Nonviolence in the Face of Violence

Introduction

First giving all honor to God who is the head of my life, to my beautiful wife Paige, to the City of Gardena and the Gardena Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Committee for inviting me, and to all of you that are present, my task tonight is two-fold.

First, it is my task to encourage you to operate in the spirit of non-violence and non-hatred on your school campuses, and secondly, to encourage you to use Dr. King’s non-violent tactics from the Civil Right Movement to solve the issues of social injustices and chaos of today.

REV Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But before we dive into talking about non-violence, anytime I speak about Martin Luther King, try to remind people that he wasn’t just Martin Luther King Jr., nor was he just Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but he was REV. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And I try to remind people of that prefix attached to the beginning of his name, because you cannot fully understand Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., nor begin to have a real and honest conversation about his non-violent tactics without first acknowledging the driving force behind who he was, and that is, his relationship with God.

When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. promoted non-violence, he wasn’t talking about non-violence when no one has been violent to you, but he was talking about non-violence in the face of violence. He was talking about non-violence while people were being hosed down for standing up for social justice. He was talking about non-violence while blacks could not eat in the same restaurants, use the same restrooms or even drink from the same water fountains as their white counterparts. He was talking about non-violence while blacks could not step foot into a white school and therefore could not obtain the same level of education as their white counterparts. He was talking about non-violence when you didn’t have a choice of where to sit on a bus, but for blacks, you had to sit at the back of the bus. When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. promoted non-violence, it was during a time when blacks were treated less than human. He talked about non-violence in the face of violence.

Today we know and there may be some people in the room right now that would act violently and push someone simply because they accidentally stepped on your new shoes.

But you have to think about what was the driving force behind such a man that had every right to physically retaliate, but chose to preach non-violence in the face of violence.

Jesus told his disciples, even unbelievers love people who love them back. But to you I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You may or may not like Trump, but you can pray for him.

If we are going to talk about Dr. Kings’ non-violent tactics then we first must acknowledge the driving force behind it, and that is his relationship with God.

Broadening Our Perspective on Violence

Now that we have talked about that, let’s now turn our focus on how do we operate in a spirit of non-violence and non-hatred at school. To do this, I want us all to first broaden our definition of violence. When you think about violence what usually comes to mind?....Usually, when we think about violence, we think about a behavior that is intended to physically harm someone. It is also the definition you would find in the dictionary. But imagine, if we broadened our definition of violence where it didn’t just mean a behavior that was intended to physically harm someone, but it was also a behavior that was intended to emotionally or mentally hurt someone.

Inside of everyone of our mouths right now, there is a muscle we call a tongue that literally has the power of life and death. Your tongue has the the ability to emotionally and mentally hurt someone. There is an old saying that says “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But that’s a lie. I know it’s a lie because there have been many people that have committed suicide not because someone physically harmed them, but simply because of what someone said.

Imagine if when you went to school, before you begin to laugh at someone or before you begin to make fun of someone you looked at it as an act of violence or hate.

Imagine if before you made fun of someone or talked about somebody, you thought about how your words could have such an emotional and mental impact on a person that it could cause them to consider suicide.

If you are going to operate in a spirit of non-violence and non-hatred you have to watch what you say. But not only do you have to watch what you say, but you have to watch who you treat as the “other.”

Blacks, or those of the African diaspora (die-as-por-a), were not born slaves, nor were we born inferior, but somewhere down the line, someone begin to use their tongue to paint us as the “other.” And on your school campuses, you must be careful on who you intentionally or unintentionally treat as the “other.” Today, the other may be a homosexual, the other may be a transexual, the other may be someone with a disability, the other may be Muslim, the other may be an undocumented immigrant, the other can be someone that don’t look like you, the other may be the kid that sits in your class in the corner that’s quiet and that no one wants to be friends with or a kid that comes to school with an unpleasant smell because they don’t have parents to teach them how to wash themselves properly. I don’t know who you treat as the “other,” but if you are going to operate in the spirit of non-violence and non-hatred whether it be at school or in life, then you must be careful on how you treat people as the “other.”

Love: The Greatest Tactic Against Social Injustice

Lastly, in a nation where there have been many Trayvon Martins that have fallen victim to police brutality, in a nation where we have people that will walk into a gay night club or in a historic black church after Bible study and shoot to kill, in a nation where elected government officials and celebrities we have long trusted to be found guilty of sexual misconduct, in the face of so much violence, I encourage you to look towards Dr. King’s non-violent tactics to solve the issues of social injustices and chaos of today.

Dr. King once said:

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting (or giving birth to) the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already absent of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

I can talk to you about a lot of Dr. King’s non-violent tactics to solve the issues of social injustice, but the greatest non-violent tactic that Dr. King ever preached was love. Love is the greatest weapon against social injustice.

Yes, we can march. Yes, we can protest. Yes, we can vote. And yes, we can change laws.

As we should.

But I have found out that even though non-violent marching, protesting, voting and law-changing can change a lot, it does not change people. Laws are designed to do one thing and one thing only. And that is to control the behavior of people, but it does not change their heart. That’s why we can have laws against murder, but yet still have murderers. We can have laws against stealing and yet still have thieves. We can have laws against racism and discrimination, yet as a black person living in 2018 I still have to make sure that I don’t give my future black son or daughter too black of name so that they can have a name to put on a job resume that wouldn’t disqualify them before they even made it into the interview.

Laws may change the face of social injustice, but it will not change the heart of social injustice.

Only love can do that.

Trayvon martin