Stealing Words and Throwing No Fists

So this time, we’re going to ramble just a little bit about appropriation of words and non-violent protest. Yay!

Something I’ve seen surprisingly often in the wake of Ferguson is white people (almost always, about 99%), usually middle class or better (again, I’d guess 99% in my experience) tsk tsking the protestors for the way that they are protesting, using the images and words of (mostly) Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

So many white people shaking their heads in disappointment because Rosa Parks did it sitting quietly on a bus, and these young people today are just violent thugs. These same white people like to tell everyone how Martin Luther King Jr. would be oh-so-very disappointed in the savage behavior of these people.

Now, personally, I think both the U.S. government and the SyFy channel should be all up in the business of these white people, who are clearly mediums and channeling the voices of dead civil rights leaders. I mean, that has to be what’s happening, right? There is simply no way that all these white, affluent people would have the arrogance to appropriate the names and words of these people in order to chastise those seeking justice and equality, right? That’s pretty unheard of, isn’t it?

“Martin Luther King said ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent on things that matter.’”

That was Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick at the start of a press conference about a bathroom privacy bill that he supports. An affluent white man trying to use the words of the most well-known civil rights leader in the United States to promote a bill that is based on nothing but fear, lies, and bigotry. And there’s not even any proof that King said those words, so he fucked that up too.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that many of the affluent white people stealing the words of civil rights leaders are politicians doing so in order to promote bigotry and hatred.

I’m a lower-class cis white guy. It would be the height of arrogance for me to tell others how to protest or fight for their rights in this nation. It would be even worse if I tried to use the words of those who fought and died to do so. How much more arrogance does it take to do that when you’re legitimately in a position of power to restrict the liberties of others?

What does this have to do with non-violent protest and resistance? Recently, I ran across a post doing exactly that; saying that the protestors of today are doing it wrong by not following in the non-violent steps of King and Parks. This ignores that the majority of protests around the nation are non-violent, but the more egregious flaw is that doing so ignores the history of protest in this (and other) nations.

Don’t get me wrong; non-violent protest is great. It’s a very potent tool in the toolbox. Know what else is a potent tool in that box? Violence.  For non-violence to work, there must be

1.    A fear that someone on the side of the protestors (but not necessarily the actual non-violent protestors) will use violence to make a point.

2.    Violence perpetrated by the oppressors.

Those are the minimums. What am I talking about? Well, again, let’s go back to the 60s. These people say “You have to do it like King! Non-violent! Whargarble!” What these people have forgotten, don’t know, or don’t want to acknowledge is that the non-violent protests of the 60s Would. Not. Have. Worked. If not for the riots across the country. That violence, while it turned off many white people who weren’t actually allies, helped bring national attention to the cause.

The non-violence protests did not exist in a vacuum. They existed in a context that was rife with violence and (in the back half of the decade) a genuine fear held by many that there was actually going to be a straight up race war (heck, that’s what Manson was counting on). It can easily be argued that the true fight for LGBTQ rights began with the very not peaceful Stonewall Riots.

To advance your cause, you have to get attention. And nothing – NOTHING – gets attention like violence.

I’m guessing most of the people using King and Parks to chastise haven’t thought much about this, but it’s downright silly to think that King and the Freedom Riders didn’t know what effect the violence used against them would have on public perception and awareness of the cause. If LEO and observers hadn’t committed acts of violence (and murder in some cases) against the protestors, the cause of civil rights would have been set back years, if not decades.

Violence is a tool. Applying it and taking it. Tactically, they absolutely knew what they were doing. That’s why they trained to go limp. They were fully aware of what some people were going to do.

To advance a cause, you absolutely must have a friendly hand in a velvet glove to extend to the oppressors and the observers. But you must also have a mailed fist willing and waiting to strike. Because rights aren’t given, they are taken. That’s the story of humanity, that’s the way we work. You have to use every weapon in your arsenal to either bring the mildly neutral observers to your side, or at least so they support the cause in order for it to stop interrupting their daily routines.

Alleged allies will tell you that you’re doing it wrong, that you should do it like King, like Parks. A lot of them will tell you that if you don’t do it the way they’re comfortable with, they just can’t really help you.

Guess what?

Those people aren’t real allies. Allies provide support and suggestions. They do not dictate procedures and tactics. As I noted, I’m a lower-class cis white guy. In a lot of fights, I have the least to lose. It’s not my place, or the place of these other people with no real dog in the fight to tell others how to wage their battles. It’s my job to help so long as it doesn’t violate my conscience. Note I said my conscience, not my fucking comfort level.

It’s not about us being comfortable. It’s about us helping others to demand and take what they should already have in this so-called land of the free, home of the brave (so long as you’re okay with the tactics).

 Until next time.