NoNvIOLENCE: THE ONLV ROAD
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FREEDOM
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In fact' this one young man killed have killed in all the riots Negroes all the than day .,io." p.Lple in one This must raise a serious 1964. of riots Harlem the in all ihe iities since for certainly there are NeE9, of the intent violent question about the
age a sniper can do when he is serious'
I Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom Antid urban riots, a neu uaae of strident militancl within blach Arnerica, stif competition for funds and political infiucnce from other cit'il rights organizations, and the signs that the nation's attention was increasing\ being diterted frorn the ciuil rights mouement, King and his editorial staf defended SCLC's position that nonuiolent resistance was the on\ ffictiue strotegy for social change at'ailable to black people.
-/ first public challenge to the philosThe year 1966 brought with i9,the ophy and strategy of nonviofence from within the ranks of the civil rights movement. Resolutions of self-defense and Black Power sounded forth from our friends and brothers. At tlre same time riots erupted in several major cities. Inevitably a link waf made between the two phenomena though movement leadership y'ontinued to deny any implications of violence in the concept of Black Power. The nation's press heralded these incidents as an end of the Negro's reliance on nonviolence as a means of achieving freedom. Articles appeared on "'Ihe Plot to get Whitey," and, "Must Negroes fight back?" and one had the impression that a serious movement was underway to lead the Negro to freedom through the use of violence. Indeed, there was much talk of violence. It was the same talk we have heard on the fringes of the nonviolent movement for the past ten years. It was the talk of fearful men, saying that they would not join the nonviolent movement because they would not remain nonviolent if attacked. Now the climate had shifted so that it was even more popular to talk of violence, but in spite of the talk of violence there emerged n<.1 action in this direction. One reporter pointed out in a recent New Yorker article, that the fact that Beckwith, Price, Rainey, and Collie Leroy Wilkins remain alive is living testimony to the fact that the Negr<r rcmains n<>nviolent. And if this is not enough, a mere check of the st.atisti<'s <>f'<:asualties in the recent riots shows that the vast. maj<lrity <lf' lx'r's()ns killcd in riots are Negroes. All the rcports o['srriping in Los Artgck's's ('xl)l'('ssways <lid rrr>t proclucc a singlc <'asualty.'['ltc yourrg <lt'rrrcrrlcrl wlritr.strr<k'nt at th(! Urriversity <>l 'li'xirs lrirs slrown whirt <llrrrt-
many ex-Gls within our ghettos, and no small percentage of those recent migrants from the South have demonstrated some proficiency hunting squirrels and rabbits. I .u."oriy conclude that the Negro, even in his bitterest moments, is 'Ihis does not mean that the not intent on killing white men to be free. Negro is a saint whJ abhors violence. Unfortunately, a check- of the hospita'ls in any Negro community on any Saturday night will make you painfully u*u." oi the violence within the Negro community' Hundreds of victims of shooting and cutting lie bleeding in the emer8ency rooms' but there is seldom if .u.r a white person who is the victim of Negro hostility. I have talked with many persons in the ghettos of the North who arin gue eloquently for the use bf uiol..r.". But I observed none of them ift. rn"Ui that rioted in Chicago. I have heard the street-corner preachers in Harlem and in Chicago;s Washington Park, but in spite of the bitterness preached and the hitred espoused, none of them has ever been able to ,turt u riot' So far, only the police through their fears and prjudice have goaded our people to riot. And once the riot starts, only the police or tte National i)"rrd have been able to put an end- to them. This ,1.-o.rr,r^,es that these violent eruptions are unplanned, uncontrollable temper tantrums brought on by long-neglected poverty^' humiliation, oppression and expl,oitation' Violence as a strategy for social change in Americu is nonexistent. All the sound and fury seems but the produces no action and signilies 1r,rr,ri.i.rg of cowards whose bold talk rtothing. I am-convinced that for practical as well as moral reasons' nonvloIt,nce offers the only road to freedom fbr my people. In violelt warfare, ( )ne must be prepared to face ruthlessly the fact that there will be casualhas evidently decidr ics by the thtusands. In Vietnam, the United States ,.<l that it is willing to slaughter millions, sacrifice some two hundred secure the freedom of I lr<rusand men and twenty billion dollars a year to 'Ihis is to fight a war on Asian soil, sorne fourteen million vietnamese. rvltcre Asians are in the majority, Anyone leading a violent conflict must lrt. willing to make a similai assessment regarding the possible casualties
to a mintrity populaton confronting a well-armed, wealthy majority u,irh a fa,raticai right wing that is capable of exterminating the entire lrlrr.k pr>pulation ind whiih would not hesitate such an attempt if the ,,rrvival of'white Western materialism were at stake' Arguments that the American Negro is a partof a world which is tworlrir'<ls <'olorccl ancl that there will come a day when the oppressed peooppression Ik. rll <.okrr will ris(: togcthcr t() throw off the yoke <lf white