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Rebuttal: The answer to this lies in the history of the last ten years. It was nonviolent leadership which taught Montgomery Negroes in 1956 that they must struggle for their freedom, that no one could give it to them. The significant militant movements in terms of mass support and gains have been nonvio- lent. It is strange reasoning which sees the thou- sands of Negroes now involved in the civil rights struggle who were not involved before as an aeqiue iHdtawnay tl example of "drained militancy. Argument 3: Nonviolence does not make sense in this country, and particularly in the Negro community. This nation is based ona tradition of armed struggle against oppression: Lexington and Concord, the Slave Uprisings, the ftaid on Harper's Ferry, were all in the American tradition. Nonviolence is foreign to this nation's ways of doing things. Furthermore, the heart of the Negro community itself (especially the urban slum ghetto) is used to violence. Negroes have for centuries been the victims of violence, and this has become a part of their way of life. Nonviolence is a tactic of the white middle-class intellectual, not of the Negro working-class. Ultimately, it violates the “survival common sense" of the Negro urban masses. Rebuttal: If this statement were true it would not be very important, for any way of life must have new elements introduced constantly in order to remain vigorous and alive. But in fact, it is not true. , 114 The roots of nonviolent action in America go back to Puritan Massachusetts, and to colonial Pennsylvania. The nonviolent technique of the boycott was used during the American Revolution andbefore. The history of the labor movement in this country is full of the use of nonviolent tactice, sometimes alongside violence but often not. Our way of life includes standards which go better with nonviolence than with vio- lence. We believe in respecting the dignity of the human personality, we believe in the Golden Rule, we believe in brotherhood. The Christian ethic, certainly a part of the American heritage (and that of the Negro working-class), tells us to overcome evil with good. All of these elements make nonviolence fit into our “way of Lefntt an wernll tant wer ™~ life’ go well that more and more people ars adopting it as an ethic for themselves: Argument 4: Racism is a disease, a product of diseased minds. The violence of racism cannot be dealt with by the rational thought-processes and procedures (intended to "convert" the racist) of nonviolence. It is far less important te "convert" the racist enemy than it is to remove his opposition to our struggle, and eliminate hig threat to our homes and families. This can be done by restraining him physically, for while armed defense may not convert him, hc is still rational enough to understand that action on his part will result in instantaneous punish- ment, Would the church in Birmingham have been bombed if it had been well-understood that ten prominent racists would suffer assassination as punishment for anything of this sort? 115