Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Militant Nonviolence” Philosophy

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Militant Nonviolence” Philosophy
Luther King Jr. was a black American pastor who led the civil rights movement in America from 1955 to 1968 when he was violently killed. He was the founder of the militant nonviolence philosophy. Under his leadership, Luther Jr. used his eloquence to blend the movement into a powerful force. The theory required the African-Americans to shun passive resignation and use violence only when proposed by the advocates of the black movement. To him, violence was unruly and against the Christian teachings. The theory was thus born out of painful and demanding praxis that ended up bringing him opposition and led to his imprisonment and later death. The philosophy was a dream of a state with no segregation; where privileges and property were fairly distributed; an equality of opportunities; where people held resources for the service of humanity; and where dignity and humanity prevailed.
The Militant nonviolence theory started in a rather dramatic and unexpected way in 1955. By then, most of the blacks were being mistreated. However, King’s theory called on the blacks to refrain from violence since they were the minority groups. What made the assumption of violence more challenging was that there were few African-Americans registered as voters. As a result, they were powerless. Through the prayer pilgrimage to Washington, King appealed to the legislation to accord the blacks the right to vote. In the appeal, he assured the federal government that they would respect the law and nonviolently implement the 17th May 1954 decision of the Supreme Court.

To enforce their quest for rights, the blacks adopted nonviolent methods such as student sit-ins, and freedom rides. However, he insisted that without the direct actions, noting worthy would be achieved. He recommended for a nonviolent civil disobedient while upholding morals and be creative (Dunar 1056). As a result, King himself led demonstrations across Florida, Alabama, and Chicago and fought for ballot registration.
King Jr. won the Nobel Prize for peace at the age of 35 years becoming the youngest person ever to win it. As a result, he gained extraordinary recognition and influenced many African-Americans who took up the challenge to fight against the Black people segregation. The militant nonviolence theory motivated the likes of Rosa Parks, a 42 years old African American woman who declined to give out her seat to a white man on the Montgomery bus. Over the years, people of color in Montgomery had suffered repeated abuses and indignities in all aspects of life (1055). The blacks were legally prohibited from occupying the seats reserved for the whites at even if there were no whites on board and the blacks were congested. Rose’s action caused the bus boycott where other blacks refrained from surrendering their seats to the whites. The resisted the unjust law peacefully as King had indicated in the philosophy. His theory inspired the blacks to fight for their rights through reasonable, moral and nonviolent methods.
King’s philosophy was not well received by the right civil activist. They claimed that he was hindering their success. As a result, he was struck and even stabbed by a Negro, extremist woman. The blacks in the civil right movements worked hard but in obscurity to his theory. Rather they regarded him as a poor administrator whose success was built on labors of his predecessors. Rather his philosophy was viewed as another flattery to the whites. However, he remains one of the most influential philosophers who made the blacks stand up for their rights peacefully.
Works Cited
Dunar, Andrew J. America In The Fifties. 1st ed. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2006. Print.