In Martin Luther King’s essay “The Ways of Meeting Oppression” and in the text “Nonviolence”, the term nonviolence is explained as a technique for social struggle. On the other hand, in the reading “The Black Panther Party for Self- Defense” it is stated that this social struggle doesn’t always carry the same meaning with the term nonviolence. As I agree with Black Panther’s idea, in my essay, I am going to discuss the extent that the black panthers’ resort to violence is justifiable.
According to Martin Luther King, there are three ways that oppressed people cope with oppression; Acquiescence, basically where the oppressed get used to being oppressed. Resort to physical violence and corroding hatred, which would bring momentary solutions and establish additional and more complex problems. Nonviolent resistance, that seeks to create a balance between the acquiescence and violence by preventing the extremes and immoralities of both. In the text “Nonviolence” the term is explained as “a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that lead its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social and political goals.” (p.1) As King implies, those assumptions does not imply a battle between people but a opposition between justice and injustice and by the help of nonviolent resistance the Negro can fight for equality. The hint is to create effective tactics and considering political and cultural conditions, and develop a better plan or strategy.
As the rule of capitalism, the rulers’ power depends on the populace’s power. However, the concept of nonviolence challenges the power of rulers through the intentional removal of this co-operation. As Martin Luther King implies; “Through nonviolent resistance the Negro will be able to noble height of opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.” (p. 139.) From the beginning, the behaviors of the doers are aimed to be changed. However, because of the rising strength of the violence against the Negro had built the foundation for a self- defense movement to achieve liberation for all Black people, which is called “The Black Panther Party.” For all the Black people, the party wanted freedom, full employment, an end to the robbery of white people, decent housing, education, being held in prison and jails and being tried in a court by a jury of their peer group.
When the topic came to the exemption of Black men from military service and an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people it also came to the extent the black panthers’ resort to violence is justifiable.
The Party’s fight for redistribution of wealth and the establishment of social, political and social equality across gender and color barriers made it one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for working class liberation and ethnic minorities (Baggins, Brian). The Black Panther Party set up a ten-point program much like Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam that called for American society to realize political, economic and social equal opportunity based on the principles of socialism, all of which was summarized by the final point: "We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace" (Newton, Huey P). The Black Panther Party wanted to achieve these goals through militant force. In the words of Che Guevara, “Words are beautiful, but action is supre...
This rally became a massive label during this period and even in today’s society. Recently there was a riot in Baltimore due to African-American, Freddie Gray, who died of severe spinal cord injury after police arrested him. The protestors marched down the streets and “chanted ‘No Justice, No Peace’” (Alcindor). The meaning behind the rallying cry, “No Justice, No Peace” was that as long as injustice prevails, acting peacefully is nothing but a mere impossibility. It is a citizen’s obligation to take a stance against injustice, even if that means the use of violence. When the African-American society feels they are being served unjustly, they will stop at no means until they acquire equal rights and opportunities. Some thoughts that may pass through their minds might be, “why should we act accordingly if we are treated unfairly.” We see two examples of complete injustice through the Rodney King case and Latasha Harlins. Countless African-Americans are rioting and will continue to do so until they feel they are receiving equal treatment from the white
King introduces two phases of the Negroes struggle: “the first began in the 1950’s when Negroes slammed the door shut on submission and subservice,” and “when Negroes assertively
In Living for the City, Donna Murch details the origins and the rise to prominence the Black Panther Party experienced during the 1960s and into the 1970s. The Civil Rights Movement and eventually the Black Panther Movement of Oakland, California emerged from the growing population of migrating Southern African Americans who carried with them the traditional strength and resolve of the church community and family values. Though the area was heavily driven by the massive movement of industrialization during World War II, the end of the war left a period of economic collapse and social chaos in its wake. The Black Panther Party was formed in this wake; driven by continuing violence against the African American youth by the local police forces, the Black Panther Party’s roots consisted mostly of educational meetings of local African American college students.
“King addressed the huge late afternoon crowd of more than 250,000” (Garrow). The Civil Rights Movement was at its peak through the 1950’s and 1960’s. People like Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, the Black Panthers, and Americans against segregation helped take the first step to stopping racism from spreading to further generations. “The Black Panthers Platform,” by: Alexander Bloom and Wini Brienes is a book that helps spread light onto what the black communities wanted and to show how daily life was for a African American under a racist government. The theme of this book is to fight for what brings justice and equality to the people so that they could have the opportunity to be treated fairly. The civil rights movement requests are stated in the “Black Panther Platform”.
The use of violence during the Civil Rights Movement proved to be ineffective because it furthered social tensions between Whites and Blacks. The people who generated violence were mainly the Black Panthers advocating Black Power. Black Power called for nationality, unity, self-pride, self-defense and the separation from the White race (Blumberg 9). The idea of separation of the White race competed with integration since Black Power wanted “African Americans to establish their own ...
Nearly all of the problems the Black Panther Party attacked are the direct descendants of the system which enslaved Blacks for hundreds of years. Although they were given freedom roughly one hundred years before the arrival of the Party, Blacks remain victims of White racism in much the same way. They are still the target of White violence, regulated to indecent housing, remain highly uneducated and hold the lowest position of the economic ladder. The continuance of these problems has had a nearly catastrophic effect on Blacks and Black families. Brown remembers that she “had heard of Black men-men who were loving fathers and caring husbands and strong protectors.. but had not known any” until she was grown (105). The problems which disproportionatly affect Blacks were combatted by the Party in ways the White system had not. The Party “organized rallies around police brutality against Blacks, made speeches and circulated leaflets about every social and political issue affecting Black and poor people, locally, nationally, and internationally, organized support among Whites, opened a free clinic, started a busing-to prisons program which provided transport and expenses to Black families” (181). The Party’s goals were to strengthen Black communities through organization and education.
After the death of Malcolm X the movement started to get funky. It seemed as though after the assinaition of Malcom X, the revolution’s focal point began to change. The movement began to head towards a more intense, and nitty gritty level. It seemed as though all the non-violent organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, as well as the Christian Leadership Conference had little hold on what was about to happen to the movement. The death of Malcolm X brought a new direction in the movement. In a society of a violent system it was hard for young blacks to take charge in an non-violent organization, it seemed to be a hypocrisy. And the idea of tolerance was wearing thin for the whole generation.
These movements have many similarities in the goals that they wanted to achieve, however they have some differences as well. In the document written by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, they voiced their demands ...
Until the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his life’s work was dedicated to the nonviolent actions of blacks to gain the freedoms they were promised in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. He believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 1963). These injustices had become so burdensome to blacks that they were “plunged into an abyss of despair” (King, 1963). The nonviolent actions of the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches were so the “individual could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths…to help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism” and ultimately lead to “inevitably opening the door to negotiation” (King, 1963). Not only was King’s approach effective with the older black generation, it was also successful with white people. They did not feel threatened when approached by King. White people gained a sense of empathy towards the plight of black freedom as King’s promise of nonviolence did not threaten their livelihood. Malcolm X viewed the world similarly to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however; his beliefs to changing the status quo were slightly different from his political counterpart. Malcolm X realized that “anger could blind human vision” (X, 1965). In realizing this, X knew that in order to achieve racial freedom blacks had to “forget hypocritical politics and propaganda” (X, 1965). While Malcolm X was more so an advocate for violent forces against white people than King, X merely used force when it became necessary for defense. According to X, “I don’t go for non-violence if it also means a delayed solution. I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to American black man’s problem” (X, 1965). However, this le...
From bold investigations of mob brutality, protests of mass murders, segregation and discrimination, to testimony before congressional committees on the vicious tactics used to bar African Americans from the ballot box, it was the talent and tenacity of NAACP members that saved lives and changed many negative aspects of American society. While much of its history is chronicled in books, articles, pamphlets and magazines, the true movement lies in the faces—black, white, yellow, red, and brown—united to awaken the conscientiousness of people, and a nation. Work Cited www.en.wikipedia.org www.naacp.org www.spartacus.schoolnet.co
The Black Panther Party made blacks more progressive in trying to be more equal and more willing to fight for justice. Their self-determination to come together and stand up for themselves, as one was a stepping-stone for blacks to fight for themselves and the good of their people, also to make sure blacks could be treated equally both socially and politically in society. The Black Panther Party was started in Oakland, California in 1966, when “Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton took up arms and declared themselves apart of a global revolution against American imperialism” (Bloom). They wanted to empower the black people to stand up for themselves and defend themselves against the police and their unjust ways. The police were the oppressor’s that kept blacks down and kept blacks from gaining any self-rights.
The Black Panthers wanted to be apart of a society of Revolutionary Freedom with the ability to fight for the oppressed to gain equal rights and to end police brutality. The Panthers were a dominant organization because of its support from the black community. The whites in the North were endangered and alienated by the Black Panthers’ radicalism and readiness to use violence. In 1968 and 1969, The Panthers’ were perceived as a threat to the federal government whom effectively disband the organization by creating ways to stop them. Huey P. Newton said, “Black people must control the destiny of their community. Because Black people desire to determine their own destiny, they are constantly inflicted with brutality from the oc...
There are three ways that oppressed people deal with their oppression. First is acquiescence. Second way is that oppressed people resort physical violence and corroding hatred. However, the third way is the way that Martin Luther suggests us to follow the most. It is nonviolent resistance. It is the way that opens to oppressed people in their quest for freedom. Nonviolence resistance is the practice of achieving goal by protesting with nonviolent. Nonviolence resistance can happen in many situations especially the unpleasant ones and it always lead us to the better.
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.