City of Albany
137-754: City of Americus City of Atlanta City of Columbus City of Savannah Other localities The Americus movement was a civil rights protest that began in Americus (located in Sumter County), Georgia, United States, in 1963 and lasted until 1965. It was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee along with the NAACP . Its main goals were voter registration and a citizenship education plan. The first march began in 1963, in an effort to desegregate
274-504: A fruitarian diet so as to avoid the destruction of plants. Scholars claim the principles of ecological non-violence is innate in the Hindu tradition, and its conceptual fountain has been Ahimsa as their cardinal virtue. The dharmic philosophy of ancient India exists in all Indian languages and culture. For example, the Tirukkuṛaḷ , written between 200 BCE and 500 CE, and sometimes called
411-733: A COFO conference in New York, Bob Moses had to see off two challenges to SNCC's future role in Mississippi. First, he had to defend the SNCC's anti-" Red-baiting " insistence on "free association": the NAACP had threatened to pull out of COFO if SNCC continued to engage the services of the Communist Party associated National Lawyers Guild . Second, he had deflect a proposal from Lowenstein and Democratic Party operative Barney Frank that in
548-625: A church burning in June 1964, they were subjects of a massive manhunt that involved the FBI and United States sailors from a nearby base. In the course of the search the corpses of several black Mississippians were uncovered whose disappearances had not previously attracted attention outside the Delta. Notwithstanding the national outrage generated by the murders, the Johnson Administration
685-818: A coalition, the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), with, among other groups, the NAACP and the National Council of Churches. With VEP and COFO funding SNCC was able to expand its voter registration efforts into the Mississippi Delta around Greenwood , Southwest Georgia around Albany , and the Alabama Black Belt around Selma . All of these projects endured police harassment and arrests; KKK violence including shootings, bombings, and assassinations; and economic sanctions against those blacks who dared to try to register. Although it
822-409: A corrupted constitution-defiant police and judicial system—while at the same time saving the movement money it did not have. As way to "dramatize that the church, the house of all people, fosters segregation more than any other institution," SNCC students also participated in "kneel-ins"—kneeling in prayer outside of Whites-only churches. Presbyterians churches, targeted because their "ministers lacked
959-486: A de-segregating Democratic Party and to federally-funded anti-poverty programs. Following an aborted merger with the Black Panther Party in 1968, SNCC effectively dissolved. Because of the successes of its early years, SNCC is credited with breaking down barriers, both institutional and psychological, to the empowerment of African-American communities. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
1096-549: A future summer program decision-making be removed from organizers in the field to a new office in New York City responsible directly to liberal-foundation and church funders. Dorothy Zellner (a white radical SNCC staffer) remarked that, "What they [Lowenstein and Frank] want is to let the Negro into the existing society, not to change it." At the end of 1964, SNCC fielded the largest staff of any civil rights organization in
1233-409: A hierarchy of life. Mobile beings are given higher protection than immobile ones. For the mobile beings, they distinguish between one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed and five-sensed ones; a one-sensed animal has touch as its only sensory modality. The more senses a being has, the more they care about non-injuring it. Among the five-sensed beings, the precept of non-injury and non-violence to
1370-413: A historical figure, followed by Parshvanatha (Pārśvanātha) the twenty-third Tirthankara lived in about the 8th century BCE. He founded the community to which Mahavira's parents belonged. Ahimsa was already part of the "Fourfold Restraint" ( Caujjama ), the vows taken by Parshva's followers. In the times of Mahavira and in the following centuries, Jains were at odds with both Buddhists and followers of
1507-430: A human being can ever live his or her life without harming animal and plant life in some way; which and when plants or animal meat may be eaten, whether violence against animals causes human beings to become less compassionate, and if and how one may exert least harm to non-human life consistent with ahimsa precept, given the constraints of life and human needs. The Mahabharata permits hunting by warriors, but opposes it in
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#17327811929071644-477: A hunter defends his profession in a long discourse. Many of the arguments proposed in favor of non-violence to animals refer to the bliss one feels, the rewards it entails before or after death, the danger and harm it prevents, as well as to the karmic consequences of violence. The ancient Hindu texts discuss Ahimsa and non-animal life. They discourage wanton destruction of nature including of wild and cultivated plants. Hermits ( sannyasins ) were urged to live on
1781-732: A level of institutional recognition and endorsement at the global level. On November 10, 1998, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World . The nonviolence approach involves accepting that violence
1918-559: A lot of people all doing what they think needs to be done," was for Hayden the very realization of her mentor's vision. Such was "the participatory, town-hall, consensus-forming nature" of the operation Ella Baker had helped set in motion that Hayden could feel herself to be "at the center of the organization" without having, "in any public way", to be "a leader". Yet when Elaine DeLott Baker joined Hayden in Mississippi in May 1964 she found "a hierarchy in place". Based "on considerations of race,
2055-713: A moral sense, is in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the Yajurveda (KapS 31.11), which may have been written in about the 8th century BCE. Bowker states the word appears but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads. Kaneda gives examples of the word Ahimsa in these Upanishads. Other scholars suggest Ahimsa as an ethical concept that started evolving in the Vedas, becoming an increasingly central concept in Upanishads. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad , dated to
2192-620: A movement for social change in the state that would continue to be led by Mississippians. This was, he suggested, what organizing for voter registration was all about – "challenging people in various ways to take control of their own lives." Over the course of Freedom Summer (and with assistance in developing the curriculum from, among others, Howard Zinn ), COFO set up more than 40 Freedom Schools in African-American communities across Mississippi. More than 3,000 students attended, many of whom participated in registration efforts. With
2329-450: A new Executive. It was time to recognize that SNCC no longer had a "student base" (with the move to voter registration, the original campus protest groups had largely evaporated) and that the staff, "the people who do the most work," were the organization's real "nucleus". But the "many problems and many strains within the organization" caused by the "freedom" allowed to organizers in the field were also reason, he argued, to "change and alter"
2466-481: A parallel state Democratic Party primary . The MFDP would send an integrated slate of delegates to the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City and there contest the credentials of the all-white Mississippi regulars. As part of this project SNCC's Charlie Cobb proposed summer field schools. Encouraging youth "to articulate their own desires, demands, and questions," the schools would help ensure
2603-790: A powerful tool for social protest and revolutionary social and political change. There are many examples of their use. Fuller surveys may be found in the entries on civil resistance , nonviolent resistance and nonviolent revolution . Certain movements which were particularly influenced by a philosophy of nonviolence have included Mahatma Gandhi 's leadership of a successful decades-long nonviolent struggle for Indian independence , Martin Luther King Jr. 's and James Bevel 's adoption of Gandhi's nonviolent methods in their Civil rights movement campaigns to remove legalized segregation in America, and César Chávez 's campaigns of nonviolence in
2740-443: A pragmatic justification, in that the technique of separating the deeds from the doers allows for the possibility of the doers changing their behaviour, and perhaps their beliefs. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "Nonviolent resistance... avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him." Nonviolence has obtained
2877-510: A specific context while advocating violence in other contexts. For example, someone who passionately opposes abortion or meat eating may concurrently advocate violence to kill an abortion care provider or attack a slaughterhouse, which makes that person a violent person. Nonviolence or ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues and an important tenet of Jainism , Buddhism , and Hinduism . Jain and Buddhist thoughts have explored nonviolence very deeply, not limiting it to humans but extending it to
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#17327811929073014-446: A student of Gandhian nonviolent resistance, concurred with this tenet, concluding that "nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek." Proponents of nonviolence reason that the actions taken in the present inevitably re-shape the social order in like form. They would argue, for instance, that it is fundamentally irrational to use violence to achieve a peaceful society. Respect or love for opponents also has
3151-412: A year before). But with the all-white delegations of other southern states threatening to walk out, Johnson engineered a "compromise" in which the national Democratic Party offered the 68 MFDP delegates two at-large seats from where they could watch the floor proceedings but not take part. Fannie Lou Hamer led her delegates out of the convention: "We didn't come all this way for no two seats when all of us
3288-500: Is a profusion of ideas about the virtue of Ahimsa when applied to non-human life, but without a universal consensus. Alsdorf claims the debate and disagreements between supporters of vegetarian lifestyle and meat eaters was significant. Even suggested exceptions – ritual slaughter and hunting – were challenged by advocates of Ahimsa. In the Mahabharata both sides present various arguments to substantiate their viewpoints. Moreover,
3425-567: Is an event largely remembered for King's delivery of his "I Have a Dream" speech, SNCC had a significant role in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . But it was at odds with the other sponsoring civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, all of whom were prepared to applaud the Kennedy Administration for its Civil Rights Bill (the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ). In the version of his speech leaked to
3562-473: Is captured in a 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell . The term "nonviolence" is often linked with peace or it is used as a synonym for it, and despite the fact that it is frequently equated with pacifism , this equation is rejected by nonviolent advocates and activists. Nonviolence specifically refers to the absence of violence and it is always the choice to do no harm or the choice to do
3699-483: Is considered hiṃsā (to injure) and abstaining from such an act is ahimsā (noninjury). The vow of ahimsā is considered the foremost among the 'five vows of Jainism'. Other vows like truth (Satya) are meant for safeguarding the vow of ahimsā. In the practice of Ahimsa, the requirements are less strict for the lay persons ( sravakas ) who have undertaken anuvrata (Smaller Vows) than for the Jain monastics who are bound by
3836-439: Is going to free us from our oppressors and we have to do that ourselves. Nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosophy of abstention from violence. It may be based on moral, religious or spiritual principles, or
3973-534: Is increasingly refined and emphasised, ultimately Ahimsa becomes the highest virtue by the late Vedic era (about 500 BCE). For example, hymn 10.22.25 in the Rig Veda uses the words Satya (truthfulness) and Ahimsa in a prayer to deity Indra; later, the Yajur Veda dated to be between 1000 BCE and 600 BCE, states, "may all beings look at me with a friendly eye, may I do likewise, and may we look at each other with
4110-463: Is like injury caused by deliberate action. Eating honey is strictly outlawed, as it would amount to violence against the bees. Some Jains abstain from farming because it inevitably entails unintentional killing or injuring of many small animals, such as worms and insects, but agriculture is not forbidden in general and there are Jain farmers. Theoretically, all life forms are said to deserve full protection from all kinds of injury, but Jains recognise
4247-597: Is part of the Five Precepts ( Pañcasīla ), the first of which has been to abstain from killing. This precept of Ahimsa is applicable to both the Buddhist layperson and the monk community. The Ahimsa precept is not a commandment and transgressions did not invite religious sanctions for layperson, but their power has been in the Buddhist belief in karmic consequences and their impact in afterlife during rebirth. Killing, in Buddhist belief, could lead to rebirth in
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4384-627: Is seen as inevitable, and the rejection of violence is an effective way to challenge power. Those who follow pragmatic nonviolence ideology are willing to engage in nonviolent coercion, and try to avoid suffering. Nicolas Walter noted the idea that nonviolence might work "runs under the surface of Western political thought without ever quite disappearing". Walter noted Étienne de La Boétie 's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (sixteenth century) and P.B. Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy (1819) contain arguments for resisting tyranny without using violence. In 1838, William Lloyd Garrison helped found
4521-572: Is speculative, and though Jainism is an ancient tradition the oldest traceable texts of Jainism tradition are from many centuries after the Vedic era ended. Chāndogya Upaniṣad also names Ahimsa, along with Satyavacanam (truthfulness), Arjavam (sincerity), Danam (charity), Tapo (penance/meditation), as one of five essential virtues (CU 3.17.4). The Sandilya Upanishad lists ten forbearances: Ahimsa , Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, Daya, Arjava, Kshama, Dhriti, Mitahara and Saucha. According to Kaneda,
4658-449: Is that evil-doers who deserve death should be killed, and that a king in particular is obliged to punish criminals and should not hesitate to kill them, even if they happen to be his own brothers and sons. Other scholars conclude that the scriptures of Hinduism suggest sentences for any crime must be fair, proportional and not cruel. The Hindu precept of 'cause no injury' applies to animals and all life forms. This precept isn't found in
4795-499: Is the highest virtue , Ahimsa is the highest self-control, Ahimsa is the greatest gift, Ahimsa is the best suffering, Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice, Ahimsa is the finest strength, Ahimsa is the greatest friend, Ahimsa is the greatest happiness, Ahimsa is the highest truth, and Ahimsa is the greatest teaching. Some other examples where the phrase Ahimsa Paramo Dharma are discussed include Adi Parva , Vana Parva and Anushasana Parva . The Bhagavad Gita , among other things, discusses
4932-462: Is the highest moral virtue. For example, Mahaprasthanika Parva has the verse: अहिंसा परमो धर्मस् तथाहिंसा परो दमः। अहिंसा परमं दानम् अहिंसा परमस् तपः। अहिंसा परमो यज्ञस् तथाहिंसा परं बलम्। अहिंसा परमं मित्रम् अहिंसा परमं सुखम्। अहिंसा परमं सत्यम् अहिंसा परमं श्रुतम्॥ The above passage from Mahabharata emphasises the cardinal importance of Ahimsa in Hinduism, and literally means: Ahimsa
5069-514: Is tired." Activists, Hayden suggests, were staggered to find the Democratic Party "in the role of racist lunch counter owner": "the core of SNCC's work, voter registration, was [now] open to question." In the wake of Atlantic City, Elaine DeLott Baker recalls the desolation of project offices "that had only recently been hives of activity and energy" and the shutting down of Freedom Schools and community centers. In September 1964, at
5206-406: Is trying to take the revolution out of the streets and put it in the courts. Listen Mr. Kennedy, the black masses are on the march for jobs and for freedom, and we must say to the politicians that there won't be a "cooling-off period." Under pressure from the other groups, changes were made. "We cannot support" the 1963 Kennedy Civil Rights Bill was re-scripted as "we support with reservations". In
5343-426: Is wrong and nonviolence is the best ethical response to any conflict. The followers of this approach believe in human harmony and a moral rejection of violence and coercion. They accept the total commitment to nonviolence and encourage those who want to use nonviolent actions to reject all forms of violence and coercion. Principled nonviolence has a religious or ideological basis. This type of nonviolence aims to change
5480-654: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 barring discrimination in public accommodations, employment and private education, and the equally broad Voting Rights Act of 1965 , faith in the Johnson Administration and its liberal allies was ebbing, and a gulf had opened between SNCC and other civil rights organizations. In Atlantic City Fannie Lou Hamer confessed she "lost hope in American society." Questions of strategic direction were also questions of "structure". What Stokely Carmichael described as "not an organization but
5617-568: The Edmund Pettus Bridge where two days before ("Bloody Sunday") the first had been brutally charged and batoned, Forman was appalled. Yet within SNCC itself Forman increasingly was concerned by the lack of "internal cohesion". At Waveland Forman proposed that the staff (some twenty), who under the original constitution had had "a voice but no vote," constitute "themselves as the Coordinating Committee" and elect
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5754-530: The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue rules giving force to the repudiation of the " separate but equal " doctrine. After the new ICC rules took effect on November 1, 1961, passengers were permitted to sit wherever they pleased on interstate buses and trains; "white" and "colored" signs were to be removed from the terminals (lunch counters, drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms) serving interstate customers. To test
5891-678: The Kennedy Administration , CORE announced it was discontinuing the action. Undeterred, Diane Nash called for new riders. Oretha Castle Haley , Jean C. Thompson, Rudy Lombard, James Bevel , Marion Barry , Angeline Butler, Stokely Carmichael , and Joan Trumpauer Mulholland joined John Lewis and Hank Thomas , the two young SNCC members of the original Ride. They traveled on to a savage beating in Montgomery, Alabama , to arrest in Jackson, Mississippi , and to confinement in
6028-600: The Lincoln Memorial rally. Together with Coretta Scott King and other the wives of civil leaders SNCC staffer and Ella Baker protégé Casey Hayden found herself walking up Independence Avenue while the media recorded the men marching down Constitution Avenue. Despite protesting behind the scenes with Anna Hedgeman (who was to go on to co-found the National Organization for Women ), women were to be featured as singers, but not as speakers. In
6165-578: The Mahavrata "Great Vows". The statement ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ is often found inscribed on the walls of the Jain temples . Like in Hinduism, the aim is to prevent the accumulation of harmful karma. When lord Mahaviraswami revived and reorganized the Jain faith in the 6th or 5th century BCE, Rishabhanatha (Ādinātha), the first Jain Tirthankara , whom modern Western historians consider to be
6302-724: The National Voting Rights Museum in 2007. The National Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution publicized the story of the stolen girls in 2016, and they were recognized by a resolution of the Georgia state legislature. The Americus movement resulted in a higher level of political participation by African Americans in Sumter County and the desegregation of many public places. It also contributed to
6439-526: The New England Non-Resistance Society , a society devoted to achieving racial and gender equality through the rejection of all violent actions. In modern industrial democracies, nonviolent action has been used extensively by political sectors without mainstream political power such as labor, peace, environment and women's movements. Lesser known is the role that nonviolent action has played and continues to play in undermining
6576-722: The Satyagraha movement with the Gujarati/Hindi term ahimsa (અહિંસા/अहिंसा) only after 1915. Furthermore, Gandhi started adopting the English term "nonviolence" only after the Rowlatt Satyagraha in 1919. Before Gandhi, scholars of Oriental studies translated the Sanskrit term ahimsa as "non-killing" or "non-injury," but never as "non-violence." Thus, "nonviolence" represents a modern concept that emerged in
6713-704: The Student National Coordinating Committee ( SNCC , pronounced / s n ɪ k / SNIK ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina , and Nashville, Tennessee , the Committee sought to coordinate and assist direct-action challenges to
6850-561: The Tamil Veda , is one of the most cherished classics written in a South Indian language. The Tirukkuṛaḷ dedicates Chapters 26, 32 and 33 of Book 1 to the virtue of ahimsa, namely, moral vegetarianism , non-harming , and non-killing , respectively. The Tirukkuṛaḷ says that ahimsa applies to all life forms. In Jainism, the understanding and implementation of Ahimsā is more radical, scrupulous, and comprehensive than in any other religion. Killing any living being out of passions
6987-649: The Tirukkuṛaḷ , which is believed to be of Hindu or Jain origin, decrees ahimsa and moral vegetarianism as the most fundamental of all personal virtues. These ideas can also be found in Western mystical and Neoplatonic traditions. In modern times, several scholars have endeavored to clarify the theoretical intellectual foundations for principled nonviolence and the manner in which such principles might be implemented in practical terms. Included among them are Kevin P. Clements and Robert L. Holmes . Mahatma Gandhi
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#17327811929077124-756: The non-cooperation campaign for Indian independence led by Mahatma Gandhi , the Civil Rights Movement in the United States , and the People Power Revolution in the Philippines . Also of primary significance is the notion that just means are the most likely to lead to just ends. When Gandhi said that "the means may be likened to the seed, the end to a tree," he expressed the philosophical kernel of what some refer to as prefigurative politics . Martin Luther King Jr.,
7261-601: The 1960s to protest the treatment of Mexican farm workers in California . The 1989 " Velvet Revolution " in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government is considered one of the most important of the largely nonviolent Revolutions of 1989 . Most recently the nonviolent campaigns of Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia were able to achieve peace after a 14-year civil war. This story
7398-547: The 8th or 7th century BCE, one of the oldest Upanishads , has the earliest evidence for the Vedic era use of the word Ahimsa in the sense familiar in Hinduism (a code of conduct). It bars violence against "all creatures" ( sarvabhuta ) and the practitioner of Ahimsa is said to escape from the cycle of rebirths (CU 8.15.1). Some scholars state that this 8th or 7th-century BCE mention may have been an influence of Jainism on Vedic Hinduism. Others scholar state that this relationship
7535-746: The Gandhian era, there was only one recorded instance, almost coincidental, of the term "nonviolence" being used as a political concept, which appeared in a Wisconsin newspaper published in 1914. The term spread globally during India's first Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922) , gaining recognition as a distinct concept. E. Hazama conducted the first comprehensive analysis of Gandhi's writings in three languages (Gujarati, Hindi, and English) from three versions of Gandhi's Collected Works: Gāndhījīnō Aksharadēha (ગાંધીજીનો અક્ષરદેહ), Sampūrn Gāndhī Vāngmay (सम्पूर्ण गाँधी वांग्मय), and Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi . This analysis revealed that Gandhi began linking
7672-689: The ICC ruling and in the hope of mobilizing the local black community in a broader campaign, in October 1961 SNCC members Charles Sherrod and Cordell Reagon led a sit-in at the bus terminal in Albany, Georgia . By mid-December, having drawn in the NAACP and a number of other organizations, the Albany Movement had more than 500 protesters in jail. There they were joined briefly by Martin Luther King Jr. and by Ralph Abernathy . King sought advantage in
7809-636: The Kennedy Administration with large liberal foundations, the Voter Education Project (VEP) was formed in early 1962 to channel funds into voter drives in the eleven Southern states. Inducted by sit-in campaigns and hardened in the Freedom Rides, many student activists saw VEP as a government attempt to co-opt their movement. Lonnie C. King Jr. , a student from Morehouse College in Atlanta, felt that "by rechanneling its energies" what
7946-527: The Kennedys were "trying to do was kill the Movement." But others were already convinced that obtaining the right to vote was the key to unlocking political power for Black Americans. Older Black southerners had been pressing SNCC to move in this direction for some time. Mississippi NAACP leader Amzie Moore had tabled a voter registration drive at the SNCC's second conference in October 1960. A split over
8083-795: The Lee County Public Works building, the Leesburg Stockade . It took SNCC photographer Danny Lyon smuggling himself into the Stockade to publicize the case nationally In the fall of 1963, with the assistance of 100 northern volunteers SNCC conducted the Freedom Ballot , a mock gubernatorial election in which over 80,000 black Mississippians demonstrated their willingness to exercise the constitutional right to vote that state law and violent intimidation had denied them since Reconstruction . (Only 6.7 per cent of
8220-423: The Martin Theater. Less than a dozen activists participated in the first march. Soon, some 250 people were involved. Law enforcement, led by police chief Ross Chambliss, and County Sheriff Fred Chappell began arresting many. Martin Luther King Jr. once called Chappell "the meanest man in the world." In July 1963, another march was held, in which a group of young women joined the line to attempt to purchase tickets at
8357-424: The Maximum Security (Death Row) Unit of the infamous Mississippi State Penitentiary --"Parchman Farm". Recognizing SNCC's determination, CORE and the SCLC rejected the Administration's call for a "cooling off" period and joined with the students in a Freedom Riders Coordinating Committee to keep the Rides rolling through June and into September. During those months, more than 60 different Freedom Rides criss-crossed
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#17327811929078494-432: The SCLC, Executive Secretary James Forman saw himself as championing popularly accountable, grassroots organization. Believing it "would detract from, rather than intensify" the focus on ordinary people's involvement in the movement, he had not appreciated King's appearance in Albany in December 1961. When on March 9, 1965, King, seemingly on his own authority, was able to turn the second Selma to Montgomery march back at
8631-405: The SCLC, but the conference had been conceived and organized by then SCLC director Ella Baker . Baker was a critic of what she perceived as King's top-down leadership at the SCLC. "Strong people don't need strong leaders," she told the young activists. Speaking to the students' own experience of protest organization, it was Baker's vision that appeared to prevail. SNCC did not constitute itself as
8768-414: The SNCC and Senator Harrison A. Williams used a set of photos by Danny Lyon to publicize the situation, the young women were released. They did not face any criminal charges, but were nevertheless charged a fee for their use of the facilities. They later became known as the "Stolen Girls". Two of the Leesburg Stockade women, Carol Barner Seay and Sandra Russel Mansfield, were added to the Hall of Fame of
8905-412: The Semai believe that as Malaysia industrialises, it will be harder for the Semai to use their strategy of fleeing and they will have to fight instead. Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in Vedic texts . The oldest scripts, along with discussing ritual animal sacrifices, indirectly mention Ahimsa, but do not emphasise it. Over time, the Hindu scripts revise ritual practices and the concept of Ahimsa
9042-447: The Semai's non-violence is a response to historic threats from slaving states; as the Semai were constantly defeated by slavers and Malaysian immigrants, they preferred to flee rather than fight and thus evolved into a general norm of non-violence. This does not mean the Semai are incapable of violence however; during the Malayan Emergency , the British enlisted some Semai to fight against MNLA insurgents and according to Robert Knox Dentan
9179-494: The South, most of them converging on Jackson, where every Rider was arrested, more than 300 in total. An unknown number were arrested in other Southern towns, and many were beaten including, in Monroe, North Carolina , SNCC's Executive Secretary James Forman . It is estimated that almost 450 people, black and white in equal number, participated. With CORE, SNCC had been making plans for a mass demonstration in Washington when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy finally prevailed on
9316-454: The South. Yet to many the movement seemed to be at a loss. In Mississippi Casey Hayden recalls everyone "reeling from the violence" (3 project workers killed; 4 people critically wounded; 80 beaten, 1,000 arrests; 35 shooting incidents, 37 churches bombed or burned; and 30 black businesses or homes burned), and also from "the new racial imbalance" following the summer influx of white student volunteers. The local black staff, "the backbone" of
9453-558: The Vedic religion or Hindus, whom they accused of negligence and inconsistency in the implementation of Ahimsa. According to the Jain tradition either lacto vegetarianism or veganism is mandatory. The Jain concept of Ahimsa is characterised by several aspects. It does not make any exception for ritual sacrificers and professional warrior-hunters. Killing of animals for food is absolutely ruled out. Jains also make considerable efforts not to injure plants in everyday life as far as possible. Though they admit that plants must be destroyed for
9590-486: The amount of time spent in the struggle, dangers suffered, and finally, of gender," this was not a hierarchy office, but "an unspoken understanding of who should speak up at meetings, who should propose ideas in public places, and who should remain silent." Black men were at the top, "then black women, followed by white men, and at the bottom, white women." Field staff, among them "women, black and white," still retained "an enormous amount of operational freedom, they were indeed
9727-405: The animal world as well as nature, in a very explicit fashion. In Jainism, it is the very core idea of very 'way of life' practicing it in mun (thoughts), vachan (spoken word) and karm (action). It is a multidimensional concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy; therefore, to hurt another being is to hurt oneself. It has also been related to
9864-418: The attacker, and avoid the conflict. The best defence is one where the victim is protected, as well as the attacker is respected and not injured if possible. Under Ahimsa and Aikido, there are no enemies, and appropriate self-defence focuses on neutralising the immaturity, assumptions and aggressive strivings of the attacker. Tähtinen concludes that Hindus have no misgivings about death penalty; their position
10001-414: The best practice between the two approaches, both can indicate alternative paths for those who do not want to use violence. Nonviolence has "active" or "activist" elements, in that believers generally accept the need for nonviolence as a means to achieve political and social change . Thus, for example, Tolstoyan and Gandhism nonviolence is both a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects
10138-659: The black voting age population of Mississippi was registered, compared to 70.2 per cent of the white voting age population). In coordination with CORE, the SNCC followed up on the ballot with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, also known as Freedom Summer . This brought over 700 white Northern students to the South, where they volunteered as teachers and organizers. According to Julian Bond , their presence can be credited to freelance social activist Allard Lowenstein : white students, he had proposed, would not only "provide needed manpower", "their white skins might provoke interest from
10275-551: The case of hermits who must be strictly nonviolent. Sushruta Samhita , a Hindu text written in the 3rd or 4th century, in Chapter XLVI suggests proper diet as a means of treating certain illnesses, and recommends various fishes and meats for different ailments and for pregnant women, and the Charaka Samhita describes meat as superior to all other kinds of food for convalescents. Across the texts of Hinduism, there
10412-406: The citizens of Danville, Virginia who must live in constant fear in a police state. This bill will not protect the hundreds of people who have been arrested on trumped-up charges like those in Americus, Georgia, where four young men are in jail, facing a death penalty, for engaging in peaceful protest. I want to know, which side is the federal government on? The revolution is a serious one. Mr. Kennedy
10549-750: The civic segregation and political exclusion of African Americans . From 1962, with the support of the Voter Education Project , SNCC committed to the registration and mobilization of black voters in the Deep South . Affiliates such as the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama also worked to increase the pressure on federal and state government to enforce constitutional protections. By
10686-891: The committee and its field projects were Fisk University student Diane Nash , Tennessee State student Marion Barry , and American Baptist Theological Seminary students James Bevel , John Lewis , and Bernard Lafayette , all involved in the Nashville Student Movement ; their mentor at Vanderbilt University , James Lawson ; Charles F. McDew , who led student protests at South Carolina State University ; J. Charles Jones , Johnson C. Smith University , who organized 200 students to participate in sit-ins at whites-only department stores and service counters throughout Charlotte , North Carolina ; Julian Bond from Morehouse College , Atlanta; and Stokely Carmichael from Howard University , Washington, D.C. The invitation had been issued by Martin Luther King Jr. on behalf of
10823-445: The committee and its support staff) were to be recognized as "the primary expression of a protest in a given area." Under the same general principle, that "the people who do the work should make the decisions", the students committed to a " participatory democracy " which, avoiding office hierarchy, sought to reach decisions by consensus. Group meetings were convened in which every participant could speak for as long as they wanted and
10960-430: The context of Gandhi's political movement. In the political realm, advocates of nonviolent action believe cooperation and consent are the roots of civil or political power: all regimes, including bureaucratic institutions, financial institutions, and the armed segments of society (such as the military and police); depend on compliance from citizens. On a national level, the strategy of nonviolent action seeks to challenge
11097-517: The convention's credentials committee were televised, giving a national and international audience to the testimony of SNCC field secretary Fannie Lou Hamer : to her portrayal of the brutalities of a sharecropper's life, and of the obstruction and violence encountered by an African American in the exercise her constitutional rights. (Hamer still bore the marks of beatings meted to her, her father and other SNCC workers by police in Winona, Mississippi , just
11234-530: The doubts and questions about appropriate response when one faces systematic violence or war. These verses develop the concepts of lawful violence in self-defence and the theories of just war . However, there is no consensus on this interpretation. Gandhi, for example, considers this debate about nonviolence and lawful violence as a mere metaphor for the internal war within each human being, when he or she faces moral questions. The classical texts of Hinduism devote numerous chapters discussing what people who practice
11371-656: The encouragement of SNCC field secretary Frank Smith , a meeting of cotton pickers at a Freedom School in Shaw, Mississippi , gave birth to the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union. At its peak, in the summer of 1965 the MFLU had 1,350 members and about 350 on strike. On August 4, 1964, before the state MFDP convention, the bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were discovered buried in an earthen dam. Missing for weeks since disappearing after investigating
11508-551: The event, a few women were allowed to sit on the Lincoln Memorial platform and the NAACP's Daisy Bates , who had been instrumental in the integration of Little Rock Central High School , was permitted a brief tribute to “Negro Women Fighters for Freedom”. From their “bitterly humiliating” experience in Washington, Pauli Murray , who later coined the term “Jane Crow” to describe the double handicap of race and sex, concluded that black women "can no longer postpone or subordinate
11645-617: The eyes of a friend". The term Ahimsa appears in the text Taittiriya Shakha of the Yajurveda (TS 5.2.8.7), where it refers to non-injury to the sacrificer himself. It occurs several times in the Shatapatha Brahmana in the sense of "non-injury". The Ahimsa doctrine is a late Vedic era development in Brahmanical culture. The earliest reference to the idea of non-violence to animals ("pashu-Ahimsa"), apparently in
11782-528: The fight against discrimination because of sex to the civil rights struggle but must carry on both fights simultaneously.” The previous month, July 1963, SNCC was involved in another march that eventually made headlines. With the NAACP in Americus, Georgia , SNCC organized a protest march on a segregated movie theater that concluded with the arrest of upwards of 33 high-school girls. The "Stolen Girls" were imprisoned 45 days without charge in brutal conditions in
11919-409: The founder of Aikido, described his inspiration as Ahimsa. According to this interpretation of Ahimsa in self-defence, one must not assume that the world is free of aggression. One must presume that some people will, out of ignorance, error or fear, attack other persons or intrude into their space, physically or verbally. The aim of self-defence, suggested Ueshiba, must be to neutralise the aggression of
12056-444: The hellish realm, and for a longer time in more severe conditions if the murder victim was a monk. Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is believed to be a way to acquire merit for better rebirth. These moral precepts have been voluntarily self-enforced in lay Buddhist culture through the associated belief in karma and rebirth. The Buddhist texts not only recommended Ahimsa, but suggest avoiding trading goods that contribute to or are
12193-420: The impasse," Casey Hayden tried to attach to Forman's proposal various sub-committees and provisos to ensure that "leadership for all our programs" would continue to be driven from the field, and not from central office "which makes many program areas responsible to one person rather than to all of us." For Forman this still suggested too loose, too confederal a structure for an organization whose challenge, without
12330-429: The impulse to be hateful and holding love for everyone, even those with whom one strongly disagrees. In this view, because violence is learned, it is necessary to unlearn violence by practicing love and compassion at every possible opportunity. For some, the commitment to non-violence entails a belief in restorative or transformative justice , an abolition of the death penalty and other harsh punishments. This may involve
12467-527: The independence movement in India ...), the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real' world." As a technique for social struggle, nonviolent action has been described as "the politics of ordinary people", reflecting its historically mass-based use by populations throughout the world and history. Movements most often associated with nonviolence are
12604-399: The last resort. If war becomes necessary, its cause must be just, its purpose virtuous, its objective to restrain the wicked, its aim peace, its method lawful. War can only be started and stopped by a legitimate authority. Weapons used must be proportionate to the opponent and the aim of war, not indiscriminate tools of destruction. All strategies and weapons used in the war must be to defeat
12741-444: The least amount of harm, and passivity is the choice to do nothing. Sometimes nonviolence is passive, and other times it isn't. For example, if a house is burning down with mice or insects in it, the most harmless appropriate action is to put the fire out, not to sit by and passively let the fire burn. At times there is confusion and contradiction about nonviolence, harmlessness and passivity. A confused person may advocate nonviolence in
12878-444: The manpower and publicity of white volunteers, was to mount and coordinate a Southwide Freedom Summer and "build a Black Belt political party." At her last Committee meeting in the fall of 1965, Hayden told both Forman and Chairman John Lewis that the "imbalance of power within SNCC" was such that, if the movement was to remain "radically democratic", they would need to step down. Forman and Lewis did step down in their own time, in
13015-523: The meeting would continue until everyone who was left was in agreement with the decision. Given the physical risks involved in many activities in which SNCC was to engage this was thought particularly important: "no one felt comfortable making a decision by majority rule that might cost somebody else's life." Initially the SNCC continued the focus on sit-ins and boycotts targeting establishments (restaurants, retail stores, theaters) and public amenities maintaining whites-only or segregated facilities. But it
13152-537: The mid-1960s the measured nature of the gains made, and the violence with which they were resisted, were generating dissent from the group's principles of nonviolence , of white participation in the movement, and of field-driven, as opposed to national-office, leadership and direction. By this time many of SNCC's original organizers were working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and others were being lost to
13289-604: The movie theater, and were arrested for doing so. After being held briefly in Dawson, Georgia , the protesters were moved to the Leesburg Stockade Public Works Building in Leesburg , where they were held for 45 days in poor conditions. Estimates of the number of young women who were held there range from 15 to about 30 or as many as 33. Some of the prisoners were as young as 12. Conditions in
13426-540: The murder of activist Herbert Lee , persuaded many that in the Deep South voter registration was as direct a challenge to white supremacy as anything they had been doing before. "If you went into Mississippi and talked about voter registration they're going to hit you on the side of the head and that," Reggie Robinson, one of the SNCC's first field secretaries, quipped is "as direct as you can get." In 1962, Bob Moses garnered further support for SNCC's efforts by forging
13563-527: The national media attention his arrest had drawn. In return for the city's commitment to comply with the ICC ruling and to release those protesters willing to post bail, he agreed to leave town. The city reneged, however, so protests and subsequent arrests continued into 1962. News reports across the country portrayed the Albany debacle as "one of the most stunning defeats" in King's career. What they also reported
13700-755: The necessity of caring for those who are violent. Nonviolence, for many, involves a respect and reverence for all sentient , and perhaps even non-sentient, beings . This might include abolitionism against animals as property, the practice of not eating animal products or by-products ( vegetarianism or veganism ), spiritual practices of non-harm to all beings, and caring for the rights of all beings. Mahatma Gandhi , James Bevel , and other nonviolent proponents advocated vegetarianism as part of their nonviolent philosophy. Buddhists extend this respect for life to animals and plants , while Jainism extend this respect for life to animals , plants and even small organisms such as insects . The classical Indian text of
13837-422: The news media that black skins could not produce." With the murder of two of their number, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner , alongside local activist (Freedom Rider and voter educator) James Chaney , this indeed was to be the effect. Freedom Summer attracted international attention. For SNCC the focus of summer project became the organization, through the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), of
13974-459: The notion that any violence has karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected the principles of ahimsa , the concept reached an extraordinary status in the ethical philosophy of Jainism. According to historian David Hardiman , the English term "nonviolence" first appeared in Britain and the United States in the 19th century as a medical term. Before
14111-432: The oldest verses of Vedas, but increasingly becomes one of the central ideas between 500 BC and 400 AD. In the oldest texts, numerous ritual sacrifices of animals, including cows and horses, are highlighted and hardly any mention is made of Ahimsa to non-human life. Hindu scriptures, dated to between 5th century and 1st century BC, while discussing human diet, initially suggest kosher meat may be eaten, evolving it with
14248-444: The ones that were keeping things moving." But from those leading the debate on new directions for the movement DeLott Baker saw "little recognition of that reality," and the ground was shifting. The violence and emotional stresses of four years had eroded the focus and spirits of many veteran field staffers who appeared to central office staff as increasingly unpredictable and unreliable. Communication between core staff and field staff
14385-506: The opponent's heart and mind by showing love to them rather than hatred, partnering with the opponents to bring about social change by ending all violence and social injustices, and seeking a solution whereby all parties win. The techniques they use include persuasion while trying to avoid coercion, and they accept that suffering is part of the means to transform themselves and others. For many, practicing nonviolence goes deeper than abstaining from violent behavior or words. It means overriding
14522-445: The opponent, not designed to cause misery to the opponent; for example, use of arrows is allowed, but use of arrows smeared with painful poison is not allowed. Warriors must use judgment in the battlefield. Cruelty to the opponent during war is forbidden. Wounded, unarmed opponent warriors must not be attacked or killed, they must be brought to your realm and given medical treatment. Children, women and civilians must not be injured. While
14659-562: The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . In 2007 veterans of the movement returned to Americus as part of a newly established organization, the Americus–Sumter County Movement Remembered, which is dedicated to commemorating and preserving the history and legacy of the Americus movement. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , and later,
14796-535: The power misuse of rulers by organising and encouraging (oppressed) people to withdraw their consent and cooperation. The forms of nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious or ethical beliefs and political analysis. Religious or ethically based nonviolence is sometimes referred to as principled, philosophical, or ethical nonviolence, while nonviolence based on political analysis is often referred to as tactical, strategic, or pragmatic nonviolent action. Commonly, both of these dimensions may be present within
14933-480: The power of repressive political regimes in the developing world and the former eastern bloc. Susan Ives emphasizes this point by quoting Walter Wink : "In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations ... If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa ...
15070-531: The press John Lewis remarked that those marching for jobs and freedom "have nothing to be proud of, for hundreds and thousands of our brothers are not here—for they have no money for their transportation, for they are receiving starvation wages...or no wages at all." He went on to announce: In good conscience, we cannot support the administration's civil rights bill. This bill will not protect young children and old women from police dogs and fire hoses when engaging in peaceful demonstrations. This bill will not protect
15207-454: The priority to be accorded voter registration was avoided by Ella Baker's intervention. She suggested that the organization create two distinct wings: one for direct action (which Diane Nash was to lead) and the other for voter registration. But the white violence visited in the summer of 1961 on the first registration efforts (under the direction of Bob Moses ) in McComb, Mississippi , including
15344-507: The projects were frustrated, even resentful, at having to deal "with a lot of young white people who were intellectual and moneyed," "ignorant" of realities on the ground, and who, with their greater visibility, brought additional risks. But most of all SNCC activists were "staggered" by the debacle in Atlantic City. Being confronted by the Democratic Party "in the role of racist lunch counter owner" had thrown "the core of SNCC's work", voter registration, into question. Notwithstanding passage of
15481-567: The protection and support of a church hierarchy," were not long indifferent. In August 1960, the 172nd General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church wrote to SNCC: "Laws and customs requiring racial discrimination are, in our judgement, such serious violations of the law of God as to justify peaceful and orderly disobedience or disregard of these laws." Organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to dramatize
15618-483: The rational ones (humans) is strongest in Jain Ahimsa. Jains agree with Hindus that violence in self-defence can be justified, and they agree that a soldier who kills enemies in combat is performing a legitimate duty. Jain communities accepted the use of military power for their defence, there were Jain monarchs, military commanders, and soldiers. In Buddhist texts Ahimsa (or its Pāli cognate avihiṃsā )
15755-440: The reasons for it may be strategic or pragmatic . Failure to distinguish between the two types of nonviolent approaches can lead to distortion in the concept's meaning and effectiveness, which can subsequently result in confusion among the audience. Although both principled and pragmatic nonviolent approaches preach for nonviolence, they may have distinct motives, goals, philosophies, and techniques. However, rather than debating
15892-425: The sake of food, they accept such violence only inasmuch as it is indispensable for human survival, and there are special instructions for preventing unnecessary violence against plants. Jains go out of their way so as not to hurt even small insects and other minuscule animals. For example, Jains often do not go out at night, when they are more likely to step upon an insect. In their view, injury caused by carelessness
16029-629: The southern states' disregard of the Supreme Court rulings ( Morgan v. Virginia , 1946 and Boynton v. Virginia , 1960 ) outlawing segregation in interstate transportation, in May 1961, the first Freedom Riders (seven black, six white, led by CORE director James Farmer ) travelled together on interstate buses. In Anniston , Alabama , they were brutally attacked by mobs of Ku Klux Klansmen . Local police stood by. After they were assaulted again in Birmingham, Alabama , and under pressure from
16166-420: The spring, but with questions of structure and direction for the organization unresolved. In May 1966 Forman was replaced by Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson , who was determined "to keep the SNCC together." But Forman recalls male leaders fighting "her attempts as executive secretary to impose a sense of organizational responsibility and self-discipline," and "trying to justify themselves by the fact that their critic
16303-424: The stockade were poor: the prisoners had only concrete floors to sleep on, water only in drips from a shower, a single non-functional toilet, and poor food. The prison authorities did not inform the parents of the prisoners of their arrest or location, and they only found out through the help of a janitor. The young women were threatened with murder, and at one point a rattlesnake was thrown into their cell. After
16440-583: The structure of decision making. Given the "external pressures" the requirement now was for "unity". Bob Moses opposed. The role of SNCC was to stimulate social struggles, not to provide an institutionalized leadership. "Leadership," Moses believed, "will emerge from the movement that emerges." Leadership is there in the people. You don't have to worry about where your leaders are, how are you going to get some leaders. ... If you go out and work with your people leadership will emerge. ... We don't know who they are now: and we don't need to know. "To get us through
16577-446: The suggestion that only meat obtained through ritual sacrifice can be eaten, then that one should eat no meat because it hurts animals, with verses describing the noble life as one that lives on flowers, roots and fruits alone. Later texts of Hinduism declare Ahimsa one of the primary virtues, declare any killing or harming any life as against dharma (moral life). Finally, the discussion in Upanishads and Hindu Epics shifts to whether
16714-440: The term Ahimsa is an important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It literally means 'non-injury' and 'non-killing'. It implies the total avoidance of harming of any kind of living creatures not only by deeds, but also by words and in thoughts. The Mahabharata , one of the epics of Hinduism, has multiple mentions of the phrase Ahimsa Paramo Dharma (अहिंसा परमॊ धर्मः), which literally means: non-violence
16851-408: The thinking of particular movements or individuals. The fundamental concept of pragmatic ( tactical or strategic ) nonviolent action is to create a social dynamic or political movement that can project a national and global dialogue that affects social change without necessarily winning over those who wish to maintain the status quo. Gene Sharp promoted the pragmatic nonviolence approach. Sharp
16988-577: The use of violence , but at the same time it sees nonviolent action (also called civil resistance ) as an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression or armed struggle against it. In general, advocates of an activist philosophy of nonviolence use diverse methods in their campaigns for social change, including critical forms of education and persuasion, mass noncooperation, civil disobedience , nonviolent direct action , constructive program , and social, political, cultural and economic forms of intervention. In modern times, nonviolent methods have been
17125-616: The view of the then SNCC executive secretary, James Forman , those who had pushed the change were selling out to the cautious liberal politics of labor-movement leadership and the Catholic and Protestant church hierarchy. "If people had known they had come to Washington to aid the Kennedy administration, they would not have come in the numbers they did." A feature of the march itself, was that men and women were directed to proceed separately and that only male speakers were scheduled to address
17262-500: The virtue of Ahimsa, can and must do when they are faced with war, violent threat or need to sentence someone convicted of a crime. These discussions have led to theories of just war, theories of reasonable self-defence and theories of proportionate punishment. Arthashastra discusses, among other things, why and what constitutes proportionate response and punishment. The precepts of Ahimsa under Hinduism require that war must be avoided, with sincere and truthful dialogue. Force must be
17399-408: The waiting crowd "What do you want?." They roared back "Black Power! Black Power!" For Carmichael Black Power was a "call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations." We have to organize ourselves to speak from a position of strength and stop begging people to look kindly upon us. We are going to build a movement in this country based on the color of our skins that
17536-652: The war is in progress, sincere dialogue for peace must continue. In matters of self-defence, different interpretations of ancient Hindu texts have been offered. For example, Tähtinen suggests self-defence is appropriate, criminals are not protected by the rule of Ahimsa, and Hindu scriptures support the use of violence against an armed attacker. Ahimsa is not meant to imply pacifism. Alternate theories of self-defence, inspired by Ahimsa, build principles similar to theories of just war. Aikido , pioneered in Japan, illustrates one such principles of self-defence. Morihei Ueshiba ,
17673-434: The youth wing of SCLC. It steered an independent course that sought to channel the students' program through the organizers out in the field rather than through its national office in Atlanta ("small and rather dingy," located above a beauty parlor near the city's five Black colleges). Under the constitution adopted, the SNCC comprised representatives from each of the affiliated "local protest groups," and these groups (and not
17810-517: Was a woman" In October 1967 Smith-Robinson died, aged just 25, "of exhaustion" according to one of her co-workers, "destroyed by the movement." Replacing John Lewis as chairman in May 1966 was the 24-year old Stokely Carmichael . When on the night of June 16, 1966, following protests at the shooting of solo freedom marcher James Meredith , Carmichael walked out of jail (his 27th arrest) and into Broad Street Park in Greenwood, Mississippi , he asked
17947-477: Was an American political scientist known for his nonviolent struggle work. Those who follow Sharp's pragmatic nonviolence approach believe in practicality rather than the moral aspect of the struggle. They believe that violence is too costly to engage in. The goals are to change their oppressor's behavior; end a specific injustice or violent situation; and seek a win for themselves, while opponents they perceive as enemies with conflicting interests should lose. Conflict
18084-411: Was conflict with SNCC. The New York Times noted that King's SCLC had taken steps "that seemed to indicate they were assuming control" of the movement in Albany, and that the student group had "moved immediately to recapture its dominant position on the scene." If the differences between the organizations were not resolved, the paper predicted "tragic consequences". As a result of meetings brokered by
18221-663: Was determined to deflect the MDFP effort. With the presidential election approaching the priority was to protect the Democrats' "Solid South" against inroads being made by Republican Barry Goldwater 's campaign and to minimise support for George Wallace 's third-party challenge. The MFDP nonetheless got to the National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City at the end of August. The proceedings of
18358-734: Was formed in April 1960 at a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina , attended by 126 student delegates from 58 sit-in centers in 12 states, from 19 northern colleges, and from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the National Student Association (NSA), and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Among those attending who were to emerge as strategists for
18495-528: Was one of the most well-known advocates for and practitioners of principled nonviolence. The Semai ethnic group living in the center of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia are known for their nonviolence. The Semai punan ethical or religious principle strongly pressures members of the culture towards nonviolent, non-coercive, and non-competitive behaviour. It has been suggested that
18632-516: Was poor and getting worse. To field staff, the Atlanta office was out of touch and becoming more and more irrelevant. Meanwhile, there were no central strategies. Resources were dwindling and tensions over the allocation of resources were mounting As an opportunity to take stock, to critique and reevaluate the movement, a retreat in Waveland, Mississippi , was organized for November 1964. Like Ella Baker, in criticizing King's "messianic" leadership of
18769-537: Was to adopt a new tactic that helped galvanize the movement nationally. In February 1961, Diane Nash, Ruby Doris Smith , Charles Sherrod, and J. Charles Jones joined the Rock Hill, South Carolina sit-in protests and followed the example of the Friendship Nine in enduring an extended jail time rather than post bail. The "Jail-no-Bail" stand was seen as a moral refusal to accept, and to effectively subsidize,
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