Reqiuem for Nonviolence, by Eldridge Cleaver

1228 Words3 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.The Civil Rights movement started in the 1960’s and was most influenced by Martin Luther king Jr. and Malcolm X. Their purpose was to create equality among all races. “Requiem for Nonviolence” by Eldridge Cleaver is a non-fiction book that talks about a spark of change in the civil rights movement. The 1960’s was a decade full of political and social unrest. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an influential leader who wanted political and social changes to better the country as a whole. The inspiration that cleaver gathered from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X is described in “Requiem for Nonviolence.”
The book “Requiem for Violence” highlights how King’s death inspired inequality in America. The assassin that killed Dr. King created a significant change in the world. The theme in “Requiem for Nonviolence is how big Martin Luther’s King’s death was. “Requiem for Violence” explains the big changes that evolved around his death. His death caused the inequality around the world to take a dramatic comeback that was never expected. However, he had his own purpose for his writing his book.
Eldridge Cleaver had his own purpose for writing his book. Cleaver’s purpose for writing “Requiem for Nonviolence” was to talk about how the death of Martin Luther King was a surprise. In a sentence from his book cleaver states, “The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King came as a surprise–and surprisingly it also came as a shock. Many people, particularly those in the black community who long ago abandoned nonviolence and opted to implement the slogan of Malcolm X–"black liberation by any means necessary"–have been expecting to hear of Dr. King's death for a long time. Many even became tired of waiti...

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... to embrace each other as a whole. The civil rights movement is not successful because there are still strong cases of racial discrimination in our world today. The civil rights movement affects everyone even now in the term of uncomfortable racial profiling and that people are still constantly teased about their ethical background.

Works Cited

Bullard, Sara. “Free at Last”. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. Print.
“Civil Rights Movement”. Britannica Encyclopedia. Vol. 3 eLibrary. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Cleaver, Eldridge. Requiem for Nonviolence. New York: Oxford, 1994. Print.
“Five Freedoms Fueled”, Jackson Sun, 2013. eLibrary. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Rockwell, Paul. "Dr. King's Teachings on Strategy & Tactics." Human Quest. ,1 Jan. 2006: pag. eLibrary. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Ryan, Katy. "Falling in Public." Studies in the Novel, 1 Apr. 2004:. pag. eLibrary. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

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