Right
Truth
Humanity
Understanding
Communication
Love
POWER
Non-violent Resistance

Protests, rallies, sit-ins

Boycotts

Letter-writing, leaflets, etc

Hunger strikes

Civil Disobedience (breaking a law that one
considers unfair in order to prove a point)
Violent Resistance

Rioting

Kidnapping
Sabotage
 Assassination
 Terrorism
 Revolution

Malcolm X & Martin Luther King:
American Nightmare or American Dream?
The American Civil War (1861-65)
The 13th Amendment (1865)
Section 1. ”Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
Section 2. ”Congress shall have
power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.”
“Separate but equal”
The legitimacy of such segregationist laws was upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
Civil Rights Movement (1950s-60s)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
American philosopher, clergyman, and activist
(1929 – 1968)
Malcolm X
American philosopher, clergyman, and activist
(1925 – 1965)
born Malcolm Little
died El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
(‫)الحا ّج مالك الشباز‬
King
X
GETTING IN ON
THE AMERICAN DREAM
GETTING OUT OF
THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE
“ANY MEANS NECESSARY”
INTEGRATION
SEPARATION
CHRISTIAN (Baptist)
MUSLIM (Nation of Islam)
COMFORTABLE MIDDLE-CLASS BACKGROUND,
HIGHER EDUCATION
TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD, FOSTER HOMES,
CRIME, PRISON
FOCUS ON SOUTHERN BLACKS
(TOWNS/RURAL)
FOCUS ON NORTHERN URBAN BLACKS
(GHETTOS)
Civil Disobedience
Breaking an unjust law to make
a point
Henry David Thoreau (1817 1862) came up with this idea.
Thoreau refused to pay his taxes
because he didn’t want his
money spent for pro-slavery
causes and the imperialist
Mexican war.
Civil Disobedience
Martin Luther King distinguished
between just laws and unjust laws
Just Laws
“Laws that uplift humanity”
Code of law that the majority compels a
minority to follow and is also willing to
apply to itself
Unjust Laws
“Laws that degrade humanity”
Code of law that majority power compels
minority group to obey but does not
make binding on itself
Montgomery Bus Boycott
(1955-56)
Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing
to give up her seat to a white
man. The Montgomery
Improvement Association, with
King in a leadership role,
encourages all African Americans
to stay off the buses in protest.
A one-day boycott proves very
successful. Many black people
ride in carpools, others walk. The
boycott continues, and ends up
lasting for 381 days. In many
cases, white housewives carpool
to transport their black maids
back and forth to work.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
(1955-56)
During the boycott, many black
churches are set on fire or
dynamited by angry
segregationists.
Martin Luther King’s home is
bombed on January 30, 1956
In the end, however, the boycott
is a success, and the segregation
laws are thrown out.
Martin Luther King now becomes
the key figure in the Civil Rights
Movement.
Segregationist policies
still in place in the 1950s and early 1960s

Blacks prevented from voting
- literacy tests
- morality clauses
- grandfather clause tactics
- prevention of registration
- harassment at the polls

Segregated schooling

Segregated businesses and other facilities
Elements of the NonViolent Resistance

Civil disobedience
- sit-ins, read-ins, kneel-ins, etc

Marches, demonstrations

Boycotts

Voter registration drives

“Freedom Riders”

Martyrdom + publicity (a technique borrowed from
Gandhi); turning the other cheek when assaulted; going
limp instead of resisting arrest

Consciousness-raising through media coverage
Birmingham Campaign (1963)
Birmingham, Alabama, a city in a
state of political confusion, but
with a long history of
segregationist violence that has
led some to call it “Bombingham,”
becomes one of the last and most
important targets of civil
disobedience by King’s Southern
Christian Leadership Conference.
Birmingham Campaign (1963)

Marches

Sit-ins at libraries & lunch counters

“Kneel-ins” at white churches
A few hundred arrests are made.
In the end, there was an injunction to cease demonstration,
which King decided to ignore, and he was among the 50
Birmingham residents who were arrested on Good Friday,
April 12 1963. It was King's 13th arrest.
Letter from
Birmingham Jail
(1963)
JUST LAWS vs UNJUST LAWS
“freedom is never voluntarily
given by the oppressor; it
must be demanded by the
oppressed”
“injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice
everywhere”
“justice too long delayed is
justice denied”
16th Street Baptist
Church Bombing
(1963)
Four Klan members plant a
time bomb in a church that
had been used for training
civil rights demonstrators.
Four little girls are killed by
the blast.
“I Have a Dream” (1963)
Speech made at the end of the “March on Washington” –
note the huge number of protesters, black and white alike,
gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
Four short excerpts:
1.
The Declaration of Independence as a “bounced cheque”
2.
The threat of continued and stronger resistance if change
doesn’t happen
3.
The call to followers to remain non-violent in their
resistance
4.
The dream
Watch the complete speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
Segregation is unconstitutional
Civil Rights Bill 1964
Voting Rights act 1965
Malcolm X: Criticisms of King

Non-violence is equivalent to not defending yourself.

The Christian turn-the-other-cheek philosophy and faith
in a better future encourages African-Americans to
continue taking whatever white racism dishes out, and
lets the evil continue unchecked. “Quit singin’ and start
swingin’”

Integration is not a worthy goal. Why should black people
want to sit down and share a lunch counter with the
same evil racist beasts who have disrespected and
abused them for decades?
The Nation of Islam
A muslim sect for AfricanAmericans only.
It addressed the spiritual
(and material) needs of poor
blacks in the ghetto;
providing alternatives to a
life of drugs, crime,
unemployment,
prostitution, and gambling.
The Nation nurtured selfdiscipline and black pride.
“Blue-eyed devils”
The Nation of Islam and
Malcolm X taught that
white people are
inherently evil, and no
good can come from
associating with them.
Consequently, X was
actually against integration.
Separation vs Segregation
X was against segregation, but frequently
advocated separatism.
Segregation: a system of laws forced upon you
from outside, in which you are treated unfairly
Separatism: voluntary isolationism that you adopt
on your own terms to protect your cultural
heritage, within a free, non-segregated political
system
Oxford Union Debate (1964) [excerpts]
“Any means necessary”
Malcolm X arguing in favour of the proposition “Extremism
in defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in pursuit of
justice is no virtue.”
Watch for:

References to the ideas of Locke and The Declaration of
Independence

References to Martin Luther King’s more moderate and
strictly non-violent approach

Reasons why violence may be justified, necessary, or a
good idea. (jot these down when you hear them)
Violence, if necessary

You’ll get the respect of your enemy

If the government won’t protect your rights and enforce
the laws, you have the right to defend yourself and use
force against your oppressors or change the government
itself by force (cf. John Locke and the Declaration of
Independence)

You are speaking the same language as the oppressor, a
language you know the oppressor understands

You may get results faster; if you have to wait for the one
in power to change, you may have to wait a long time
Mohandas Gandhi
Indian philosopher and activist
(1869 – 1948)
Satyagraha
“soul force”
“Holding to the truth.”
Sat implies openness,
honesty, and
fairness: Truth.
Satyagraha
Holding to the truth
In every situation, there is a truth that everyone secretly
“knows” or will know if given enough time to stop and
experience it fully with others who are bearing witness to it.
Changing the heart of the oppressor
The goal of satyagraha is not just to “win” or gain power over
your oppressor; it is to change your oppressor, bring the
oppressor into truth and compassion, change the world.
Satyagraha
1. Each person's opinions and beliefs represent part of the
truth
2. In order to see more of the truth we must share our truths
cooperatively
3. This implies a desire to communicate and a determination
to do so, which in turn requires developing and refining
relevant skills of communication
4. Commitment to seeing as much of the truth as possible
means that we can not afford to categorize ourselves or
others
Non-violence

With violence you run a greater risk of being utterly
destroyed [the oppressor has more power: India and the
British, African Americans and whites]

Violence is cyclical (violence breeds retaliation, etc;
increases the hate [Northern Ireland; Palestine; Bosnia;
India and Pakistan, etc etc etc])

Don’t become what you hate; don’t destroy what you are
trying to save; violence corrupts

You want to change the oppressor, not destroy
him (make the world a better place by bringing
your enemy into the right understanding of the
truth)
Communication and understanding
... vs. violence
Can truth overcome power?
Can truth overcome power?
Under what circumstances?
When does love of the
oppressor and communication
work, and when must one resort
to violence (self-defence)?
Does violence ever really
bring about the results
desired?
Can soul force ever really
change the heart of the
oppressor?
Be sure you understand
(not just memorize) these terms and concepts:
Civil disobedience
 Separation vs segregation
 Arguments for violence and non-violence
 Satyagraha
