Final blog

In this blog, I will be discussing how Dr. Martin Luther King methods to promoting a non-violent practice and how these ideas further prove how the language of human rights work, how it is effective, and its limits.  To begin, I will specifically be concentrating on King’s essay titled “The Power of Nonviolence,” which is incorporated with many of his other writings in the novel A Testament of Hope.  In this essay, King writes of ideas such as not to humiliate but to win over, agape love, and some power in the universe that works for justice as a way to taking steps toward a less racist society. 

In his essay, “The Power of Nonviolence,” King explains the goal of a non-violent resister.  “A non-violent resister,” King states, “does not seek to humiliate or defeat the opponent but to win their friendship and understanding” (King 12).  King reminds us that violence leads to animosity while non-violence leads to compromise.  A non-violent resister pursues to confront an unjust system rather than individuals who happen to be caught up in the system.  When reflecting on the Civil Rights movement for equality, King states, “And this is why I say from time to time that the struggle in the South was not so much the tension between white people and Negro people.  The struggle is rather between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness” (King 12-13).  The implementation of a non-violent practice to create equality was not to serve as a victory for the African American community but as a victory for justice and a victory for democracy among the people.  According to Dr. King, non-violent resistance is an “internal matter” that incorporates the “philosophy of love” (King 13). The only way to ultimately change humanity and have a positive, lasting impact on society as a whole is by allowing love at the center of one’s life.

King also writes of agape love as a necessary step to promoting this non-violent theory.  According to Dr. King, “Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will for all men.”  It is a “love which seeks nothing in return” (King 13). When one is able to reach such a level of selflessness, they begin to love people not necessarily because they are likeable, but because God loves them.

However, King addresses the inevitable truth that there are people who believe non-violence who do not believe in a personal God.  With this knowledge, he discusses how he believes that every person who believes in non-violent resistance does believe that the universe is on the side of justice.  There is something in the universe that unfolds for justice and so throughout all of the struggles that one faces, this may be what gives someone hope when all else is lost-- the belief that the universe is on the side of justice.

The aforementioned steps to implementing a non-violent movement prove that language can be used as a way to affirm rights and speak up for ones justices, or lack thereof.  It is ultimately effective as it approaches an unjust situation, not impulsively or irrationally, but in a manner that requires patients and enduring tremendous amounts of disappointment along the way. There are no limits to what one can accomplish with the use of nonviolence, though often, one may view the universe testing their limits.  How far is one willing to go to make a change? Human rights are understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which one is inherently entitled simply because they are a human being.  What King was moving towards was not only equality for the African American community, but equality for all.  King was an extremely well-spoken individual who relied on his words not to make a change but to inspire others to come together and make a change.