Non-violence

Posted by Marc Hodak on January 21, 2008 under Revealed preference | Read the First Comment

Today was a day to reflect on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. The idea most closely associated with Dr. King, and I think the most underrated aspect of his legacy, was the principle of non-violence. I believe Dr. King profoundly understood how non-violence would increasingly trump violence in an increasingly transparent society. I believe he “got it” that non-violence can show the bankruptcy of any social structure that relies on raw power for its survival.

Hillary got herself into some hot water last week by suggesting that Dr. King’s legacy was incomplete without the coercive backing of the Federal government. I think she was way wrong. I believe that Dr. King’s legacy was cemented by the change in attitudes brought about by his leadership of the civil rights movement. He changed those attitudes with the widely covered spectacle of peaceful people facing down hatred and guns with nothing more than their dignity. He did something that no opponent can survive in the age of television—he made the other side look bad. He made “Whites Only” signs disrespectable. He showed us the faces of hatred on the other side of the police lines, and they were ugly. The change in attitudes among the indifferent majority of whites arose from the marches and protests he led, culminating in his famous speech on the Mall. He set in motion an eventual acceptance and integration of blacks into American society in a way that even the most draconian laws could never have accomplished, and probably would have stifled.

Part of Dr. King’s genius was that he knew he was not facing a monolithic, caricatured white enemy. That very caricature offended his belief that each individual had a distinct character and dignity. His dream was one of mutual acceptance and respect. He did not envision integration as a zero-sum game.

I’m convinced that today few among Dr. King’s many vocal supporters really get the message of non-violence. Clearly, many repudiated non-violence immediately after his assassination, I believe to the detriment of his movement. Others relapsed into caricaturing their political opponents as racists worth fighting by all necessary means. Most politicians who claim to act in his name are often pushing for the use of state power to impose the kind of world they think is right, which is really just another way of using violence to achieve a particular social structure. They didn’t get the irony of forced busing, never mind its long-term economic consequences, worst of all for black communities.

I appreciate this holiday because it reminds one of the value of non-violence. I want to live in a world where violence, or the threat of violence–from every source–is minimized.