Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Nonviolence Triumphant?
Robert F. Williams lived to old age. Martin Luther King died of a gunshot wound in 1968. One advocated self defense, the other, nonviolence. These themes I discussed with one of your peers after class on Tuesday. Let's continue that conversation and more. Please post your discussion question below.
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In the reading, we find many African Americans deciding to combat violence with violence. While it seems like a logical choice, it was obviously not a smart one given the bias and prejudice of the prominent government officials. Since I am a big proponent of the concept of "what might have been," I am curious to know what people think might have happened if the majority of blacks had taken more of a violence leads to justice approach as opposed to the views we later saw with Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and others. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteEven though Robert Williams advocated using violence in self-defense, he never really acted on his threats of violence. Oftentimes, this was enough to achieve his goal, such as the guarding of his family discussed on page 229. Why was Williams' reputation as "potentially the most dangerous man in America" so effective? Also, what do you think about his flight from Monroe to Cuba to escape the violence at his home?
ReplyDeleteOne of the stereotypes which whites harbored for African Americans viewed black males as volatile and unthinking threats to society. In the white mind, they had to be controlled to prevent acts of violence and vulgarity. How did the image which Williams put forth contribute to this stereotype and how did it overcome it? Do you think that the contrast of a nonviolent, level-headed King with a foreboding Williams helped or hindered their common cause?
ReplyDeleteTyson makes an important point when he explaines that "for most black southerners nonviolence was a tactical opportunity rather than a philosophical imperative." He even quoted King as saying "Violence exerciese merely in self-defense, all societies from the most primitive to the most cultured and civilized accept as moral and legal." Likewise Williams recognized that "nonviolence is a powerful weapon in the struggle against social evil." How do these points complicate our views of Williams as a militant advocate of self-defense, and King as a peaceful advocate of nonviolence? Also, Williams and King seem to represent a transition, in the struggle for civil rights, from violence and self-defense to nonviolence during the late 1950s and early 1960s. What important political events are happening in America and globally that affect this transition?
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ReplyDeleteAs Tyson points out in chapter 6 of Radio Free Dixie that Robert Williams wanted blacks to fight "Lynching by the whites with black using self defense to combat the KKK and protect their homes". The NCCAP wanted a peaceful approach to the civil rights era. Do you think that if the NCCAP advocated that blacks use violence to win freedom for themselves that things would have come about faster than they did and legislation to protect blacks would have been written earlier? Also Do you think that if blacks would have resorted to violence we would have seen a Race War and blacks fighting whites and more blood be shed than the Civil War had shed?
ReplyDeleteTyson writes that "When we look back at history...it is important to resist the temptation to view all events as part of an inexorable chain of causality leading inevitably to the present." Why is this important to keep in mind when we study Civil Rights (especially pertaining to the American South). Also, what is your favorite Robert F. Williams quote in the book?
ReplyDeleteWhy did some of the younger generation seem to regard nonviolence not as a sacred principle like many, but as a tactical position of uncertain promise, even after observing such influencial figures as Williams and King symbolizing nonviolence as a way of life?
ReplyDeleteRobert Williams can be seen as a forefather to the black power movement. How did his provocation of violence help the back community? Did retaliated violence from whites help the black cause. Or did Williams theories only alienate blacks from other blacks? Whites to blacks?
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