Perennial angry-at-society-guy Craig Rosebraugh (who apparently has never met a news camera he wouldn’t strike a pose for) recently challenged Portland Mercury readers to ask themselves, “Has there been a successful social or political movement in this country where violence did not indeed play at least some crucial part?”
Let’s look at Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights movement of the 1960s. Certainly this country has a long way to go in addressing socioeconomic inequality that African Americans continue to face in staggering numbers. But it’s ludicrous to argue that blacks, especially those in the south, are not better off now than before King’s effort.
Although King’s nonviolent methods of civil disobedience played the major role in swaying public opinion, acts of violence were indeed crucial to this change.
Rosebraugh says militia groups like the Black Panthers forced The Man to deal with King’s nonviolent crowd. Funny that Rosebraugh should invoke Malcolm X in his attempts to market violence, because he fails to mention that Malcolm X’s trip to Africa and Mecca deeply changed the religious man. He started to tone down the violent rhetoric and adopt methods that would incorporate more diverse groups to the cause. If you like conspiracy theories, The Man killed Malcolm after his message softened and actually became more dangerous.
No, Malcolm X wasn’t the significant violent element of the civil rights movement. Racist whites were.
When white KKK members resorted to fire-bombing to intimidate southern black church-goers and ended up killing young girls in Sunday school, public opinion began to change. When crazy white racists resorted to violence and killed three civil rights workers, public opinion began to change. When rabid white police resorted to violence and began beating peaceful marchers, unleashing the dogs on them and spraying them with water cannons, public opinion began to change. In fact, JFK made a federal case out of it.
And when the anti-war anarchists, ELF or any other violence-spouting groups finally accidentally injure or kill someone, they, too, will have dramatically shifted public opinion against themselves and their cause.
But perhaps more important and dangerous for the rest of us: People prone to violence provide even more justification for the current trend in this country to ignore civil liberties and stifle dissent. They may feel good for a few moments, but violent and destructive acts are not the most wise path to a better world.