Blog 4

To begin, I will tell you about the arguments for non-violence and arguments in favor of more aggressive responses such as lynching, sexual violence, and abuse. I will also tell you the arguments behind each approach and why they were embraced and what was hoped to be achieved by these approaches.

First, the non-violent tactics used during the Civil Rights movement and based on the moral principle that violence is wrong was very active. Non-violent direct action confronts and disputes and opposes what is wrong. The boycotts, sit-ins, and marches were all tactics that were used to disrupt and challenge racism and Jim Crow segregation while bringing no harm to white people. These peaceful means of protest were often met with threats, arrests, beatings, and even death. Some examples of non-violent direct action were the Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks and the Jim Crow Laws. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated civil disobedience, the non-violent resistance against un-just laws. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.” Civil rights activists organized boycotts and marches and refused to obey laws that they knew were wrong and unjust. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to end segregation, and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and non-violent means. His arguments to end segregation and discrimination was brought out by arguing that we can all be free and equal through non-violent means.

To continue, more aggressive responses and the arguments why lynching, sexual abuse, and abuse was the violence used. Lynching and sexual abuse occurred in the United States during the 19th and 20th century. Lynching is how white men thought they could enforce so called “white supremacy” after the victory of the Union in the American Civil War. African -American women were also being raped every single day by white men and if taken to court the white men were often found innocent. White men often raped African-American women because they were used as sex objects for pleasure. In the article, “It Was like All of US Had Been Raped,” Betty Jean Owens was raped seven times by four white men and these men were found innocent but only taken to jail for fifteen days. If an African-American man was accused of raping a white woman than he would have been lynched. This is wrong in so many ways, but white men thought that they weren’t doing anything wrong.

To continue, civil rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael were all hoping to achieve freedom and end segregation and end racial discrimination. Their determination and hard work let to more freedom of the African-Americans today. In the 19th and 20th century African-American men, women, and children were getting lynched but now African-American men and women work at the same jobs and are getting more respect. Now we even have an African-American president for the first time in history, who thought that would have ever happened?