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Is Arizona following Dr. King’s Five Principles of Nonviolence?
Phoenix, Arizona – A few hundred people marched in Phoenix on
Monday, January 17, 2011, to commemorate the birthday of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
The annual march took place just nine days after the Tucson
shootings where six people died and 13 were wounded, among the
latter Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
The senseless massacre in the hands of a seriously disturbed young
man shook the nation, and placed the topic of hate in Arizona and
elsewhere on the front burner of a boiling polarized nation.
As Arizona and the country celebrated MLK Day, many observed the
timely need to revisit the tenets of the slain Christian pastor and civil
rights leader, particularly the fundamental principles of nonviolence.
If King’s beliefs are to echo and have a practical meaning in our
current context of intolerance and hate, they should resonate and be
put into practice by those who strive for social justice, equity and
fairness.
For those who have chosen the path of hate to live their lives, King’s
words vibrate only in discord, and are fuel to their own principles of
racial supremacy, hate and violence.
King outlined five principles of nonviolence during a speech given on
June 4, 1957 at the University of California, Berkeley.
These principles must be upheld today by anybody who opposes not
only hate, but discrimination and prejudice. Are people of goodwill in
Arizona, mainly those who are in positions of leadership and service
on any arena, following these principles, or are they getting caught
in the hateful rhetoric? Are they aligning to a commitment of
nonviolence, or are they falling prey to hate itself?
Dr. King's Five Principles of Nonviolence:
1- Non-violent resistance is not a method for cowards. It does resist.
The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against
which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His method is
passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically
aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are
always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he
is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active
spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically but dynamically aggressive
spiritually.
2- Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the
opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The
nonviolent resister must often express his protest through
noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that noncooperation and
boycotts are not ends themselves; they are merely means to
awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
3- The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against
persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle between
justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of
darkness.
4- Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence,
but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence
stands the principle of love.
5- Nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the
side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that allows a
nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The
nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a
cosmic companionship.
View a photo gallery of 2011 MLK Day march in Phoenix
Monday, January 17, 2011, to commemorate the birthday of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
The annual march took place just nine days after the Tucson
shootings where six people died and 13 were wounded, among the
latter Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
The senseless massacre in the hands of a seriously disturbed young
man shook the nation, and placed the topic of hate in Arizona and
elsewhere on the front burner of a boiling polarized nation.
As Arizona and the country celebrated MLK Day, many observed the
timely need to revisit the tenets of the slain Christian pastor and civil
rights leader, particularly the fundamental principles of nonviolence.
If King’s beliefs are to echo and have a practical meaning in our
current context of intolerance and hate, they should resonate and be
put into practice by those who strive for social justice, equity and
fairness.
For those who have chosen the path of hate to live their lives, King’s
words vibrate only in discord, and are fuel to their own principles of
racial supremacy, hate and violence.
King outlined five principles of nonviolence during a speech given on
June 4, 1957 at the University of California, Berkeley.
These principles must be upheld today by anybody who opposes not
only hate, but discrimination and prejudice. Are people of goodwill in
Arizona, mainly those who are in positions of leadership and service
on any arena, following these principles, or are they getting caught
in the hateful rhetoric? Are they aligning to a commitment of
nonviolence, or are they falling prey to hate itself?
Dr. King's Five Principles of Nonviolence:
1- Non-violent resistance is not a method for cowards. It does resist.
The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against
which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His method is
passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically
aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are
always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he
is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active
spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically but dynamically aggressive
spiritually.
2- Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the
opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The
nonviolent resister must often express his protest through
noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that noncooperation and
boycotts are not ends themselves; they are merely means to
awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
3- The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against
persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle between
justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of
darkness.
4- Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence,
but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence
stands the principle of love.
5- Nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the
side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that allows a
nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The
nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a
cosmic companionship.
View a photo gallery of 2011 MLK Day march in Phoenix
By Eduardo Barraza January 19, 2011
Activist Liz Hourican from the group
Code Pink showed up for the MLK
Day march in Phoenix, Arizona. Her
sign quotes a famous phrase by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Nonviolence
or nonexistence."
Click to view Photo Gallery
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
Code Pink showed up for the MLK
Day march in Phoenix, Arizona. Her
sign quotes a famous phrase by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Nonviolence
or nonexistence."
Click to view Photo Gallery
Photo by Eduardo Barraza | Barriozona
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Eduardo Barraza is a journalist and writer,
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
Barriozona Magazine's editor, and director of
the Hispanic Insitute of Social Issues.
E-mail: editor@barriozona.com
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