Many people have debated whether it is morally justifiable to use violence in the fight against racism and for Civil Rights. What do the quote reveal about what Martin Luther King, Jr., at about the use of violence in the struggle for civil rights? How does each man make his point? What justifications do they give to support their position? "I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963
Many people have debated whether it is morally justifiable to use violence in the fight against racism and for Civil Rights. What do the quote reveal about what Martin Luther King, Jr., at about the use of violence in the struggle for civil rights? How does each man make his point? What justifications do they give to support their position?
"I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963
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