Fight The Power (with peace!)
Being marginalized means not having your voice heard. You’re continually drowned out by high-decibel demagoguery on both sides of any argument. The emotional manipulations used by the Trump administration obscure facts and further divide an already broken nation. The tragedy and injustice of the George Floyd killing is being fought on the streets using violence because, as some say, it is the only way to be heard. To be cool and reasonable will be translated as ineffective and weak. Many intellectuals and leaders are using this MLK quote in essays and social media posts:
“Rioting is the voice of the unheard.”
While that is true, anyone who has studied King knows he would never justify violence as a means to policy change. He, along with Gandhi and Christ, was adamant about peaceful means of resistance. All were militant in this belief. Their adherence to the principle of nonviolence was more hardcore than immature kids calling for the burning of businesses and police cars. Writing letters to local representatives, making phone calls to senators, and voting, may not seem as sexy as throwing a Molotov cocktail at your enemy, but will have long-term effects and not land you in jail.
When the ultimate goal is freedom of choice, equality, and a better life, changing minds with an intelligent argument is always superior to making an enemy of your oppressor. The road is long and hard. There is no instant gratification in altering the belief system of a society with an ingrained, abysmal, myopic view of the world. True visionaries and wise leaders know this instinctually. They study, prepare, and plant their feet on the high moral ground of nonviolent resistance.
While this generation may be more tolerant regarding race and sex, they’re less patient with the process of change. We want the world and we want it now! is a blessing and curse. Of course, change has to happen. But as anyone starting a new project knows, skill and mastery take many hours. No one is an expert overnight. Through trial and error, ups, downs, setbacks, until finally there is a breakthrough. The George Floyd killing was the tipping point. Will violence be the cornerstone of this generation’s playbook?
It’s worth remembering that Gandhi condemned violent retaliation to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre where 300-plus unarmed civilians were killed and over a thousand wounded after being fired upon by the British Indian army. He was alone in his calls for peace while the entire nation wanted revenge. Yes, the outrage was justifiable, but Gandhi’s cool head, long-term goals, and compassion was the most sophisticated approach to massive wrongdoing.
Sophistication is at odds with hot-headed, spur-of-the-moment action. Reactionaries gain immediate wins and short-term satisfaction. They lack the wisdom to understand their enemy thoroughly and thereby fail to develop a successful playbook. Scoring points with physically aggressive members of a group may give immediate satisfaction and praise, but often it’s a dead-end scenario.
At the end of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, a small argument escalates into the destruction of a business and the killing of a black man by police. Again, violence was repaid with violence; an unending vicious circle. In the case of this film, fire, threats, and rioting were chosen over peaceful discussion to deter destruction of life and property. Maybe it was just more cinematic, and the hot summer had no choice but to boil over. In the end, Spike left us with these two quotes onscreen:
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by destroying itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn’t mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don’t even call it violence when it’s self- defense, I call it intelligence.” — Malcolm X
We do have a choice in our behavior, and we all have to choose. Both of these ideas are compelling. And there’s another quote that would seem to be a guiding light for MLK and for all of those who choose peaceful resistance:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9
