10/19/2017
In late December 1964 Dr. Martin L. King Jr was formally invited to
bring his Southern Christian Leadership
Conference staff to Selma, Alabama to assist the Dallas County Voters’ League in winning the right to register and
vote. (Garrow 39) King employed an act he called passive resistance. In the following report I will describe the roots
of the nonviolent philosophy employed by King in Alabama and compare it to the more militant approaches
previously advocated by Malcolm X. I will attempt to show the main views of each person’s philosophy, show which
of these had the most lasting impact on society, and what we can learn from both the nonviolent and militant
approaches. While Malcolm X did not directly advocate violence in Selma, AL. it is worth noting the key ideas and
motives of both men.
King’s approach in Selma was indirectly influenced by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi known as Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi advocated for freedom for his people using the philosophy of Nonviolence. He accomplished tremendous strides in the betterment of his people’s lives in India during a protest directed towards the British during their occupation of India. (Snodgrass 274) Satyagraha, Gandhi’s nonviolent protest movement (satya= true, agraha= firmness) came to stand like its creator, as a moral principle and a rallying cry: the principle was truth and the cry freedom. (Gandhi 486) Glenn Smiley brought books about Non-violence to King during the early months of the Protest in Selma. (Kirk 46) King didn’t adopt the word nonviolent at first but rather used the word “passive resistance”. (Kirk 46)
“If anything, that is so much an injustice that you are justifying trying to demonstrate against it, then note that the one who is the author of the injustice is not qualified to lay the ground rules to you and me on how we are supposed to go about removing that injustice.” Malcolm X. (X) When we read the words of Malcolm X one can see the notion of enough is enough. It isn’t in conflict to King’s means of accomplishing a goal. I view this a complement for King’s tone. A stark reminder of the complete and total desperation of the African American people of Selma and rest of the US. An active aggressive protest that could have been sparked like a match if other tactics failed to avail. While the words of Malcom X are understandably justified time has shown progress for African American populations around the work being delivered primarily from the more socially palatable approached prescribed by King.
The goals of both aggressive and nonaggressive approaches practiced and preached by King and X are one in the same. It’s the activities of each that define the behavior and that is where we will draw the differences. One has in it the seed of aggression and yet is understandably so because the will to survive at any lengths is strong. The other, the nonaggressive approach wants to do more than survive. In it is the seed of what it wants to see in the world. The nonaggressive approach uses the anticipated reaction. If the reaction is exploited properly it will work to one’s goal. The reaction to the initiating protest is improperly utilized by the more aggressive thinkers. Movements and causes have public personas. It is in the interest of all great works to maintain an honest benevolent image and act in truthfulness and love in deeds not just in image. It is important to sculpt as an appealing public image as one can. History shows King accomplished this task.
Martin Luther King brought the plight of African Americans into the lives of ignorant or apathetic Americans. Showing them peaceful demonstrations that were met with violent aggression leaving in people’s memories the one-sided violence. His tactics brought into the fold of protester; religious leaders, people of every color and creed. The contrasting potential for aggression that was talked about by Malcolm X helped Americans see the need to embrace the nonaggressive forms of protest and react humanely. Gandhi’s original templet for nonaggression coupled with King’s passive resistance has been a steady hold for people of good will today. As with times gone by, us today too are presented with nonaggressive and aggressive options. We can meet violence with violence or we can be like Albert Rosenfield, when he says “I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love.” (Twin)
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of the Literature of Empire, Facts On File, 2014, p. 274.
Kirk, John A. Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, p. 46.
Garrow, David J. Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Yale University Press, 2015, p. 39.
Gandhi, and Mahadev Desai. An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Penguin, 2007. p. 486.
X, Malcolm. Militant Labor Forum. 29 May 1964,
Twin Peaks. Created by David Lynch, and Mark Frost, episode 2.3, 8 Apr. 1990.