Non-Violent Direct Action

I repeated this phrase probably 30-40 times to my U.S. History classes when we studied the Civil Rights Movement a few weeks back. I wanted them to understand that the message of Martin Luther King Jr. and many other civil rights leaders was not one of passivity. It wasn't a message that asked folks to sit back and do nothing while the aggressors beat the tar out of you. These leaders specifically sought out unjust laws and then directly violated those laws. There is nothing passive about that. There was a reason Dr. King was placed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1956. There was a reason that Dr. King and others showed up in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. There was a reason that they showed up in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Injustice was occurring and they wanted to attack it head on with non-violent direct action.

The tactics of Mahatma Gandhi heavily influenced Dr. King. Although Gandhi was assassinated in 1949, King traveled to India a decade later and visited the birthplace of Gandhi. It had a profound impact on his vision for the beloved community in the United States, he wrote:

Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.

That "moral structure of the universe" was obviously evident in the words of Jesus, and in this regard, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, Gandhi was heavily influenced by the New Testament. King looked at some of Jesus' words with skepticism until he saw their tangible application in the Indian independence movement a decade earlier:

The 'turn-the-other-cheek' philosophy and the 'love-your-enemies' philosophy, were only valid when individuals were in conflict with other individuals; when racial groups and nations were in conflict, a more realistic approach seemed necessary. But after reading Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was.

It was only then that King fully realized that the nonviolent tactics of Jesus were the only viable solution to the problems facing oppressed people in the world. To recognize this individually it implies that Jesus had a political message, that God did not send His son to earth to simply teach us how to get to heaven. Why would Jesus teach a message of nonviolent resistance? My answer would be that nonviolence is the way of the Kingdom not a way to make it to the Kingdom, which implies that the Kingdom is already here - now - right now, all around us. That is why Jesus tells us to pray for His will to be done "on earth as it is in Heaven." So Jesus' words need to be taken literally and need to be applied to our lives today. Look at a passage from Matthew 5:39-41, in three short verses Jesus gives us the basis for non-violent direct action:

Do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.

In all three of these instances, the offended party is taking action, they aren't sitting helplessly waiting for the offender to continue harming them. "Turn you cheek," "give your coat," and "walk another mile." All three of these flew in the face of what was acceptable to the culture. Take for example the walking the extra mile. The Romans had oppressed the people of Israel for nearly a century prior to the public ministry of Jesus. Violence by the hands of the Romans were perpetuated against the Jews on a daily basis. In 4 BCE, Rome had sanctioned a mass execution of male children in attempts to eliminate the supposed "messiah." These acts were all carried out by Roman soldiers -- then Jesus says "If a [Roman] soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles." This is a defiant action. This is not apolitical. Jesus has a purpose here in telling the listeners to take part in this non-violent direct action. It was Roman law that soldiers could demand that subjugated people could be asked to help carry gear, and it was actually illegal to force them to carry the pack for more than a mile (1,000 steps). Jesus was telling His listeners to purposely break a law to demonstrate the injustice of the situation.

Fast forward to 1961. In Washington D.C., 13 riders boarded Greyhound buses heading south. The goal of these Freedom Riders were to bring attention to the unjust Jim Crow law of segregated seating on interstate travel. The riders met angry mobs and violence throughout the Deep South on their way to New Orleans - which they never reached -- most being arrested in Jackson, Mississippi. But the nation noticed and the law was thereafter enforced. Passengers were permitted to sit wherever they pleased on interstate buses and trains, "white" and "colored" signs came down in the terminals, separate drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms were consolidated, and the lunch counters began serving people regardless of race.

Nonviolence is not passivity. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.