I could’ve sworn I had read a quote from him that seemed to unambiguously support violence, but now I’m wondering if I took a meme seriously or something
As far as I know he ever advocated for it, but he understood it as an inevitable reaction.
Off the tip of my head the only specific quote I can think of is his
"I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.”
I think this must be what I’m remembering out of context. That’s from the letter he wrote in jail, right?
The movement he championed certainly benefited from violent factions regardless of how he personally felt about it, so there’s that at least. I wonder if he ever admitted that?
No this is from a CBS interview with Mike Wallace. But he understood this concept and spoke on it a few other times from what I see.
After a quick search of the text, this is a similar quote from his “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, so maybe this is the specific one you were thinking of.
“The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: “Get rid of your discontent.” Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.”
As for the rest, I’m not much of an MLK-head, so this is basically where my ability to be helpful ends.
Thank you!
I don’t think he ever shied away from pointing out its tragic inevitability if you push a group of people far enough, but his goal was always to avoid it.
…it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.
He didn’t preach violence, but he did have armed members during marches. There was enough implication of force to keep the police in relative check during marches.
You’re probably thinking of Malcolm X.
