Nonviolent Tactics In The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement was a time where violence occurred, even though it was considered nonviolent. The main reason for why the Civil Rights Movement was considered nonviolent is because of the nonviolent tactics used. Martin Luther King Jr. realized that the nonviolent tactics used by Gandhi, could be used by the black Southerners. Martin Luther King Jr. states,” I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhi Method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom.” The nonviolent tactics were small protests, militant movements, leaders and organizations. Personally, I disagree with the fact that the Civil Rights Movement was nonviolent because the tactics used still involved violence. For example, on March 7, 1965, about 600 Civil Rights marchers headed east out of Selma on the U.S. Route 80. This march was named “Bloody Sunday.” The marchers only got 6 blocks to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where police attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas. Bloody Sunday is a reasons that leads me to the Civil Rights movement tactics being violent since police attacked the protestors with billy clubs and tear gas.

Civil Rights leaders thought if enough people outside of the South witnessed the violence that blacks experienced, then changes would hopefully be made. I think that showing people what black southerners experienced, outside the black southern community is a brilliant idea. I believe this is extraordinary because if enough people saw what the black southerners experienced by others, without using violence to fight back then they will succeed and there’s a high chance that some sort of change would be