The Civil Rights Movement is undoubtedly one of the forces that have had tremendous impacts on American society. Established for the primary purpose of securing freedom for the black community, this movement employed a number of strategies to fulfill this purpose. Under the leadership of such figures as Martin Luther King Jr., the movement primarily used non-violent methods in its quest for liberty. For the most part, the movement achieved its goal of dismantling the racist system that had reduced African Americans to second-class citizens. However, this movement’s success cannot be attributed solely to the non-violent approaches. Without the agitation and the violence that the Black Panther Party and such leaders as Stokely Carmichael resorted to, the Civil Rights Movement would have failed.
Martin Luther King Jr. served as the face of the Civil Rights Movement. While he is recognized for the critical role that he played in securing freedom for African Americans, he is best remembered for his non-violent approach. King was persuaded that his approach would challenge those who violated the rights of African Americans to reflect on the injustices that they were perpetrating. However, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King admits that the non-violent approach did not always yield results. For example, he complains that the negotiations with the Birmingham business community failed to deliver progress for African Americans. He states that “as the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise” (King, 1963, p.2). After recognizing that negotiations were ineffective, King and other civil rights leaders saw the need to engage in more assertive forms of resistance; they embraced street protests and demonstrations. King’s own admission that his peaceful methods were ineffective indicates that the Civil Rights Movement needed to embrace more radical techniques. It is therefore fair to argue that without the involvement of the Black Panther Party which called for violent resistance, the Civil Rights Movement would not have succeeded in its quest for the liberation of African Americans.
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Further insights into the ineffectiveness of the approaches adopted by the Civil Rights Movement can be found in the documentary the Black Power Mixtape. In this documentary, civil rights leaders justify their use of violence. For example, Angela Davis argues that African Americans were compelled to resort to violence because non-violence had proven effective. She adds that the aggression and violence that the police were using against African Americans justified the militaristic methods that the Black Panther Party campaigned for (Olsson, 2011). The documentary contains upsetting scenes of police officers brutally attacking peaceful protestors. It is therefore not surprising that the protestors moved away from peaceful marches and incorporated violence resistance into their campaign for justice. The themes explored in the documentary are reflected in modern American society. Today, African Americans continue to endure injustice and brutality in the hands of police officers. For instance, recently, an innocent black man was fatally shot by a police officer in Alabama (Rhor, 2018). This incidence is just one among many others where unarmed black men have been killed by the police. In response to these incidences, African American civil rights campaigners have burnt police vehicles and engaged in violent confrontations with the police. The recent events underscore the need for violence when the aggressor is also violent. It can therefore be concluded that without the violent methods promoted by leaders like Carmichael and the Black Panther Party, the Civil Rights Movement would have had limited impact.
The Black Power Mixtape offers insights into the factors that motivated African Americans to resort to violence. That the police and white supremacists lacked a conscience is among these factors. In the documentary, Carmichael acknowledges that the non-violent philosophy that King encouraged was noble. However, Carmichael accuses King of committing a fallacy by failing to recognize that the oppressors of the black community lacked a conscience (Olsson, 2011). According to King, by seeing the suffering that they had inflicted upon the black people, the police would be prompted to exercise mercy and end their brutality. Countering this argument, Carmichael insisted that King’s approach would only work if the police had a conscience (Olsson, 2011). Since they lacked a conscience and were without the capacity for compassion, the police could not be expected to respond to non-violence. Any police officer who clobbers a defenseless old woman is undoubtedly without a conscience. The fact that the Civil Rights Movement was facing a powerful adversary who lacked a conscience means that the non-violent methods would never have worked. Thanks to the violent techniques of the Black Panther Party, this movement accomplished its aim of ending racial injustice.
In order to understand the critical role that violence played in advancing the agenda of the Civil Rights Movement, it is essential to consider the accomplishments that the movement achieved. Limiting police brutality is among the key goals that the movement accomplished. For example, in such areas as Los Angeles, members of the Black Panther Party would provide armed protection to African Americans in their neighborhoods (Workneh & Finley, 2018). Furthermore, they would closely monitor the activities of police officers to ensure that no brutal acts were committed. The surveillance and vigilance that the Black Panther Party members discouraged police officers against brutally attacking African Americans. As a result of the success that it had, the Black Panther Party registered drastic increases in its membership and popularity. In addition to combating police brutality, the party also pushed for improved housing and enhanced access to healthcare services for African Americans (Workneh & Finley, 2018). Essentially, radical elements of the Civil Rights Movement extended the mandate of the movement and accomplished aims that leaders like King were unable to achieve. Therefore, the success of the movement can be attributed mostly to the use of violence.
This far, the discussion has suggested that leaders like King had a limited impact on the civil rights movement. In the interest of fairness, it is important to acknowledge the tremendously important role that King and other leaders who preferred a non-violent approach had on the movement. In her essay, Alice Walker (2016) recognizes that King and the larger civil rights movement provided the black community with a sense of purpose, dignity and worth. Responding to claims that the movement achieved nothing and is dead, Walker maintains that “if knowledge of my condition is all the freedom I get from a “freedom movement”, it is better than unawareness, forgettenness and hopelessness, the existence that is like the existence of a beast” (Walker 4). Essentially, Walker makes it clear that whereas it is true that African Americans continue to grapple with such hardships as poverty, they have at least acquired a sense of worth and liberty. Their new status and experience are the result of the non-violent efforts of the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, one can argue that even without the involvement of people like Carmichael and the Black Panther Party, the civil rights movement would have liberated the black community.
In the discussion above, a counterargument to the position that violence fueled the success of the civil rights movement has been provided. This counterargument underscores the complexity of the techniques that the movement employed. However, in order to achieve greater clarity, it is essential to respond to this counterargument. While Walker insists that African Americans enjoy greater levels of freedom, she agrees that the civil rights movement has lost momentum. Walker blames the reduced momentum on the fact that white Americans are no longer interested in promoting the wellbeing of the black community: “the movement is dead to the white man because it no longer interests him” (Walker, 2016, 3). The white man is no longer interested because the movement is not violent. Violence forces the white man to understand that unless the black community secures freedom, his security is not guaranteed. Therefore, it can be argued that the civil rights movement was successful because it was able to use violence to gain the attention and action from the white man. For example, the government was forced to enact such laws as the Civil Rights Act in response to the violence which had crippled the country.
In conclusion, the African American community has made commendable progress. This progress can be attributed to the sacrifice made by such leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as Martin Luther King. Apart from King, Angela Davis and Carmichael were also involved in the movement. As opposed to King who preferred non-violence, Davis and Carmichael agitated for violence. They felt that without violence, it would be impossible to end police brutality and secure true freedom for African Americans. Davis, Carmichael, the Black Panther Party and other individuals who expressed a preference for violence were acting reasonably and their actions can be justified. These individuals understood that the police and other purveyors of injustice would not respond to negotiations, diplomacy and other non-violent methods. They recognized that for progress to be made, they needed to remind white America that its security could not be assured until African Americans were free. The eventual success that the movement achieved serves as evidence that violence worked and without it, the movement would never have fulfilled its purpose.
References
King, M. L. (1963). Letter from a Birmingham jail.
Olsson, G. (Director). (2011). The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. United States: Story AB.
Rhor, M. (2018). Independent autopsy shows black man killed by police in Alabama mall was shot from behind . USA Today. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/04/autopsy-black-man-police-shooting-alabama-mall-shot-behind/2200531002/
Workneh, L., & Finley, T. (2018). 27 important facts everyone should know about the Black Panthers. The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/27-important-facts-everyone-should-know-about-the-black-panthers_us_56c4d853e4b08ffac1276462
