We have divided our work into three main
parts those are introduction, main body and conclusion. Whereby in introduction
we have tried to define different key terms found in the question together with
a brief biography of Martin Luther King Jr. and why he wrote a letter while in
a jail. In the main body we tried to discuss steps suggested by Martin Luther
King Jr. towards non-violence struggle together with the reasons why he decided
to use non-violent struggle towards injustice. And in conclusion we tried to
give our views towards the use of non-violence struggle against different
injustice.
Non-violence struggle have been
differently defined from different sources for example according to free online
dictionary, non-violence struggle referred as the doctrine , policy or practice
of rejecting violence in favour of peaceful tactics as a means of gain
political objectives.
Under this king of struggle
political objectives are achieved without bloodshed. Also it can be referred as
methods of bringing about change do not involve hurting people or causing
damage (Collins English dictionary).
Generally, non-violence struggle is the
kind of struggle which involves doctrine, policy or practice of rejecting
violence in favour of gain social political and economic objectives without
hurting people or causing damage. Having itemized the term non-violence
struggle, the next part of our work is to know the biography of Martin Luther
King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta
Georgia, on 15 January, 1929 as Michael Luther King Jr. later on his name
changed to Martin Luther King Jr. after being baptized. King became a civil
rights activist in his carrier. Then in 1955, he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott
and in 1957, he helped to find the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(S.C.L.C) and serving as it’s the first president. In 1951, King began doctoral
studies in systematic theology at Boston University School of Theology.
On 12 April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.
arrested for violating Alabama’s law against mass public demonstrations. One
day after being arrested, king received the letter which was the critical of
King’s activities. The letter titled “ An Appeal for law and order and common
sense’’
written by eight white
clergymen like Carpenter, Murray, Harmon, Hardish, Stalling, Ramage, Durick and
Grafman. In response to the letter written by such eight white clergymen, king
wrote a letter while in jail and the letter became famously known as the
“Letter from Birmingham jail’’.
According to the question, now we are
going to discuss different steps suggested by Martin Luther King Jr. in his
letter towards non-violence struggle as well as why he decided to use non
violent struggle.
The first step is collection of facts to
determine whether injustice exists; collection of facts is an activity of
gathering concrete information used as basic for further interpretation. In the
whole process of collecting facts, Martin Luther King Jr. found that in
Birmingham there were racial injustice, Negros unjust treatment in the courts
and unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches than in any other city in the
nation. For instance from his letter Martin Luther King, on the case of
injustice the Negros or blacks were not allowed to make eye contact with white
women. Thus in any country which facing problems or misunderstandings there
must be the collection of facts in order to address the problems prevailing.
The second step is negotiation; this step
comes after the collection of facts whereby it involves the process of
achieving the agreement through discussion. This done by oppressed leaders with
oppressors in which the oppressed leaders demand their rights or to solve those
problems facing oppressed people. After collecting facts he discovered that in
Birmingham city black people were facing different problems in case of racial,
court treatment and others, he decided to negotiate with city fathers but they
refused to engage in a good faith negotiation, so in any non -violence
struggle, negotiation comes after collection the facts and determine injustice
exist or not, and if unjust exists, negotiation is a likely step to be used
first before undergoing the further steps.
The third step is self-purification. In
general it is a preparation step for direct actions. This comes after
negotiation whether failed to take place or after unfulfilled promises to
oppressed groups from oppressors. It involves the provisions of training on
direct action struggle as well as to schedule different direct action
programmes. With references to the letter Martin Luther King jr. tried to
schedule different direct programme, example one for the Easter and Christmas
but those were postponed due to different reasons. This step is very important
on conducting a non violent struggle because people are to be prepared mentally
and physically on how to conduct a safe direct action which can avoid
unnecessary violent mass Killing or bloodshed to both oppressed and oppressors.
The last step in direct action according
to Martin Luther King Jr, direct action refers to non violence struggle towards
injustice whereby people would present their very bodies mentally and physically
as laying means of their case before the conscience of their local and national
community. In this step, different direct actions campaign such as marching,
civil disobedience, boy cotting as well as sit- in are likely to be used,
whereby sit-in is the non-violence tactic in which people sit down at the site
of injustice and refuse to move far for a time until their goals are achieved.
Marches is a tactic in which a large number of people walk in a group to the
place significance to protect injustice. Civil disobedience is the act of
openly disobeying unjust, immoral or unconstitutional laws whereby Martin
Luther King Jr. in his letter divided the laws into just and unjust and he
emphasized to obey just laws and ignoring unjust laws because they are out of
moral values and the laws of god whereby he squares his ideas with St.
Augustine who argue that “ unjust laws are not laws at all” but the whole
purpose of direct action is to create a situation so that it will open the door
to negotiation, this step is the best one to be used anywhere if negotiation
failed to take place because it arouse attention to oppressors towards
negotiation again as Martin says in his letter “ an oppressed cannot be
remained oppressed forever’’, as well as “a freedom cannot be voluntarily given
by oppressor but it must be demanded by oppressed themselves’’ thus why direct
action is necessary to fight against injustice.
Apart from discussing different steps of
non violent struggle, now the following are the reasons why Martin Luther King
Jr. preferred to use non violence struggle towards injustice.
Non-violence is the way of the strong
non-violence is not for the cowardly, the weak, the passive, the apathetic or
the fearful. “Non-violence resistance does resist’’ he wrote “It is not a
method of stagnant passively. While the non violent resistor is passive in the
sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and
emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he
is wrong. The method is passive physically, but strong active spiritually. It
is not passive non resistance to evil; it is active non-violence resistance to
evil.
The goal of non-violence is redemption
and reconciliation. Non-violence does not seek to defeat or humiliate the
opponent but to win friendship and understanding. The aftermath of non-violence
is the creation of the beloved community while the aftermath of the violence is
tragic bitterness thus why in non-violence struggle it is better than violence
struggle against injustice because it maintains friendship between oppressors
and oppressed.
Non-violence seeks to defeat evils, not
people. Non-violence is directed “against forces of evil rather than against
persons who happens to be doing the evil. It is the evil that the non-violent
resistor seek to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil’’ referring to his
letter Martin Luther King Jr. based much
on fighting against evils done by the oppressors like racial segregation,
unjust treatment of Negros in the courts and bombing of negro homes and
churches in Birmingham.
Non- violence choose love instead of
hate, Martin Luther King Jr. preferred non-violence struggle in order to avoid
enemity between the oppressed and the oppressors so as to maintain love between
themselves, while they are in conflicting situation. To him to hate oppressors
when fighting against injustice was a sin, therefore when fighting against
injustice we are required not to hate our enemies rather we are required to
promote friendship and love so as to make easy negotiation between two sides.
In summing up, although there are some
scholars like Lionel Lokos and and Frank Meyer criticized Martin Luther’s
non-violence struggle, but as the group we regard non-violence struggle as the
best way for achieving both political, economic and social objectives without
hurting people or causing damages.
REFERENCES
Bass J.S (2001). Blessed are the peacemakers,
Martin Luther King Jr. Eight white Religious leaders
and the Letter from Birmingham jail’’ Louisiana: Louisiana state University
press.
Oates S.B (1982). Let the Trumpet
sound: The life of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: Harper & Row
Rhetoric & Public Affairs, volume
7, number 1, spring, pp. 1-22 (Article) published by Michigan state university
press.
