A Legacy of Nonviolent Resistance

photo provided by bswise flickr.com

I would encourage you, over the coming days, to find some time to read or listen to not just the memes and quotes of king, but a whole speech from beginning to end. His ideas were radical and challenging, and arrived at with thought and prayer and astute analysis. I had called this reflection “A Legacy of Peace” but when we hear the word peace, or even King's often quoted words “We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means“ from his speech protesting the war in Vietnam, it might lead us to inaction or acquiesce. We must remember that King had a very intentional and courageous alternative to violence- grounded in a challenging set of principles, and grounded in regular personal reflection and accountability. King’s primary legacy was non-violent resistance. This approach was radical in his time, and it is radical today.

The King Center offers this summary of 6 principles of Dr. King's work, noting that “Dr. King often said, he got his inspiration from Jesus Christ and his techniques from Mohandas K. Gandhi.”

PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People.
It is not a method for cowards; it does resist.
It is active nonviolent resistance to evil.
It is aggressive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.

It’s easy to fall into the habit, and I notice the tendency in myself, of thinking that non-violence avoids conflict. But as Dr. King so eloquently expressed in his 1957  interview*, passive acquiescence to evil is not a moral stance. Instead King called for active “non-cooperation with evil” as a moral imperative. The kind of peace King sought could not be reached without resisting evil, resisting injustice actively.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence Seeks to Win Friendship and Understanding.
The outcome of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community.
The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation

This is in stark contrast to much of what we see in the world today. Whatever side of an issue you are on, it is so easy to get focused on “winning” but the goal of non-violent resistance was the creation of Beloved Community -- a just global community where resources were shared fairly, where conflicts (which are inevitable in community) were resolved peacefully, and reconciliation was desirable even between oppressed and oppressor at the conflict’s end.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence Seeks to Defeat Injustice, or Evil, Not People.
Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.
The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil not persons victimized by evil.

There’s a theory we were taught in seminary- the levels of conflict. At the first level, we are all just trying to solve a problem together, as the conflict intensifies, we start to rigidify into who is right and who is wrong. We bring in the authorities and the rules to sort out who is right and who is wrong. As the conflict continues to intensify, it’s not enough for us to win, the other must be exiled, fired, must go. And at its most intense, the other must be destroyed, it’s not enough for them to leave our community, but only harm to the other will satisfy.

We can see this right now in all aspects of our political life. But if the end is for us all to be together in beloved community, we cannot exile those we disagree with, even those who have oppressed us. Destroying the other cannot be our goal. It is the injustice that must be defeated, must be overturned and transformed.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence Holds That Unearned, Voluntary Suffering for a Just Cause Can Educate and Transform People and Societies.
Nonviolence is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation; to accept blows without striking back.
Nonviolence is a willingness to accept violence if necessary but never inflict it.

Consider our story this morning about the Children’s Crusade. Recall the iconic images of the civil rights movement, of protestors being met with violence and responding peacefully. Another challenging ideal. Now we must be careful of how we interpret this principle. Too many people have stayed in families, in communities where they accepted suffering, accepted violence. But this principle says “when necessary.” Remember these justice seekers were already suffering, were already oppressed, and they were clear that it was necessary to resist that oppression. In no way is this asking us to accept any violence that might befall us. I think it’s important to remember that this is in the service of resistance- resisting oppression, resisting injustice. I think it is also important that we consent, that we are choiceful. Those young people who participated in the Children’s Crusade made a strong and courageous choice to be there, where they knew they might experience suffering and violence. And they did it because they believed it could help educated and transform. And surely many people who saw those images those acts of resistance and violence woke up to the reality of injustice because of it, and were called to action and transformation.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence Chooses Love Instead of Hate.
Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as the body.
Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unselfish, and creative.

I remember the first peace march I ever went to -- how much rage there was, how many speakers spoke from the stage with hatred about people who proposed and supported war. “This isn’t a peace march, it is an anti-war march” I realized, I had thought all peace marches would carry at their core this principle, that nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

King says elsewhere in that interview “The nonviolent resistor not only avoids external, physical violence, but he avoids internal violence of spirit. He not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he refuses to hate him, and he stands with understanding goodwill at all times.”

Another challenging principle. Perhaps, like me, you can easily bring to mind people or organizations who engage in acts of injustice or oppression -- how easy it is to vilify them, to hate them. This principle says it’s not enough to simply refrain from violence against them, we must strive to keep love at the center. The King Center tells us that part of this work is “personal commitment: Daily check and affirm your faith in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. Eliminate hidden motives…” So working every day to make sure we are on track not only with our actions, but with our inner talk as well.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence Believes That the Universe Is on the Side of Justice.

How could you do it? How could you keep going towards justice when there was no sign that things would ever get better? King believed that God is a God of Justice or, for folks who don’t believe in god, that as he said “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”** King believed that we are not alone in our struggles, but that life itself prefers justice, works toward justice. I am moved and heartened by King’s faith, after all he had seen. He held this belief while he was deep in the struggle, and in the suffering of oppression , even then he believed that god is a god of justice.

Today as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and all those who struggled alongside him and in the decades since – struggled for justice and for an end to racism, let us receive with gratitude his legacy to support our own struggles for justice, our own striving to achieve the beloved community. King wrote and spoke eloquently of the tactics of non-violent resistance, and showed us what living those principles might look like. They are ours to inherit if we choose. For to resist nonviolently is a choice, a courageous choice, that comes from deep discernment. May his faith, his courage and his principles give us courage as we meet the struggles in our times.

---

* Video-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmOwgkCZQHg&t=172s 

Transcript- 

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/interview-martin-agronsky-look-here 

 

** Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” Speech given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968.