One Great Speech

MLK, June 4, 1957 “The Power of Non-Violence”:

From the very beginning there was a philosophy undergirding the Montgomery boycott, the philosophy of nonviolent resistance. There was always the problem of getting this method over because it didn’t make sense to most of the people in the beginning. We had to use our mass meetings to explain nonviolence to a community of people who had never heard of the philosophy and in many instances were not sympathetic with it. We had meetings twice a week on Mondays and on Thursdays, and we had an institute on nonviolence and social change. We had to make it clear that nonviolent resistance is not a method of cowardice. It does resist. It is not a method of stagnant passivity and deadening complacency. The nonviolent resister is just as opposed to the evil that he is standing against as the violent resister but he resists without violence. This method is nonaggressive physically but strongly aggressive spiritually.

NOT TO HUMILIATE BUT TO WIN OVER

Another thing that we had to get over was the fact that the nonviolent resister does not seek to humiliate or defeat the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding. This was always a cry that we had to set before people that our aim is not to defeat the white community, not to humiliate the white community, but to win the friendship of all of the persons who had perpetrated this system in the past. The end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community. A boycott is never an end within itself. It is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor but the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption.
Then we had to make it clear also that the nonviolent resister seeks to attack the evil system rather than individuals who happen to be caught up in the system. And this is why I say from time to time that the struggle in the South is not so much the tension between white people and Negro people. The struggle is rather between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will not be a victory merely for fifty thousand Negroes. But it will be a victory for justice, a victory for good will, a victory for democracy.

Another basic thing we had to get over is that nonviolent resistance is also an internal matter. It not only avoids external violence or external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. And so at the center of our movement stood the philosophy of love. The attitude that the only way to ultimately change humanity and make for the society that we all long for is to keep love at the center of our lives. Now people used to ask me from the beginning what do you mean by love and how is it that you can tell us to love those persons who seek to defeat us and those persons who stand against us; how can you love such persons? And I had to make it clear all along that love in its highest sense is not a sentimental sort of thing, not even an affectionate sort of thing.

AGAPE LOVE

The Greek language uses three words for love. It talks about eros. Eros is a sort of aesthetic love. It has come to us to be a sort of romantic love and it stands with all of its beauty. But when we speak of loving those who oppose us we’re not talking about eros. The Greek language talks about philia and this is a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends. This is a vital, valuable love. But when we talk of loving those who oppose you and those who seek to defeat you we are not talking about eros or philia. The Greek language comes out with another word and it is agape. Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will for all men. Biblical theologians would say it is the love of God working in the minds of men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. It is the type of love that stands at the center of the movement that we are trying to carry on in the Southland—agape.

SOME POWER IN THE UNIVERSE THAT WORKS FOR JUSTICE

I am quite aware of the fact that there are persons who believe firmly in nonviolence who do not believe in a personal God, but I think every person who believes in nonviolent resistance believes somehow that the universe in some form is on the side of justice. That there is something unfolding in the universe whether one speaks of it as a unconscious process, or whether one speaks of it as some unmoved mover, or whether someone speaks of it as a personal God. There is something in the universe that unfolds for justice and so in Montgomery we felt somehow that as we struggled we had cosmic companionship. And this was one of the things that kept the people together, the belief that the universe is on the side of justice.

God grant that as men and women all over the world struggle against evil systems they will struggle with love in their hearts, with understanding good will. Agape says you must go on with wise restraint and calm reasonableness but you must keep moving. We have a great opportunity in America to build here a great nation, a nation where all men live together as brothers and respect the dignity and worth of all human personality. We must keep moving toward that goal. I know that some people are saying we must slow up. They are writing letters to the North and they are appealing to white people of good will and to the Negroes saying slow up, you’re pushing too fast. They are saying we must adopt a policy of moderation. Now if moderation means moving on with wise restraint and calm reasonableness, then moderation is a great virtue that all men of good will must seek to achieve in this tense period of transition. But if moderation means slowing up in the move for justice and capitulating to the whims and caprices of the guardians of the deadening status quo, then moderation is a tragic vice which all men of good will must condemn. We must continue to move on. Our self—respect is at stake; the prestige of our nation is at stake. Civil rights is an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our civilization in the ideological struggle with communism. We must keep moving with wise restraint and love and with proper discipline and dignity.

THE NEED TO BE "MALADJUSTED"

Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word. It is the word "maladjusted." Now we all should seek to live a well—adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic effects of the methods of physical violence and to tragic militarism. I call upon you to be maladjusted to such things. I call upon you to be as maladjusted to such things. I call upon you to be as maladjusted as Amos who in the midst of the injustices of his day cried out in words that echo across the generation, "Let judgment run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." As maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln who had the vision to see that this nation could not exist half slave and half free. As maladjusted as Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery could cry out, "All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." As maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth who dreamed a dream of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. God grant that we will be so maladjusted that we will be able to go out and change our world and our civilization. And then we will be able to move from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man to the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

Hi Matt,
I may have said this before, I'm a idealistic pragmatist.

Does non-violence work?
Yes it does within nascent democracies who contain sufficient men (and women) who will feel emboldened by the protest to bring about political change.

Can you see non-violent protest working in Afghanistan to bring about female education and emancipation under the Taliban?

Would non-violent protest have stopped the murderous Pol Pot regime in its orgy of slaughter?

Some evils in the world will only be corrected by the Lord's prayer coming to pass.

Regards
Derek

Derek wrote:

Hi Matt,
I may have said this before, I'm a idealistic pragmatist.

Does non-violence work?
Yes it does within nascent democracies who contain sufficient men (and women) who will feel emboldened by the protest to bring about political change.

Can you see non-violent protest working in Afghanistan to bring about female education and emancipation under the Taliban?

Would non-violent protest have stopped the murderous Pol Pot regime in its orgy of slaughter?

Some evils in the world will only be corrected by the Lord's prayer coming to pass.

Regards
Derek

I agree that some evils will only be corrected by Christ, no doubt. This 'Beast-system' that exists, and the barbarity it promotes cannot be conqured by no one other than Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, I see non-violence as an individual spiritual matter, and not necessarily a "tactic" to be used to promote a political agenda.

Something I remember from the Ghandi movie, is when he said, in substance, "We are not pacifists; on the contrary, we are active and provocative, but---non compliant and non-violent." I think that this statement sums up the way I feel, and the way I read New Testament scripture, exactly.

Its fashionable and trendy in the US for some people to latch on to MLK as an iconic figure; for blacks as a symbol of 'We shall overcome", for some whites as a symbol allowing them to acknowledge some sort of 'White guilt pennance', guilt that has been aimed at them for the sins of their forebarers. Then, unfortunately, there are the carpetbaggers who make a wealthy living (in the limelight) from maintaining 'racial' separation, and these few persons use the coat-tails of MLK and his iconic "afterimage" if you will, to help support thier agenda. I decided that I would listen to and watch MLK's speeches and put them to the test, if you will, and I really was impressed with him as a man, a spiritual person, and one who understood a few fundamental Christian concepts that so many others simply didnt, and still dont, get. Its for these few things that Im pretty sure he was murdered for, as TPTB simply cannot allow the true fundamentals of Christ to gain any traction within their controlled structure (which includes religions).

As for the examples you brought up, in terms of non-violence as a tactic, yes, it most certainly would work, and it would work every time. It would have worked against Hitler. The drawback----if one can frame it in this manner----is that there has to be a great mass of persons willing to literally die for thier belief in what they are "protesting" for/against, and in the concept of total non-violence to achieve this aim.

Non-violence is completely assymetrical to the mindset of might and applied force (violence) makes right. In a wartime situation, the non-violent may die, perhaps violently, but nevertheless, they will have lived their beliefs and not harmed others for the sake of ideology. So be it. [Again, I see this different from personal self-defense, where ideology is not the issue, but personal survival is].

AM I babbling, or making any sense at all?

EDIT:

Let me clarify on my point regarding Hitler, as it may have come off the wrong way---

Consider a BIG "what if" had the German people "woke up" and said each individually and thus collectively to themselves:

"NO. I will not be compliant with mass murder. Thus, I refuse to go to this factory and make these ball bearings for tanks, I refuse to manufacture this fuselauge for these Bombers, I refuse to comply with the notion that killing my fellow man is the answer, and thus I refuse to be compliant with an agenda that furthers the same."

Hitler would have been immediately defeated, no?

Non-compliance, Non violence. These are the things that TPTB fear the most, as to them this Christ based mindset assymetrically nullifies thier aims of creating fear and death, en-masse. This is why any figures that step forward as possibly iconic leaders in this movement are murdered, post haste.

BE FOREWARNED: YOU WILL BE CHALLENGED. LISTEN AND WATCH AT THE RISK OF HAVING YOUR PRECONCIEVED WORLDVIEWS DESTROYED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74XJJ3Tq5ew&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3tjIiWIkAQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K1j9FaH2io&feature=related
"One of the principles of Non-violence, is to be willing to be the recipient of violence..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDbm6Cv6tSA
"Creative Maladjustement..."

Hi Matt,
Don't worry, brother, your not babbling, etc!
I was not responding because I've been up to my eyeballs in work trying to get things sorted out here for a family visit next thursday.


All I can say to your comments about the third Reich is, "If only!"
Peoples are enslaved by the 'legacy' left to them by the past.

The Germans felt wronged by the outcome for them of the Great War and they sort redress symptomatic of their militaristic natures.


Only Christ can truly liberate.
God bless
Derek

Propmin wrote:

EDIT:

Let me clarify on my point regarding Hitler, as it may have come off the wrong way---

Consider a BIG "what if" had the German people "woke up" and said each individually and thus collectively to themselves:

"NO. I will not be compliant with mass murder. Thus, I refuse to go to this factory and make these ball bearings for tanks, I refuse to manufacture this fuselauge for these Bombers, I refuse to comply with the notion that killing my fellow man is the answer, and thus I refuse to be compliant with an agenda that furthers the same."

Hitler would have been immediately defeated, no?

Non-compliance, Non violence. These are the things that TPTB fear the most, as to them this Christ based mindset assymetrically nullifies thier aims of creating fear and death, en-masse. This is why any figures that step forward as possibly iconic leaders in this movement are murdered, post haste.