Over the years nonviolent and more aggressive activist groups have been battling over whose tactics where more effective. Each group had a solution to address the main problems within racism; the lynching, sexual violence, and abuse. The common ground that they were able to reach was based on the fact that none of the groups wanted for blacks to be taken for granted. They wanted to be heard and they wanted equality but in different forms.
Lynching is a crime that involves beating someone or a group of people, in relations to racism blacks were beaten in this manner due to the color of their skin. For non-violent groups such as Martin Luther King Jr. he addressed this issue with the tactic of do nothing and show your kindness and the people will see how cruel they can be. For Martin Luther king Jr he saw the non violence approaches to simplistic but strong because it showed that blacks did nothing to deserve the mistreatment. By not being violent with the oppressors King showed how outrageous it was to hurt someone for wanting to sit in the front of the bus or to want to enter the store through the main entrance and not on the side. On the contrary to the more aggressive groups such the black panthers, this type of violence against blacks was cause for immediate action. Instead of allowing for the beating to occur the black panthers prided themselves with the knowledge of their rights and utilized that knowledge to combat their actions for fighting against the brutality. In regards to lynching, the black panthers voiced that it wouldn’t be possible to hurt a black man who defends himself. Instead of allowing them to beat you they voiced that you fight back and within good reason defend what belongs to you. Instead of waiting on the whites to give them equal freedom the black panthers advocated blacks to start their own businesses and school therefore they can provide for themselves without depending on their white counterparts.
Sexual violence was one of the things that not only hurt the black community it scorned the image of the black man being the aggressive male in society. No longer could whites justify chastising a black man for looking or being polite to a white woman, when they were violating black women. Although this practice of violation to black women has always occurred during the time of civil rights the abuse of black women was performed but silent. Black women were afraid to speak up about the issue for they feared for their lives as well as their families. Stockey Carmichael was an advocate for non violence but it was more so for the evolved more younger crowd of Martin Luther King Jr. No longer did they stand on the side and allow for whites to abuse them they were ready to fight with the law on their side. Coinciding with the sexual violence among black women groups like Carmichael aligned themselves with lawyers and high officials to make sure that the men of these crimes were bought to justice and they understood that no crime was acceptable regardless of race. The more aggressive groups such as the black panthers also armed themselves with the law but in a more attacking form. In stead of using the “white mans’” law to justify what was done wrong to them retaliation was a better result. Just as they would beat/kill a black man for looking at a white woman the same type of violence would occur with these white men. In their eyes their actions were justify because if the white man can did to them why can’t they do the same thing.
Sexual violence in general during there civil right times was uncommon because everyone was focused on the main goal of blacks being equal. Many felt that the sexual violence was something that should have been after the civil rights fight because they didn’t want to take away from the fight. There are women from both side of activist who felt that because these fights were mainly headed by men this is why black women voices were not heard as strong during the movement. Black women were not taken as seriously as men but they were forced to perform the same jobs and work along the same battle lines as these men but received little to no credit. This is where both parties lacked in practice and were not able to address fully because of their main goal.
Abuse among blacks was the most common and important thing to the two parties. The abuse could range from verbal to physical and the parties both agreed that it was wrong and something should be done about it. King based his initial fight on the abuse of blacks in transportation. The fact that whites abused their power and forces black to sit in the back of stand for whites was wrong. And this was when King’s ideal were the most important because it gave the blacks a chance to understand what it meant to take a stand as a community and not just individually. King was able to unite the blacks and start the process of fighting for change. The more aggressive parties took King’s perspective and related it to the view s of the younger generations. Being that they did not grow up during slavery they didn’t understand the older generations rationale for being non compliant with the whites when they were abused. The young generations fought back and demanded answers as to why things were the way they were. The more aggressive parties felt that the abuse was due to the fact the blacks allowed themselves to be subjected to the treatment. Aggressive leaders such as Malcolm X clashed with King’s ideals because they were relevant with the times. In Malcolm X’s ideals blacks owed the white man nothing and if anything the whites should want for the blacks to be around in society. Many turned to Malcolm X because he was an advocate for change “by any means necessary”. This meant that if someone had to walk into a store and demand service they had every right to. In regards to abuse Malcolm felt that if a white man was willing to hurt you, that you had the right to hurt them back. He advocated that instead of fighting to be equal in the white man’s territory, black should create their own replicas so that they could provide for themselves and not depend on the white men for anything. He thought it was useless trying to be civil and plead with the whites to be let into their land on their terms when blacks could do the same thing on their own.
Groups such as Malcolm X’s didn’t agree with the interactivity among the whites. He felt as if leaders such as King were suggesting that blacks work towards blending in with the whites instead of being their own entity. Groups such as King’s felt as if groups like Malcolm’s were missing the purpose of the civil rights movement and felt as if they were downgrading and erasing their errors for equal rights because it was performed in white facilities. Both parties have made great strides in the improvement of equalization among blacks. Although their tactics and ideal were different they each were able to effect the fight in positive was. The more aggressive parties were able to set up schools and programs within the black community while the less aggressive parties were able to find aid and support from whites. I think that because there was a combination of the two that more things were accomplished in their time periods. They were able to cover more ground and had a higher level of success in various areas because they didn’t follow the same tactics. Think if blacks today were able to understand the different formats of fighting racism they would be able to understand how it effects not only their family but the community as well and the
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