Sunday, January 20, 2013

Exploration 3- Brandon Brown

One thing that really stood out for me in this film was that the activists preached nonviolence throughout the whole ordeal. I believe that this is one of the reasons why they were successful in the end, and it is one reason why the Civil Rights movement was so great. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, people were picking on African Americans for the smallest of reasons. So, if they would were to have used violence, that would have given the opposition that much more reasons to be violent in return, and it would have resulted in many unnessesary, unwanted deaths. I was shocked to see that even with people throwing punches and abusing them, they wouldn't give in. I remember one part during the film, where the men were sitting at the table where whites were supposed to sit, and the white men came in and started beating them, and they still wouldn't resort to violence. I believe that the nonviolent actions were, to me, the most suprising thing about this movement.

I believe that one thing that can be learned from this movement is that violence doesn't solve everything. I thought one of the most powerful moments in this video were when the large group of activists silently marched up to city hall and demanded to speak with Mayor West. When asked about whether or not we should be treating people with different skin color differently, he responded by saying, "I could not agree that it was morally right for someone to sell them merchandise and refuse them service [...] Had I to answer it again, I would have answered it in the same way again." I believe that this was one of the important turning points created by the activists because the city was becoming divided, and there was potential for something really bad to happen.

3 comments:

  1. I can honestly say that if I was being beaten, I would not have the will power to just take it. I admire that they were able to do that, because like you, I believe the violence would have become much worse.

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  2. I agree with your statement that, "violence doesn't solve anything."
    Throughout history, it's evident that violence and war doesn't bring peace. There will always be a state of tension and anger. The individuals participating in the sit-ins and boycotts were smarter and wiser than everyone; they understood that they had to take all the abuse to make a point. This didn't even work in their favor till the tail-end of the movement. It's such an incredible thing they did.

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  3. As the saying goes, "true courage is not knowing when to take a life, but when to spare a life." Anyone can just punch someone in the face because they're mad, but the truly brave one are the ones that simply stand and take it.

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