Why Some Black Activists Rejected the Approach of Martin Luther King to Civil Rights

Why Some Black Activists Rejected the Approach of Martin Luther King to Civil Rights

Some black activists rejected the approach of Martin Luther King in

his struggle to gain full citizenship rights for black Americans; this

was mainly because they followed the ideas of another black leader who

called himself Malcolm X.

Martin Luther King, a black Christian, gained a lot of success through

his belief that the only way to achieve civil rights and equality was

by non violent and peaceful forms of protest. He encouraged a variety

of activities, including protest marches, boycotts, demonstrations,

and refusal to abide by segregation laws. In 1955, Montgomery, a 42

year old black woman Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white

person on the bus. What had followed an arrest and fine had soon

resulted in a buss boycott. Martin Luther King had led the boycott; it

turned out to be an immediate success, despite the threats and

violence by white people. A federal court ordered Montgomery's buses

desegregated in November 1956, and the boycott ended in triumph.

King lead several sit-ins, this kind of movement not only was a

success and desegregated several facilities, but also demonstrated

clearly to blacks and whites alike that young blacks were determined

to reject segregation openly. But the whites violently attacked the

black people. King had told his followers to take the beating and not

fight back; his philosophy was that the black protest would wear the

whites down by their capacity to suffer, and ‘Non-violence weakens the

oppressor’s morale and exposes his defences. And at the same time it

works on his conscience’. He was against violence and said it

‘destroys everybody’, and repeated that violence would not help the

situation, instead it would instigate white violence. So when the

3,300 black men, women and children were peacefully demonstrating for

civil rights, they were attacked by the police with tear gas, fire

hoses, dogs and even electric cattle prods. The police frequently

arrested protesters, but ignored the white people who attacked them.