" They knew why they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew that there was nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity."
The economic "Black out" proposed for this week has generated much discussion from some who are in adamant support and others in opposition, if not to the boycott itself then to what they suggest is an action too short in its proposed duration or incomplete in explanation of its potential impact.
In discussing the "Black out," some people mention the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the most effective economic social action conducted at the start of what became the Civil Rights Movement.
The Black citizens, business and religious leaders planned that boycott of the Montgomery bus system spontaneously, between a Friday and Sunday, after hearing of Mrs. Rosa Parks arrest on December 1, 1955 for not giving up her seat to a white man. The boycott was planned for the first work day of the following week, which was Monday, December 5, 1955.
Like the proposed "Black out" Friday, November 2nd of this year, the 1955 boycott was generated by outrage at acts of “over-prosecution” and social injustice, at that time represented by Mrs. Parks’ arrest, which was then the latest social injustice in a long series of injustices that Black citizens had suffered in Montgomery, and across the country.
It is instructive to consider that over the course of three days the Montgomery organizers put together a plan, publicized the action, and successfully carried off the first day of the boycott, even in the face of expressed doubts about the duration of the boycott and potential impact of the plan.
The story of that year-long boycott is told in Stride Toward Freedom, a memoir of the nearly day-to-day activities of the Montgomery bus boycott, written by a young Baptist preacher elected to the movement's leadership, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The story is a must read for Black Americans, all Americans really, a view from the first hand account of Dr. King how a system of entrenched discrimination sabotages the social and economic progress of its victims, and how a people unified by higher ideals of self-determination and dignity overcame legalized oppression through sustained and determined effort.
It may be surprising to some that over the harried weekend of planning, Dr. King struggled with the idea of "boycott." At that time, some persons compared the proposed bus boycott with similar boycotts conducted throughout the South by the racists White Citizen Councils with the purpose of denying goods and services to the Black community--and Whites of good will. Dr. King was certain that their discrimination was evil but questioned, as some do today, whether participating in a boycott was not as immoral as bigoted White groups. Was a boycott a negative action, when what was intended was a positive action, “to give birth to justice and freedom, and to urge men to cooperate with the law of the land...,” he asked.
He reconciled his struggle in recalling Henry David Thoreau's “Essay on Civil Disobedience.” The answer for Dr. King was non-cooperation. He wrote:
“When oppressed people willingly accept their oppression they only serve to give the oppressor a convenient justification for his acts. ... So, in order to be true to one's conscience and true to God, a righteous man has no alternative but to refuse to cooperate with an evil system. This I felt was the nature of our action. From this moment on I conceived of our movement as an act of massive noncooperation. From then on I rarely used the word, "boycott."
Finally, Monday, December 5th arrived. Dr. King and the organizers waited to see what would happen. Would the Black Montgomery citizens unify, would the boycott be a success?
Dr. King and the other Black leaders had hoped for about 60% cooperation of the people. Early on Monday morning, Dr. King wrote, he and Mrs. King were up and dressed by 5:30am, waiting to see the first buses of the morning ride by their street. Soon, looking out their living room window, they saw an empty bus ride by--a bus normally filled with domestic workers.
"I jumped in my car and for almost an hour I cruised down every major street and examined every passing bus. During this hour at the peak of morning traffic, I saw no more than eight Negro passengers riding the buses." Jubilant, Dr. King said he realized that instead of 60% cooperation the Black community of Montgomery was participating at nearly 100%.
One of the most powerful passages of Stride Toward Freedom is Dr. King's description of the beautiful sight of men and women participating on that first day of the "massive noncooperation," which was sustained through the rest of 1955:
"During the rush hours the sidewalks were crowded with laborers and domestic workers, many of them well past middle age, trudging patiently to their jobs and home again, sometimes as much as twelve miles. They knew why they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew that there was nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity."
Reviewing our past efforts in the wake of new social actions is educational, unifying and inspiring. In the next few days, as people plan their participation, we recommend that participants in the "Black out" get together and read aloud selections from our historical record of social protests. This activity will frame the current purpose with historical perspective, inspire unity, strengthen resolve and help to ensure sustained success in this new effort and those we engage in in the future.
Doesn't have to be a physical gathering. Send quotes by email, text message or just pick up the telephone. Each one, reach one; each one, teach one, our history, our inherited legacy, and our responsibility to one another.
For this week, we recommend Stride Toward Freedom, the first book selection for BookTalk, our online reading group focused on social action texts. We will post a date for an online discussion of the book soon.
Send us your recommedations for other books to include in the quarterly BookTalk discussion.
Peace
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