The Fact of History is That Non-Violent Protest Has Not Been Successful For Black Americans

There's a lot of consternation about the events in Minneapolis, across the nation, and now the world. Many very smart people point out that the only means by which protestors can be effective is through non-violence. I agree with this sentiment. I feel sick about the destruction like everyone else. But the fact of history is that non-violent protest has not always been successful for black Americans. Violence brings the attention of the media and captures the imagination of the public.

The most pivotal events of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement would not have transpired without the violence of authorities like Eugene “Bull” Connor. His legacy in using intimidation tactics against non-violent activists gave the nation the most iconic image of the movement. Bull Connor’s inadvertent contribution to ending segregation cannot be overlooked. Dr. King said Connor may have been the best friend the Civil Rights Movement ever had, because of Bull Connor, people took notice.

The Civil Rights Movement was not non-violent. It was sparked by violence beginning with the brutal beatings of black servicemen coming home from war. While black protestors were trained to be non-violent, they courted white violence as a strategy. It is not the lack of violence that is effective, its violence perpetrated by the right people at the right time in order to feed a narrative that the media will be happy to parrot.

Dr. King, Diana Nash, and John Lewis knew most white Americans did not care about black people non-violently protesting in the streets. These were the same people that had tolerated lynching, racial apartheid, and fascism against black Americans for decades. Why would marching change that?

When King did marches and sheriffs and other law enforcement did not respond with violence, the media did not even bother to cover it. The leaders of the movement understood that the thing Americans understand is violence. Our country was literally born of violent insurrection and an act of vandalism in Boston Harbor.

So, the strategy became how to bait racist white people into violence in order to force other white people to act. The movement picked the locations of their protests and marches based on the ability to draw violence. When dogs were released on children, the media had a story and iconic imagery.

The peaceful protest did not bring about the great civil rights legislation of the 1960s. Black people being firebombed, water-hosed, lynched, shot, bitten by dogs, and beaten by police while trying to march across a bridge is what brought the changes. Violence broadcast on the nightly news and in the daily newspapers.

"Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965 Selma, AL

It's not incidental that this civil rights legislation passed during the Vietnam war. The images of the World’s Great Democracy violently suppressing its own citizens became an international embarrassment, and that was a huge part of the motivation, not just a newfound racial egalitarian, that forced change.

Perhaps these protests at the same time as Covid-19, #MeToo, Income Inequality, and high unemployment on a stressed nation will be a catalyst for enduring and lasting change.

The vast majority of the press need to do their part. Is this possible? The anarchist from the left and the right along with opportunists want to set the narrative to their purposes and/or just take advantage of the situation. The press needs to have the maturity and discipline to call this out. President Trump will surely play the part of “Bull” Connor with some of the worse elements of law enforcement following his lead.