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For three hundred and ten years the black population that inhabited Africa was coerced to abandon their native land and aboard a ship to travel to a land that would grant them no freedom, no rights, and no individuality. A land that pronounces that their nation was founded on equality and opportunity was the same land that oppressed and discriminated millions of Africans for the profit of themselves. However, in 1865 the American dream seemed like a reality for these African American people. With the thirteenth amendment being ratified resulting in the abolishment of slavery: freedom, opportunity, equality and all else that was once an idiotic hope for the African Americans now seems like a possibility. That was not the case however. The inferiority was still constant as well as the segregation and the racism. You take one step forward to get knocked two back was a cliché that African Americans witnessed on a daily basis, although they were no longer slaves they was still not free.
Not ready to accept black people as equal citizens as them, white America physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, lynched, segregated, and dehumanized them. With the establishment of the Jim Crow laws, separate but equal wasn’t unlawful as it was unfair. Black people was required to use separate bathrooms, eat at separate lunch counters, sit in a separate area of the bus, go to a separate school, as well as address all their Caucasian counterparts by sir or ma’am. Although they were no longer slaves they were not treated as equals. Black women had to worry and be cautious of their area because they was fearful of being raped by white men and black men had to be cautious of civil rights activities they were involved in because they may become lynched, beaten, or bombed. During the civil rights era it was common to hear about the Rodney King’s in the world being nearly beaten to death, the multiple lynching of men and children, the massive riots that were conducted, and the large amounts of sexual assaults women had to endure. The pain that African Americans endure, not because they had the same rights as the “white men” but because they wanted these so called un-deniable birth rights is unimaginable. There is only so much persecution a group of people can undergo before they retaliate so they can stop such persecution. How is a person suppose to live when you have one person saying you are an American and Americans have a list of rights available to them and then you have another person telling you how ugly, stupid, and insufficient to society you are while at the same time not permitting you to have any of your rights. Due to such hypocrisy there was two different approaches established to gain the equal opportunities that the African Americans thirst for; the nonviolent approach as well the non-nonviolent approach.
When combating the civil rights issue activist such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks believed that violence should not be retaliated with violence as it should be handled in a more peaceful manner. Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the Christian faith “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you,” Martin Luther King Jr. and other fellow non-violence activist use tactics such as boycotting, sit ins, freedom rides, and marches to gain attention to their need and get society to pay attention to the problems going on in America. The Montgomery boycott is one of the most memorized and notarized things that the nonviolent activist led. Due to the fact a women did not want to give up her seat for a white man, even though she was not sitting in the designated “white” rows, she was arrested and placed in jail. Aggravated with the unfair treatment and segregated ways of the busing system Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Montgomery bus boycott and for a little over a year the black community refused to use the busing system, instead they carpooled, walked, or drove in black owned taxis. It’s amazing how a large group of people can dedicate together and stand for something without using violence and brute force and still make a difference in the world.
Non Violent activist believe that adding violence to violence just cause more chaos to the situation and doesn’t help them reach their goal of civil rights. So instead of partaking on the more aggressive roles they instead decided to organize marches and sit ins because such events publicly announced message would not only spread but do so in a positive manner. The goal of the non violence approach was for integration to occur and have whites and blacks live amongst each other civilly. Just like most things in the United States, however, there are opposing views to the non-violent techniques for civil rights. Not everyone believes in the “do unto those as you want those to do onto you” message, so they took a different approach, a more aggressive approach.
Contrary to Martin Luther King Jr. beliefs Malcolm X believe that blacks should do whatever was necessary to protect their rights, and if that results in violence than that result in violence. The “non-nonviolence” approach didn’t condone random acts of violence amongst the black community onto the white community as they did expect black occupants to protect themselves against harm or danger if necessary. Malcolm X mocked MLK Jr. for his faith in integration as well as for his strategy of nonviolence. Non-nonviolent people believed integration did nothing more than affirm that white was better than black. They noted how it would be the black family to integrate into the white family school and neighborhoods because integration is a one way path. You integrate the African American student to white schools and white neighborhoods yet at the same time you would never see a Caucasian family make their way to the ghetto to integrate and start a new life there. Malcolm X brute force type of motto was by ballot or bullets and when he says that he is saying a statement, give me freedom or I’ll give you problems. Malcolm’s message exposed the failure of the civil rights movement to address the problems of joblessness and poverty as he pronounce that we (black people) suffered political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic oppression at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. Now it was our turn as people to ensure that the white man hands were never to grasp anything else that belong to us without our permission.
It’s hard to put yourself in that situation on what to do and how to handle it because such hardships can cause people to do different things. Due to the fact that both approaches to achieving equality was taken I believe that it helped with the progress of the civil rights movement. With just intelligence, peace, patience, and non-violence alone I do not think our civil liberties would have been reached when they did as I also believe that only brute force and self-defense would not have accomplished much either. Since some black people placed fear for revolting in America’s eyes as well as show the people that we also have intelligence, the combination of both: violence and non-violence is the reason for the success in the civil rights movement. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is given a lot of credit for the progress of America I believe that Malcolm X deserves more credit than he is given. I believe his lack of just due occurs because Dr. King had a marvelous reputation and a good persona in the public eye versus Malcolm X who wasn’t a college graduate as he was an ex convict. Even with the fame or lack of fame both men contributed greatly to the civil rights movement and due to both of their views Martin Luther King dream was finally achieved. In 1964, a black person wasn’t allowed to eat in the same facility as a white; in 2004 some restaurants are owned by a black person that feed both black and white customers together.