Deep Breaths On this weekend, which is likely to be full of protests, I thought it might be helpful to hear from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King on the power of nonviolent resistance. You can read his speech, given at Brandeis University on April 3, 1957, in its entirety here. This is one way to seek justice, through violence, but it seems to me that the weakness of this method is its futility. It creates many more problems than it solves. But there is an alternative to violence. We may think of this alternative as a method of nonviolent resistance, for you see it as possible to achieve justice through nonviolence. It's not a method to be used by persons filled with fear or persons who are merely lacking in weapons of violence. It is not a method of cowardice. As Mahatma Gandhi used to say, "If the only alternative is between violence and cowardice, I would say use violence," but it's good that there is another alternative. Now it is true that this method is passive in the sense that the nonviolent resistor is not aggressive toward his opponent in a physical sense with physical violence, but the mind and emotion are always active, at every moment seeking to convince and persuade the opponent that he is wrong. This method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually. It is non-aggressive physically, but dynamically aggressive spiritually. There is a second thing (in that) it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. I think this is … one of the basic distinguishing points between violence and nonviolence. The ultimate end of violence is to defeat the opponent. The ultimate end of nonviolence is to win the friendship of the opponent. It's necessary to boycott sometimes, but the nonviolent resistor realizes that a boycott is never an end within itself. It is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor, but the end is reconciliation. The end is redemption. So the aftermath of violence is bitterness, but the aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. This is a method that seeks to transform and to redeem and win the friendship of the opponent, and make it possible for men to live together as brothers in a community and not continually live with bitterness and friction. The third thing that we can say about this method is that it directs its attack at systems of evil rather than individuals who may be caught up in the system. In other words, this method seeks to defeat evil rather than individuals who may happen to be evil, who may happen to be victimized with evil. May God bless you and keep you safe as you stand for justice in pursuit of the beloved community. — Rev. Andrea Saccoccio, Director of Congregational Engagement and Outreach, Sojourners | 
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