Blog #4

When a group of individuals are faced with a tough decision to make, it is truly hard to come to an agreement of how to address the situation. More than likely the group will have people divided with their opinions which causes great tension and confusion. But what are the right steps to take? What approach will be the best regarding the violent and non-violent approaches that the African American community faced during the Civil Rights movement? Many will agrue that violent approaches are neccessary while others will disagree and say that non-violent is the best answer. Despite everything, the black race had to fight for many years both directly and non-directly to get where they are today.

Direct violent action is something that clearly can be seen to the visible eye. This was a response that was heavily felt for during the the years of the Civil Rights movement. Many individuals witnessed their own relatives being lynched, sexually violated, abused, and being stripped from their rights just because of their skin color. The anger that many of these African Americans had was fought with violence and those who supported violence as the answer was Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and Stokely Carmichael. By viewing themselves as a society trapped within white American, they believed strongl in black nationalism and black power. If they used violence as a way to fight, they believed that they would recieve the response they wanted. They joined together as one and attacked with violence causing much tension between their opposing forces. They did everything they could to make sure that no crimes were being committed unfairly and that they were fighting for the right cause. Malcom X always said that he believed every black individual should be able to own a gun and that he had nothing against whites but they were the ones who were the opposing side in this battle. Overall, many black individuals were filled with hatred and anger towards the whites for treating their race so poorly so the motivation and need to fight directly was extremely high.

Non-voilent action is visable to the naked eye in its own way. Rather than using physical violence to prove a point, organizations such as sit-ins and peaceful protests get their voices heard. Being silent can still prove to be very loud. As they say, actions can speak louder than words. Martin Luther King Jr. was one to support this. By holding peaceful protests and boycotts, it definitely caused tension within the white community. It is hard for someone to not notice a reoccuring event which gets the word around. Many will argue that the African Americans should fight with violence to get their revenge on the abuse and shame that they experienced as a society but, many disagree by saying that this only causes the Government and white society to view the blacks more negatively. Yes, violence does get a point across rather quickly but not using violence also has just the same result. Granted, it might not happen rather quickly but if the tension grows and so does the awareness of the cause, it makes people began to question what they are doing. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to interegate the societies and eventually assimilation while the those in charge with violence did not.

It is hard to say which motive is better since both seem to have positives and negatives. But to me, I believe that the non-violent approach is a much better option than the violent one. Yes, black individuals were treated poorly by society and had to witness many burnings, unfair court cases, rape victims and abuse but, in order to get a voice heard I believe the non-violent way is to go. By fighting fire with fire, you only cause more hatred and tension between the two groups while peaceful protests, petitions and letters show that you are mature and serious about your cause. Granted, it might not make sense to believe that but even if every day life we witness the perks of being non-violent towards an issue than violent. Overall, both sides definitely helped one another out with their causes by raising awareness and support for their reasonings.