Happy MLK Day: "Do not boast, Do not brag"

[alfred russel]

This document, drafted by the Montgomery Improvement Association, advised victorious bus boycotters on best practices for riding the newly integrated city bus system.

When the document was distributed on Dec. 19, 1956, the bus boycott had been going on for nearly 12 months. The MIA, headed by Martin Luther King, Jr., coordinated the boycott throughout.


As what had initially been a short-term campaign of a few days stretched into weeks and months, the MIA organized carpools and weathered bombings and legal challenges. African-American citizens walked miles to work, and marched in protest.

In June 1956, a federal district court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional; the Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in November 1956. The MIA waited until December to declare an end to the boycott, wanting to make sure that the ruling would be carried out in Montgomery. Dr. King signaled the official end of the boycott by boarding an integrated bus on Dec. 21, 1956.

Gandhi-inspired civil rights leaders Glenn E. Smiley and Bayard Rustin advised King and the MIA during the boycott. This document shows how far the philosophy of non-violence had permeated the movement by the time of this victory.

Protestors riding newly integrated busses were told to ride with an ally ("Try to get on the bus with a friend in whose non-violence you have confidence") and to avoid conflict at all junctures ("Do not deliberately sit by a white person, unless there is no other seat"; "If cursed, do not curse back").

The MIA advocated quiet presence and "calm dignity" in victory: "Remember that this is not a victory for Negroes alone, but for all Montgomery and the South. Do not boast! Do not brag!"

"If you feel you cannot take it," the MIA finished, "walk for another week or two. We have confidence in our people. GOD BLESS YOU ALL."

You can read the full note at the link below. Clearly written in the context of a very different time.

Also, I think Richard Sherman believes in a different approach.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/01/17/martin_luther_king_montgomery_improvement_association_advice_for_riding.html

[CountDeMoney]

Nobody cares, man. 
This holiday goes over with the libertarian anti-minimum-wage who-needs-equality-anyway-fuck-affirmative-action negro-hating crowd on Languish about as well as Hanukkah in Europe.

[garbon]

The cheapo car service I sometimes use sent me a Happy MLK day coupon. Not sure if it was more or less insensitive when they did so for veteran's day last year.

[garbon]

Nobody cares, man. 
This holiday goes over with the libertarian anti-minimum-wage who-needs-equality-anyway-fuck-affirmative-action negro-hating crowd on Languish about as well as Hanukkah in Europe.

I was working.

[Ed Anger]

I was watching Glory on the Sundance channel.

[Admiral Yi]

Nobody cares, man. 

Speak for yourself.

[jimmy olsen]

Nobody cares, man. 

I care, and I'm sure plenty of others here do as well.

[Razgovory]

It did not come easy for us in this country, under the weight of the vast influx of immigrants and the residual effects of the frontier tradition, to consolidate a secure internal order based on custom and respect for constituted authority; but finally we managed. This internal order is now in jeopardy; and it is in jeopardy because of the doings of such high-minded, self-righteous "children of light" as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his associates in the leadership of the "civil rights" movement. If you are looking for those ultimately responsible for the murder, arson, and looting in Los Angeles, look to them: they are the guilty ones, these apostles of "non-violence."

For years now, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his associates have been deliberately undermining the foundations of internal order in this country. With their rabble-rousing demagoguery, they have been cracking the "cake of custom" that holds us together. With their doctrine of "civil disobedience," they have been teaching hundreds of thousands of Negroes — particularly the adolescents and the children — that it is perfectly alright to break the law and defy constituted authority if you are a Negro-with-a-grievance; in protest against injustice. And they have done more than talk. They have on occasion after occasion, in almost every part of the country, called out their mobs on the streets, promoted "school strikes," sit-ins, lie-ins, in explicit violation of the law and in explicit defiance of the public authority. They have taught anarchy and chaos by word and deed — and, no doubt, with the best of intentions — and they have found apt pupils everywhere, with intentions not of the best. Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. But it is not they alone who reap it, but we as well; the entire nation.

It is worth noting that the worst victims of these high-minded rabble-rousers are not so much the hated whites, but the great mass of the Negro people themselves. The great mass of the Negro people cannot be blamed for the lawlessness and violence in Harlem, Chicago, Los Angeles, or elsewhere. All they want to do is what decent people everywhere want to do: make a living, raise a family, bring up their children as good citizens, with better advantages than they themselves ever had. The "civil rights" movement and the consequent lawlessness has well nigh shattered these hopes; not only because of the physical violence and insecurity, but above all because of the corruption and demoralization of the children, who have been lured away from the steady path of decency and self-government to the more exhilarating road of 'demonstration' — and rioting. An old friend of mine from Harlem put it to me after the riots last year: "For more than fifteen years we've worked our heads off to make something out of these boys. Now look at them–they're turning into punks and hoodlums roaming the streets.

The National Review Sept. 7th, 1965

[Ideologue]

How can you be confident in someone's non-violence?  Seems like a logical paradox.

[Admiral Yi]

How can you be confident in someone's non-violence?  Seems like a logical paradox.

wut?

[LaCroix]

How can you be confident in someone's non-violence?  Seems like a logical paradox.

confident that the person you're with won't throw back insults/punches when shit on, but who will also have the backbone to stick it out

[Ideologue]

Jeez, tough room.

[derspiess]

Seedy's self-righteousness inspires me.

[jimmy olsen]

I listen to the I have a dream speech every MLK day.

[Admiral Yi]

I try to sing "We Shall Overcome" at least once every MLK.