I marched with Corretta Scott King and other well-known civil rights activists in Forsyth Country, Georgia (1987) and a gang of white men in a car tried to run me down. This was after the march and on my way back to my ride home. A black man, walking with a group of protesters enroute to the buses, saw what was happening and grabbed me out of the road. Literally saved my life.

Of course, regardless how you choose to protest, you can get killed when you're going against authoritarians - and angry white supremacists bow up with a quickness to what they see as a challenge to their dominance. They do tend to be cowards, though - if they know they aren't the only ones with weapons.

Still, there's an unspoken but keenly felt knowledge in non-violence (which includes civil disobedience) that you go unprotected. You go opening yourself up to the violence of others. It's expected. Relief when it doesn't happen, but you don't go thinking it can't happen because it can.

I was willing to risk it. Still am - but not everyone is. Not everyone sees the victory in it because pain and suffering, and possibly death, ain't exactly selling points.

Unfortunately, it's the images of violence directed at the peaceful that drives the point home that change has to happen. A change has to come.

It exposes the haters, the authoritarians for exactly who they are. Bullies. Cowards. Just plain bad people doing bad things.

Oh, some (and one person cheering is one too many) will cheer protesters being attacked, even killed, on national T.V./streaming on all formats - but most won't.

P.S. I'm OK with well plotted civil disobedience too.

It's a curious thing, really. To paraphrase Malcolm, if one follows this path, they risk going to the Emergency Room, jail, or the cemetery .... and if one doesn't follow it, they risk going to the Emergency Room, jail, or the cemetery.

Intense march you were on! It reminds me of an important point: these are people who would consider it good to dynamite a church and kill four little girls. That is something that was embedded in my mind long, long ago, and is just as true today. So I appreciate that our side finds the murder of a woman depressing, and the administration's response intimidating. And I agree 110% that organized non-violence makes them furious, for they do not understand it other than to know on some level that it exposes them as weaklings.

Better to do it fighting and non-violence IS fighting.

You're right - it is because it exposes them as the weaklings they are.

It was a long day.

I am convinced that it is the best option at this time.

hear/read something reasonable and true today. The thoughts that have been going through my head since Renee Good was murdered have not been good ones. Thank you for the reminder that there is a better way.

There is a better way. We are stronger than the brutes.

Thanks for the nudge to come over. 🥰

I also want to learn everything I can about the Black Panthers’ strategy. I know it was rather wholistic with both community aid and security, but I know very little. If you have any suggestions, I’d appreciate it. 💜

look through my library to identify what I consider the best resources. There are some outstanding documentaries on youtube. I recommend any- and everything on Fred Hampton, who had such great abilities & poterntial that the government determined that he needed to be killed.

my younger son came here in an excited mood. He asked me if I was familiar with Fred Hampton? Ha! Since he and his siblings couldn't recall everything I had taught them about Fred, they engaged in a group study.

And it succeeded in India because there was also a militant, violent movement that the British didn't want to tangle with.

Even MLK modulated his views somewhat on violence late in life.

Just saying, it's a more complicated topic than a bumpersticker.

One need only watch the movie "Gandhi" to know that the British were extremely violent in India during the Gandhi era. They have a vicious history in Ireland. The only "colony" that the British were not extremely violent with was during our Revolutionary War -- though they were violent to an extent, cooler heads there recognized that they could still exploit our nation's natural resources by way of trade. They simply loosened the grip on taxes.

Actually, King did not change his views later in life. There is zero evidence of that. He did recognize that his movement was not as effective in the north, and that a young generation did not see why they should be nonviolent at home while being violent in Vietnam. King did tell associates that he was frustrated in that he recognized there would be a period of violence -- but as his Poor Peoples Campaign plans demonstrate beyond debate, he was not giving up.

Indeed in the last year of Malcolm's life, the two communicated through a lawyer in Chicago. Malcolm advocated expanding the struggle -- including in the UN -- as a result of his travels. One need to look no further than Martin's greatest speech, exactly a year to the day before he was killed, to see that he had expanded from civil rights. (Any student worth their salt can trace King's writings and speeches from, say, 1966 on to see the direction he was headed in.

I should note that Dr. King had kept a shotgun in his house early in his ministry, but did get rid of it as he progressed.

My late friend Rubin knew and was friends with Malcolm, Martin, and Coretta -- and eventually Ali -- so I think my insights on that era, rooted in knowing Rubin for 40+ years (including working with him on the book the top quote of my OP comes from), classes in state universities, and an extensive collection of books both by and about Malcolm and Martin -- and even LPs of their speeches from a Detroit record company in the '60s -- provides me a background at least slightly thicker than a bumper sticker.

...but the point was it wasnt just non-violence that ejected the British.

https://www.eurasiareview.com/10042024-the-myth-that-indias-freedom-was-won-nonviolently-is-holding-back-progress-analysis/#google_vignette

Without all the armed struggle, India would not have achieved independence when they did. That's just reality.

And...obviously non-violence didn't work in Germany....

There's also a distinct difference between a movement seeking civil rights for a segment of the population (where appeal can be made to the rest of the population) vs resisting a fascist regime where there is no real outside help.

As Keith Ellison pointed out there are way more illegal immigrants in Florida, Utah et al.
This violence is all a means to steal the November elections.
I get the importance of the higher ground but we need to focus on where is the ground and ensure that the population understand who and where is under attack.

They want to push us to violence, so they can justify their own violence, especially considering the upcoming midterms.

I fear that more Americans than not, are oblivious to what is actually happening, and which path this country appears to be on. Most Americans are too busy with their hand held devices and social standing to look at the big picture. The Dumbing Down of America seems to have succeeded.

It would seem that it is going to have to be our job, to educate our fellow Americans, and to do it peacefully, lest they use that to justify mowing us all down.

This is a fight for the future of America. I wish everyone could see this. So many people seem to be asleep.

Do you know how many times I feel like screaming every day? I don't scream, it would probably scare my elderly mother who lives with me. I end up holding it inside, but it is building.

I'm at a point that I'm old enough myself to feel like I have had all the adventures and good things in life already, and I'm getting to the point that I will go out there, and risk my life and liberty for the future of our Nation.

But I will do it Peacefully. Until the very end.

And if they kill me, at least I will go out knowing that I am on the side of Truth and Justice.

The hard part for me right now is dealing with the cold weather. Come on Spring!

and not use ICE to intimidate during the election and the military to confiscate voting machines/ballots?

Just remember what the Heritage guy said 'We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to'

They are enacting a fascist regime either way

And cats!" This reflects the level of the felon's understanding exactly. That is how that pus-filled Miller has convinced him to set up a coordinated attack on a specific population in that city.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend two days ago. It included his circle of friends who are medical doctors and university professors. I took great pride in being the only woodchuck involved. People were discouraged, even moreso than angry. Yet that bad mood dissolved as the listened to the mad Irishman. (grin) Even the most negative one said he actually felt hopeful listening to my nonsense. In the two days since, there have been more conversations, including making a plan I shall reveal here on this very forum soon.

and the young folks are getting it.

Peace.

Mighty glad to be on the same team as you!

I raised my three daughters teaching them violence is unacceptable. Thirty to forty years later, they are very good people….proud of them. They detest the situation our country is in.
Peace ☮️

We are a curious hominid. We dress fashionably, and live in nice nests. But some of us are violent.

I have two sons and two daughters. I've taught them how to read situations, and not be victims of violence in daily life. This includes teaching my daughters how to disable an attacker fast, and not simply the 'ole kick in the balls. My sons are very familiar with the story about when three guys were threatening me years ago: disable the one with the loudest mouth immediately, place thumbs near his eyes, and ask, "Do you want to see your friend's eyes pop out on his cheeks?" (I know, I know ..... that was terrible. But as John Lennon said, sometimes the most violent individuals become the most peaceful.)

not doubled down on an issue that is getting bad press.

I expect more, even at an increasing rate.

We may be at an inflection point. If so all our minds will wander.

Excellent post, thank you.

The felon & co are entirely mechanical. Their behavior -- especially in tense times -- is easy to predict. They want violence to break out in cities across the country, including their willingness to start it.

But that I know of there are no peaceful protests near me as I am in a rural area.

I wonder if I can contribute towards the cost of protests?

I am still stunned over Renee Good.

I am dying to help.

This struggle will continue to grow. And there will be many ways to make meaningful contributions. I would not say that If I was less than 100% certain.

DU, every person here, and especially for you. We’re so lost as a country, so heart broken, but we do have each other and we need each other.

one of my daughters is in a tough time. She tells me that she meditates on something that the Hurricane told me in 1974: "All the roads to wisdom must first pass through valleys of doubt."

But I’m sensing an undercurrent of righteous anger among younger people of color. Change in America has always required bloodshed. Whose blood is the question? We have a nation that is armed to hell and back with no regulation, I have no idea where this will end but America is about to be made very uncomfortable.

That's pretty simple. Who do you think is better armed: the military or the righteously angry younger people of color?

(I think the country reached "uncomfortable" by a year ago.)

The military doesn’t matter when people feel they have nothing left to lose. Dr. King said violence is the language of the unheard. We have a madman in office and the wolf is howling at many doors, if the powers that supposedly are in charge don’t push back government and corporations and the people are without resources who knows who will start the fire. When anger and fear takeover logic goes out the window. No one other than little Nazi punks want violence because they feel people will not fight back but it isn’t good to push people to far.