| Dispelling the Martin Luther King Mythology |
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| TRUTH: King's non-violence was definitely not a passive strategy. | |
| As King practiced non-violence, following Gandhi, it was a militant and confrontational form of direct action. King actively sought out to attack injustice by creating a crisis, bringing the hidden violence of the system to the surface, and restructuring the institutions of society. His approach involved a study of the problem, self-purification, and negotiation, and then an overwhelming of police authority by filling the jails with protesters. He used tactics like boycotts, pickets, sit-ins, and freedom rides to force businesses and governments to their knees. King was feared and reviled not only by red-neck Ku Klux Klan members, but also by governors, mayors, police chiefs, and businessmen. National leaders rarely supported him, Kennedy included. King himself went to jail many times. Called an "extremist" in his day, King embraced the term and declared himself an extremist for love. |
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