Non-Violence as the Bigger Statement Essay

In the documentary _Eyes on the Prize_, John Lewis- an attendee of the 1960 Nashville tiffin Counter Sit-In, regales the use of nonviolence in their defend for racial equality, saying We took our seats in a very orderly, peaceful fashionWe just sit there, and we continue to sit all day pine But for me, Ill tell you it was like being involved in a holy crusade. It became a badge of honor (PBS). The Civil Rights Movement, which began in 1954, was so deeply impactful largely in part to the queer temperament of its participants actions against their opposition. Scarce physical tactics or retaliation was threatened against the lily-white opposition on the black mavericks behalf in order to achieve what they sought. Instead, the African Americans took a stance of nonviolence as their weapon of choice, hoping to reach a middle ground of peace betwixt all of the solid grounds plays. Some of the historical and structural causes at the core of this stance were the counsel of Martin Luther King junior, the organized fight to dis mankindtle long-standing norms of racial segregation within the white communities, and the effort to press awareness to a blind governmental remains.In introducing the belief of mixer insurgency, Doug McAdam says, At the close of 1876-1930 period, the Confederate black population was exclusively just beginning to develop the institutional strength so resilient to the generation of social insurgency (McAdam 94). Historically, black southeastern Americans had experienced little to no sense of togetherness as a community it would take nighone or something with enough passion and commitment to bring them together. Obtaining a leader to push such idealistic views for the African American race is practically a destiny to incite immense social channelize. An organizer is the heart of the faeces, because they diffuse centralized direction and coordi dry land (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 any unprovocative campaign there are four basicsteps collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist negotiation self-purification and direct action (Letter 2). Martin, born and raised in the church, came from humble beginnings his father, a pastor, sermonized many ideals of a approaching of peace and the effectiveness of words over physicality. Dr. King went on to preach the ideals of a future base on equality, regardless of skin color or nationality, to his followers. His goals primarily focused on the rise of the nation as a whole- as one- rather than just the rise of the African American race. In his _Chicago independence Movement Rally Speech_, he stated, The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears.The white man needs the ne gro to free him from his guilt (King). Dr. King was aware that for there to be peace and triumph for our country, we would have to learn to coexist as one community, instead of having one dominant race in any aspect. In anformer(a) excerpt from the Chicago rally, he summarizes his intent with nonviolence, saying, Nonviolence does not recall doing nothing. It does not mean passively accepting evil. It means standing up so strongly with your proboscis and soul that you cannot stoop to the low places of violence and hatred. I am still convinced that nonviolence is a queenful 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 as well aided that typically only violence had been used to fight battles and/or change things in the past, which had only gotten them to the point they found themselves at then.The typical day-to-day life of White Southerners consisted of struct ural norms within the economy, the government, and social customs. Breaking down the barriers of such an established arrangement would never 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 unprovoking 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 opportunity for successful insurgent action. It is the resources of the minority community that enable insurgent groups to exploit these opportunities (McAdam 43).As could be expected, white oppositionists reacted extremely violently to the changesthat 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 flap away from feeding the fire, and instead choose to demonstrate 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 backbone 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 protest shaping the availability of those organizational resources 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 sup port. It was such growth of backing that allowed them to create cracks in the barriers that upheld the white Southerners traditions. It was similarly such groups that were the pillar to sustain an ongoing protest.The Political Process Model that McAdam lays out considers that a complex body part 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 castrate 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 thinkable process of advancement, saying We need sufficient income for health and home to supplement our education and recreation to fight our own crime problem and above all to finance a continued, planned and intelligent upthrust for political, civil, and social equality (B., DuBois 197).Sinc e the black population felt so absolutely undermined as a race by the government, it would do them no good to repeat the same actions as those before them when trying to change the way things worked. McAdam discourses that the point is that any event or broad social process that serves to undermine the calculations andassumptions on which the political establishment is structured occasions a crusade in political opportunities (McAdam 41). In other words, if someone is questioning the way the government works in the first place, already a shift has been sparked in the standards, just by drawing attention to it.To some degree, all changes involving social movement for the nation are going to imply some level of struggle to change and/or pull for transfer 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 alignment through a peaceful approach, the movement only continued to gain atten tion and leverage over political opponents. McAdam sums it up when he synopsizes, the contention is that, far from remaining constant, the organizational resources usable to southern blacks increased simultaneously with the expansion in political opportunities (McAdam 87).Like most ideals in life, the concept of nonviolence as a promising 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 accompanying growth in support through organizational groups, and said groups ability to power through the withstanding customs of white folk, nonviolence flourished. In his closing statements, McAdam reminds, it must be remembered that the movement was able, in a matter of years, to dismantle a thoroughgoing system of caste restrictions that had remained impervious to change for some seventy-five yearsThese gains are hardly insignificant (McAdam 232). Th erefore, though near the end black insurgency took a turn for the worse, the influence that nonviolence caused on the nation absolutely left a constant 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 ontogenesis of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970.Chicago U of Chicago, 1982. Print.PBS, prod. Aint Scared of Your Jails. _Eyes on the Prize_. PBS. N.d. _PBS_. Web.23 Sept. 2014.