Class notes from 3/21

3/21 Class Notes

  1. Discussion Questions
    1. Why was Birmingham a key location and pivotal moment in the Black Freedom Struggle
    2. What and who does King critique in “Letter” and why? What does he propose and why?
    3. How does King justify non violent direct action? What role does he assign in the movement?
  2. Terms
    1. Democracy
    2. Negative peace
    3. Positive peace
    4. Complacency
    5. Extremism
    6. Justice
    7. Moderation
    8. The church
    9. Time
  3. Small lecture
    1. Response to the 1954 Brown decision
      1. Rise of massive resistance and refusal on part of the white policy makers to abide by the decision
        1. Closing public facilities
      2. Gives rise to movements to challenge segregation
      3. SCLC and SNCC and Mississippi Freedom Summer
    2. SCLC
      1. Emerges out of Montgomery Bus Boycott
      2. MLK is the leader
      3. Operates out of the South and with churches to attack segregation
      4. Every community had its own leader like MLK or Fred Shuttlesworth that is part of the SCLC
    3. Continuing segregation of South despite Brown and other problem is voting
      1. Most of the counties of the states of the former confederacy were majority Black
        1. More than 50% African American population
        2. But no more than 325% registered to vote
          1. Disenfranchisement through poll taxes, discrimination and fear, passing literacy test on Constitution
            1. They don't have the education to do so b/c of the poor education given to Blacks
            2. Denial of the right to vote
      2. Most dangerous thing Black people could do was vote and have representation
        1. They would have a voice and could have a deciding factor
        2. Real threat to white power struggle was the political power
    4. Right to vote primary goal of African American freedom struggle
      1. Moving towards major legislation for African-Americans
        1. 1964 Civil Rights Act
        2. 1965 Voting Rights Act
          1. Gave the federal ovenermny the right to intervene to ensure that these states were using fifteenth right properly and there wasn’t disenfranchisement
    5. What the SCLC realizes
      1. They learn that nonviolent direct action are fundamentally a means of direct action that garner public sympathy and support on a high level
      2. Legislators will have to take action
      3. Federal intervention will be necessary
    6. First steps with nonviolent
      1. Albany, GA
        1. First place SCLC goes to engage in the nonviolent direct action
        2. Problems
          1. Heavily segregated, there were no black members of the police force
            1. Seeing people like them in positions of authority is important
        3. Goals of SCLC in Albany
          1. Have fair employment practice
          2. End police brutality
          3. Desegregation of all municipal facilities
        4. King gets arrested
          1. Refuses bail and spends Christmas in jail in protest of the unfair practice in Albany
          2. Leaders think that this a great opportunity to publicize this
          3. The SCLC overplays themselves and acts for too much
        5. Protest around a bus
          1. SCLC believes protests will lead to significant sympathy and nonviolent protests being abused in the streets
          2. The police chief decides they are going to arrest them for doing things like parading without a permit or blocking traffic, nothing that has to do with race
            1. Takes steam out of the SCLC goal by not allowing them the image of Southern white police officers attacking Black protestors
          3. Federal government declines to intervene
            1. It doesn't seem like any laws are being broken
            2. Teaches the southern white men that if there is no violence there will not be action taken
          4. SCLC finds that they failed and that the city is no longer willing to engage in negotiations
      2. Birmingham 1963
        1. SCLC trying to figure out what they can do from their lessons learned
          1. One of the most heavily segregated places in the South
          2. Brutal police force
        2. Thinks that Birmingham is a great place to protest
          1. Black people there want action
          2. We learned from Albany and now we know what to do
          3. Think that it is a place to live
            1. Albany couldn't happen again bc police chief won't treat Black people with dignity
        3. Learned from albany
          1. You can’t get everything all at once
            1. Focusing on lunch counters
            2. Visible system
          2. Vulnerable to economic pressure
      3. Three problems they are facing in Birmingham
        1. Many African Americans were afraid to be arrested and fill the jails
          1. They are in danger of getting beaten, possibly being murdered if arrested
        2. Many African Americans felt that by protesting, they are jeopardizing the support of the Kennedy administration
          1. We are making progress and you have to wait
        3. Bull Connor
          1. Initially follows the Albany lead and does not engage in the expected violence from his police force
      4. When King is arrested for parading without a permit
        1. Goes to jail as a symbolic gesture to stiffen the resolve, telling people in the streets to not give up
        2. April 16th letter
          1. May 3rd Bull Connor makes a misstep
            1. Resorts to using the fire hoses and dogs on the protestors
            2. Images that we are most familiar with
            3. Circulated around the country
          2. Prompted Kennedy to send a marshall to Birmingham
            1. Most important official of Civil Rights down there
            2. But the federal government says that they can't intervene and there's not much they can do
      5. They come to an agreement (King and the City)
        1. All stores, lunch counters, etc, will be desegregated
        2. Stores will hire some African American employees
      6. Fred Shuttlesworth is mad
        1. Thinking that all these national figures are coming in with their own agendas
        2. Feels as if King has come in and he’s been here the whole time doing this
        3. It was never agreed upon when they were going to desegregate and how many people they would hire
          1. Victory is partial and somewhat hallow
    7. What is the impact of the demonstration?
      1. “The Negro and his problems are pretty much invisible to the country..Why did Birmingham have such impact...”
    8. Does the work of SCLC and the protests lead to these two pieces of legislation? Is it an overstatement to say that if were not for the protests in the South that these two acts came about?
      1. This law does not really have an effect, they did not cause the Civil Rights act to be passed, it was already in the works
      2. The increasing frequency of protest convinced the Kennedy administration that these protest would continue and they needed to pass legislation
  4. Activity
    1. Quote from King on 87
      1. “I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of this city left the Negro community with no other alternative.”
        1. King is saying they don’t have a choice but to protest
        2. His nature of opposition
          1. He is saying that these white church leaders are ignorant of what is going on
          2. When you are critiquing the marches, you are critiquing an effect, but you're no engaging with the reason why the marches are taking place
          3. You have to ask why the march exists and the situations in these Black communities
      2. Problem of the white moderate
        1. Central to what King is dealing with here
          1. White moderate has power that they don’t use
          2. People who would rather that the tension would just go away even if it is not okay
        2. Page 97
          1. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
          2. Negative peace
            1. Knowing that there is injustice going on but you would rather choose peace with injustice to maintain peace
            2. They are willing to choose peace over justice
          3. Positive peace
            1. You are willing to be a little uncomfortable to obtain justice
        3. Negative peace vs positive peace
          1. Negative
            1. Avoiding tension
            2. Without tension you won’t have justice
            3. Kings says that the white moderate would rather sacrifice justice to avoid conversation
          2. Positive
      3. Justice
        1. Just law
          1. “a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. “(94).
        2. Unjust law
          1. “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because it did not have the unhampered right to vote.”(94).
      4. White moderates and the law
        1. “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”(94).
        2. “I had hoped that the white moderate would see this. Maybe I was too optimistic. Maybe I expected too much. I guess I should have realized that few members of a race that has oppressed another race can understand or appreciate the deep groans and passionate yearnings of those that have been oppressed, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent, and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too small in quantity, but they are big in quality.”.
          1. If you were to accept this, you have to give up your privilege
    2. Equality vs equity
      1. Equity
        1. Bringing everyone to the same level
        2. Equal opportunities and conditions
      2. Equality
        1. Equal distribution
    3. PAGE 91-93
      1. Core of his argument
      2. We can no longer wait
      3. “Perhaps it easy for those…..”
      4. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.  
        1. We can’t just wait for them to give it to us
    4. How challenging is this piece to come to terms with?
      1. Problem of complacency
      2. Discomfort part of social stagnation
      3. To acknowledge that King is not as nearly as peace-loving or angry as most people give him credit for.

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