotten them to the pose they found themselves at then.The typical day-to-day life of White Southerners consisted of morphological norms within the economy, the government, and social custom. Breaking megabucks the barriers of much(prenominal) an established arrangement would neer be an easy feat. Blacks in the South knew this and therefore banned together, creating solid organizations such as CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). These organizations were so vital to the cause and effect of the nonviolence movement, as A conductive political environment only affords the aggrieved population the prospect for successful insurgent action. It is the resources of the minority community that en equal insurgent groups to exploit these opportunities (McAdam 43).As could be expected, white oppositionists react ed extremely violently to the changes that were being force-fed to them through the motions of the Civil Rights Movement. The way of life that theyd known for so long was being threatened and as human nature would have it, we are programmed much of the time to fear what we do not know. African American advocates in the South were brutally beaten, humiliated, and killed as a retaliation tactic. Thus, such actions sparked black insurgence to essentially stray away from ply the fire, and instead choose to abut the direction of race relations that they strived for.In order to achieve results, they had to ban together to strengthen their ideals within the community, thus creating strong indigenous organizations as a spinal column for their fight. McAdams states, the same dynamic is evident in regard to the relationship between organizational strength and insurgency, with the pace, character, and outcome of collective knowledge shaping the availability of those organizational res ources on which further movement activity depends (McAdam 53). Thus, as the black insurgent groups gained the social stability, they were able to engrain their nonviolent tactics within a larger audience as they gained support. It was such growth of backing that allowed them to create cracks in the barriers that upheld the white Southerners traditions. It was also such groups that were the column to sustain an on issue protest.The political surgical procedure Model that McAdam lays out considers that a building cannot function without the routinized exercise of structural power, and any threat to structural power becomes a threat to that system itself. Thusany system contains within itself the possibility of a power strong enough to transmute it (McAdam 37). Politically, much opportunity was to be gained for black insurgents through the use of non-violent action. W.E.B. DuBois issued an example of such a possible process of advancement, saying We need sufficient income for healt h and theater to supplement our education and recreation to fight our own crime problem and higher up all to finance a continued, plan and intelligent agitation for political, civil, and social equality (B., DuBois 197).Since the black population felt so absolutely undermined as a race by the government, it would do them no nice to repeat the same actions as those out front them when trying to change the way things worked. McAdam discourses that the point is that any event or large-minded social process that serves to undermine the calculations and assumptions on which the political establishment is structured occasion a flip in political opportunities (McAdam 41). In other words, if someone is question the way the government works in the first place, already a shift has been sparked in the standards, just by plan fear to it.To some degree, all changes involving social movement for the nation are going to imply some level of make out to change and/or pull for institu tionalized power (McAdam 36). Using this explanation in the cause of the non-violent tactics, once the aggrieved population shed light on the issues of political junction through a peaceful approach, the movement only continued to gain attention and leverage over political opponents. McAdam sums it up when he synopsizes, the contention is that, far from rest constant, the organizational resources available to southern blacks change magnitude simultaneously with the expansion in political opportunities (McAdam 87).Like most ideals in life, the conceit of nonviolence as a shiny tactic for change started with one individual. Martin Luther King Jr. not only believed in what he preached, but practiced it in his own life. Through his consistent stand-by of nonviolence, the sequent growth in support through organizational groups, and said groups ability to power through the withstanding customs of white folk, nonviolence flourished. In his closing curtain statements, McAdam reminds, it must be remembered that the movement was able, in a matter of old age, to dismantle a thoroughgoing system of caste restrictions that had remained resistant to change for some seventy-five yearsThese gains are hardly insignificant (McAdam 232). Therefore, though near the end black insurgency took a turn for the worse, the influence that nonviolence caused on the nation absolutely leftover a lasting imprint on history.Work CitedB., Du Bois W. E. Dusk of Dawn. Millwood, NY Kraus-Thomson Organization, 1975.Print.King, Martin Luther, Jr. Chicago Freedom Movement Rally Speech. discretionof the King Center. Atlanta, Georgia. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http//www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp. September 24, 2014.King, Martin Luther. _Letter from Birmingham Jail_. Stamford, CT Overbrook, 1968.Web. 24 Sept. 2014.McAdam, Doug. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970.Chicago U of Chicago, 1982. Print.PBS, prod. Aint excite of Your Jai ls. _Eyes on the Prize_. PBS. N.d. _PBS_. Web.23 Sept. 2014.