Readings in

Non-violent Alternatives

by
Richard Takagaki

16th Edition
February 2012

This edition is designed for limited use among the students

of University High School. It is preliminary and private
and should neither be cited nor quoted in any publications.

ALL zuGHTS RESERVED - NOT PUBLISHED

Table of Contents
(Abridged)

Alive in the World (Jackson Browne)

2. It is One (Jackson Browne)
1.

3. Non-violence Alternatives (chart)

4. Civil Disobedience: A Definition

5. Dissent (J. William Fulbright)
6. The War Prayer (Mark Twain)
7. The Sermon on the Mount (The Book of Matthew)
8. The Sermon on the Mount (The Book of Luke)
9. Dhammapada: Chapter Ten: Violence
10. Tao Te Ching: Chapter 31
11. Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi (Aibert Einstein)
12. "Gandhi Was My Greatest Teacher" (William L. Shirer)
1 3. Satyagraha, Civil Disobedience, Passive Resistance, Non-co-operation
(Mohandas K. Gandhi)
14. Satyagraha or Passive Resistance (Mohandas K. Gandhi)
15. Satyagraha: Means and Ends (Mohandas K. Gandhi)
16. The Power of Non-violence (Mohandas K. Gandhi)
17. David Harris: First Views from the Outside (John Garrity)
18. David Harris' Coming Out (David Harris and Joan Baez)
19. David Harris' Coming Out II (David Harris and Joan Baez)
20. What Would You Do If ? (Joan Baez)
21. History Book (Joan Baez)
22.Mrs. Beaumont (Joan Baez)
23. Letter from Birmingham Jail (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
24.lHave a Dream (speech) (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
25. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Bibliography
26.Prayer of the Farm Workers' Struggle (Cesar E. Ch6vez)
2'T.Education of the Heart-Quotes by Cesar Chixez
28. A Voice of Justice, Following the Gospel (Roger Mahony)
29.To Be a Man (Cesar E. Ch6vez)
30. Silone's Freedom (Ignazio Silone)
31. To Seek a Newer World (Robet F. Kennedy)
32. Imagine (John Lennon)
33. Non-violent Alternatives: A Booklist

takagaki

Alive in the World

I want to live in the world, not inside my head
I want to live in the world, I want to stand and be counted
With the hopeful and the willing
With the open and the strong
With the voices in the darkness
Fashioning daytght out ofsong
And the millions of lovers
Alive in the world

I want to live in the world, not behind some wall

I want to live in the world, where I will hear if another voice should call
To the prisoner inside me
To the captive of my doubt
Who among his fantasies harbors the dream of breaking out
And taking his chances
Alive in the world

To open my eyes and wake up alive in the world

To open my eyes and finaliy arrive in the world
With its beauty and its cruelty
With its heartbreak and its joy
With it constantly giving birth to life and to forces that destroy
And the infinite power of change
Alive in the world
To open my eyes
To open my eyes
To open my eyes
To open my eyes

and wake up alive in the world

and fina[y arrive in the world
and wake up alive in the world
and finally arrive in the world

Browne, Jackson. Looking East. "Alive in the World" Swallow Turn Music, ASCAP. 1996.

takagaki

It

is One

They shot a man into the sky

The moon and stars became his bed
He saw the sun rise seven times
And when he came back down he said
It is one, it is one,
One world spinning .round the sun
Wherever it is you call home
Whatever country you come from
It is one, it is one, it is one, it is one.
They shot a rnan in Africa
and war
He had some dreams of a good life
But dreams aren't what they killed him for
Now people stand themselves next to the righteous
And they believe the things they say are true
They speak in terms of what dividei us
To justify the violence they do
But it is one, it is one.
One world spinning .round the sun
Wherever it is you call home
Whatever country you come from
It is one, it is one, it is one, it is one
One - the deep blue ocean
One - the endless sky
One - the purple mountains
One - you and I

At a time of rivalry

It's not a world of our own choosing

We don't decide where we are born
This life is a battleground between right and wrong
One way or other we are torn
And people stand themselves next to the righteous
And they believe the things they say are true
And speak in terms of what dividesus
To justify the violence they do
But it is one, it is one,
One world spinning .round the sun
Wherever it is you call home
Whatever country you come from

It is One

It is one, it is one, it is one, it is one

It is one, it is one, it is one, it,is one
One
One
One
One

- the purple mountains

- the deep blue sea
- all of creation
- you and me

Broume, Jackson. Looking East. "It is one" Swallow Turn Music, ASCAP. 1996.

takagaki

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takagaki

Civil Disobedience: A Definition

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:

1.

when a person lcnowinqlv and openbt disobeys a rule or law in order to protest or
disagree with the rule or law
- examples: Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. disobeyed "Jim Crow" laws in
southern states; Mahatma Gandhi in India; cesar E. chavez; Henry David
Thoreau; David Haruis; Daniel and Philip Betigan; Jesus

usually civil disobedience uses non-violent tactics of protest and resistance

- examples: sit-ins, kneel-ins, Freedom fudes, marching, carrying signs

2. usually

used after attempting to go through all

official avenues of authority and appeals

3. usually

person wants to suffer the legal or official consequences

- example: get arrested, get convicted, go to jail and publicize it

4. query: break alaw to prove a point

break a law to win a point
a. drive through a red traffic light when late for work
b. drive through a red traffic light in an emergency of life or death
c. fire-fighters striking
d. doctors striking
e. teachers striking

- should there be consequences?

- what about amnesty?
5. query: justice

fairness

6. query:

justice: equality

7. query:

justice: freedom

8. query: equality and freedom are incompatible

9. takagaki; the means are as important as the ends, the process is as important as the
product, "the medium is the message," "you reap what you sow," the method is
as important as the goal, Machiavelli was wrong, the method is the goal

Takagaki, Richard. 1983, 201 1 .

takagaki

Dissent
TO CRITICIZE ONE'S COI.INTRY IS TO DO IT A SERVICE AND PAY IT A
COMPLIMENT. IT IS A SERVICE BECAUSE IT MAY SPUR THE COLINTRY TO DO
BETTER THAN IT IS DOING; IT IS A COMPLIMENT BECAUSE IT EVIDENCES A
BELIEF THAT THE COUNTRY CAN Do BETTER THAN IT IS DOING. ..This,,,said
Albert Camus in one of his "Letters to a German Friend," is "what separated us from you; we
made demands. You were satisfied to serve the power of your nation and we dreamed of
giving ours here truth...." (December 1943)
In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not its taste
but its effect, not how it makes people feel at the moment but how it makes them feel and
moves them to act in the long run. Criticism may emba:rass the country's leaders in the short
run but strengthen their hand in the long run; it may destroy a consensus on policy while
expressing a consensus of values. Woodrow V/ilson once said that there was "such a thing as
being too proud to fight"; there is also, or ought to be, such a thing as being too confident to
conform, too strong to be silent in the face of apparent error. Criticism, in short, is more than
a right; it is an act of patriotism, a higher form of patriotism, I believe, than the familiar rituals
of national adulation. If nonetheless the critic is charged with a lack of patriotism, he can
rnv nnrrnfnr
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love amounts to not loving, if insisting that what we love should measure up to the finest
image we have of her amounts to not loving." (July 1943)
What is the finest image of America? To me it is the image of a composite, or better still a
synthesis, of diverse peoples and cultures, come together in harmony but not identity, in an
open, receptive, generous, and creative society. Almost two hr:.ndred years ago aFrenchman
who had come to live in America posed the question, "What is an American?" His answer, in
part, was the following:
Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors
and posterity will one day couse great change in the world. Americans are the
western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts,
sciences, vigour, and industry, which began long since in the east; they will
finish the great cycle. The Americans were scattered all over Europe; here they
are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which has ever appeared,
and which will hereafier become distinct by the power of the dffirent climatei:s they
inhabit.... The American is a onew man, who acts upon new principles; he must
therefore entertain new ideas andform new opinions. From involuntary idleness,
servile dependence, penury, and useless labor, he has passed to toils of a very
dffirent nature, rewarded by ample subsistence. This is an American....
Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur
an American Farmer (1752)

-Michel
Letters from

Dissent

With due allowance for the author's exuberance, I think that his optimism was not far off
the mark. We are an extraordinary nation, endowed with a rich and productive land, a humane
and decent political tradition and a talented and energetic population. Surely a nation so
favored is capable of extraordinary achievement, not oniy in the area of producing and enjoying
great wealth, in which area our achievements have indeed been extraordinary, but also in the
area of human and international relations, in which area, it seems to me, our achievements
shave fallen short of our capacity and promise.

My question is whether American can close the gap between her capacity and performance.
My hope and my belief are that she can, that she has the human resources to conduct her
affairs with a maturity which few if any great nations have ever achieved; to be confident but
also tolerant, to be rich but also generous, to be willing to teach, but also willing to learn, to be
powerfi.rl but also wise.

I believe that America is capable of all of these things; I also believe she is falling short of
them. If one honestly thought that America was doing the best she is capable of doing at home
and abroad, then there would be no reason for criticism. But if one feels certain that she has
the capacity to be doing very much better, that she is fatling short of her promise for reasons
that can and should be overcome, then approbation is a disservice and dissent the high
patriotism.

Fuibright, J. wiiiiam. The Arrogance gfPower. New york: vintage Books. 1966.
pages 25-27.

Dissent

OUESTIONS

1.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Define dissent. Give examples.

Research and describe historical examples of dissent in the usA.
Research and describe historical examples of dissent throughout the world.
Define non-violent dissent. Give examples
Research and describe historical examples of non-violent dissent in the USA.
Research and describe historical examples of non-violent dissent throughout the world.
Explain Fulbright's statement, "To criticize one's country is to do it a service and pay it a
compliment." Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.
Albert Camus wrote, "I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice."
what might Fulbright say about this? what might Henry David Thoreau say?
Mark Twain? Mahatma Gandhi? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Robert F. Kennedy?
Pirilip Berrigan? David Harris? Desmond Tutu? Robert Scheer? Todd Gitlin?
Read Antigone in Sophocles' Theban
statement?
Read Robert Bolt's A Man for
Camus' statement?

g.

Trilogv. What might Antigone

say about Camus'

All Seasons. What might Sir Thomas More

say about

Explain why "in a democracy dissent is an act of faith." Explain why you agree or disagree
with this statement. what might Martin Luther King, Jr. say about this?
10. Explain Fulbright's "higher form of patriotism." Explain why you agree or disagree with
this concept.
11. How might Fulbright describe the ideal USA? How might John F. Kennedy describe it?
Robert F. Kennedy? John Lennon?
12. How might Richard M. Nixon describe the ideal USA? How might Nixon's Attorney
General John Mitchell during the Watergate hearings? Ronald Reagan? Lt. Colonel
Oiiver North? George H.W. Bush? George W. Bush? Dick Cheney? Donald Rumsfeld?
13. Describe your image of the ideal USA.
14. Describe the USA of today: politically, socially, economically, morally, militarily, racially.

takagaki

The War Prayer

It was a time ofgreat and exalting excitement. The

country was up in arms, the war was
on' in every breast burned the holy fiie of patriotism;
the drums were beating, the bands
playmg, the toy pistors popping tle
bunchid firecrackers hissing *d
on every
hand and far down ttre receaing and fading
spread or-or, and balconils a fluuering
wilderness
and flags flashed in the sun; daily the young
volunteers marched down the wi;; avenue
gay and
fine in their new uniforms, the proud iutt
and motlrer, *d ,irr"rs and sweethearts
cheering
them with voices choked with happy emotion
".r as they
br nightly the packed mass
meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory
which stirred the deepest deeps of their
hearts
and which they intem'rpted at Lti"r"tt
*t"*a, with cyclines of apilaur", th" te-a.s running
down their cheeks the while; in the chulghes_1h"
pu#r, p*ached devotion to flag and country
and invoked the God ofBattles, beseeching
rrir uiai" ou" gooa cause in outpouring of fervid
eloquence which moved every listenerlt was indeed gui and gracious time, and the halfdozen rash spirits that ventur"d to dirupprove
"
of the waiara
cast a doubt upon its
righteousness straightway got such a siern
and ansy warning that for their personal
safety,s
sake they quickly shrank out of sight
and offendeino *o.. in that way.

,pil;;g;

*ng

Sunday morning came-next day the battaiions

would leave for the front; the church was
filled; the volunteers were there, the young
*ir, *u.tiur dreams-visions of the
stern advance, the gathering momentum,
"lr*^'*
th9

a*r

ru1hini.n-g., the flashing sabers, the flight of

the foe' the tumult, the enviloping smoke,
the fiercJpu.r,iii, the surrender!--then home
from
the war, bronzed heroes, *ercomJd, adored,
,rur*.g"Jl, gora"n seas of groryr with the
volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, huppr,
and envied uyitre neighbors and friends
who
no sons and brothers to send forth to ttre
ilia of honor, ttrere to win for the flag or faiiing, had
die
the noblest of noble deaths' The service
proceeded; a war chapter from the old
Testament
was read; the first prayer was said; it was
foilo*"a ilv
burst that ,hook the building,
and with one impulse the house rose,
with glowing .v* *iu"ating hearts, and poured
out
that tremendous invocation-

**""

God the all-terriblel

Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion
and lightning thy sword!

The War Prayer

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading
and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was that an ever-merciful
and benignant Father ofus all would watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort,
and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless thern, shield them in the day of battle and the
hour of peril, bear them in I[s mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the
bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country
imperishable honor and glory-

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his
eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head
bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally
pale, even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way;
without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting. With shut lids
the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it
with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our
God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The ctrqnccr tnrrr.hed hic qrrn rnnfinnad hirn fn cfpn qcidA-rxrhinh the cfqrtlarl minicfar

did-and took

his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience

solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I

with

come from the Throne--bearing a message from Almighty God!"

The word smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived irhe gave no attention.

"He has heard the prayer oflfis servant your shepherd and will grant it if such shall be your
desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import-that is to say, its full
import. For it is like unto many ofthe prayers of merq in that it asks for more than he who
utters it is aware of--except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it
one prayer? No, it is two-one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of ftrm Who
heareth all, supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this-keep it in mind. If you
would beseech a blessing upon yourse[ beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a
neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it,
by that act you are possibly prayrng for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not
need rain and can be injured by it.

fhe War Prayer

"You have heard your servant's prayer-the uttered part ofit. I am commissioned of
God
to put into words the other part of it-that part which the pastor, and also you in your hearts,
fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant thaiit was so! you
heard these words: 'Grant us tle victory O Lord our God!' fhaiis zufficient. The whole of
the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary.
When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which foflo*
victory-must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father
fell also the unspoken part ofthe prayer. He commandeth me to putlt into words.
LISTEN!
"O Lord of our Fatler, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle-be Thou
near them! With thenr, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides
to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our
shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us
to
drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded *rithi"g in pain; help us to
lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their un-

offendrng widows';vith unavailing griel help us to turii therrr out r'oofless with their iirtie
children to wander unfriended the wastes oftheir desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst,
sports ofthe sun flames of zummeq and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with
travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for o* .uk", who adore
Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their steps, water their way with their tears, stain
the white
snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the
Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and
seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.

AMEN.
After a pause: "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, Speak! The messenger of the Most
High waits."

It was believed afterward that the man was a iunatic,

said.

Twain, Mark. The War Prayer. 1923.

because there was no sense in what he

The War Prayer

OUESTIONS

1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Who is Mark Twain?

Where and when does Twain's story take place?
How does the preacher view God? War? His country?
Who is the stranger? What is his view of God?
Compare Twain's "lunatic" with the following:

a. Fulbright's "dissentef'
b. Thoreau's individual

c.

Tolstoy's Christian
d. Hesse's "man ofthe spirit"
e. Mahatma Gandhi's wtyagraha
Robert F. Kennedy's "youth"
g. Joan Baez
h. David Harris
Bufly Sainte-Marie's "IJniversal Soldier,'
Bob D5,lan
k. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream
Pete Seeger's "Adam the Inventor"
m. Henry Mller's "Alcoholic veteran with the washboard cranium"
n. Robert Sheer's "True Patriot"
o. Philip Berrigan
p. Daniel Berrigan
q. Cesar Chavez's compesino
St. Matthew and St.Luke's Sermon on the Mount
s. JohnLennon

i.
j.
l.

r.

6. Explain how you are, or could be, Iike Twain,s ,,lunatic.,,

takagaki

The Sermon on the Mount

(The Book of Matthew)

Maffhew: Chapter

5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his
disciples came unto him:
5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom
ofheaven.
5:i I Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner
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5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for

so persecuted

they the prophets which were before you.

5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger
of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, tum to him the other also.
sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke
aiso.
5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
5:42 Gwe to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
away.
5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine
enemy.
5:44 But I say unto you, Love vour enemies, bless them tha,t eurse,vou, do good to them tlat
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

5:40 And if any man will

The Sermon on the Mount

(The Book of Matthew)

5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans
the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the
publicans so?
5:48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

5:47

The Holy Bible. King James Version. 1611.

OUESTIONS
1. Compare Matthew's version of The Sermon with Luke's.
2. Who was Matthew? When did he live and wdte? Who was Luke? When did he live and
urrifc?
3. Query: Jesus overturns a theory ofjustice that goes back to the time of Hammurabi.
4. Query: Jesus was the first non-violent revolutionary.
4. Compare Jesus' Sermon on the Mount with the Hindu theory of ahimsa (non-violence).
5. Compare Jesus' Sermon on the Mount with the Buddhist theory of karuna (compassion)

takagaki

The Sermon on the Mount

(The Book of Luke)

Luke: Chapter 6
6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor:
for yours is the
kingdom of God.
6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be frlled. Blessed are ye
that weep now: for
ye shall laugh.
6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you
from their
company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for
the Son of man's
sake.

6:23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, yow reward is great
in heaven: for
in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that
laugh now! for ye
shall moum and weep.
6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did
their fathers to the false
prophets.
6:27 B]ut I say unto yor: which hear, Love yo,;r enemies, dc gcoC tc them
which hate you,
6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer aiso the otherjand
him that taketh
away thy cioke forbid not to take thy coat also.
6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away
thy goods ask them
not again.
6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
likewise.
6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank irave ye? for sinners
also love those that
love them.
6:33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye?
for sinners also
do even the same.
6:34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank
have ye? for sinners also
lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend., hoping for nothing
again; and your
reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: foii,Jir
kind unto the
unthankful and to the evil.
6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall
not be condemned:
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed
down, and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with
the same measure that ye
mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
6:39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind?
shall they not both fall
into the ditch?

The Sermon on the Mount

(The Book of Luke)
6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
6:4i And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam
that is in thine own eye?
6:42Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine
eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite,
cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out
the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth comrpt fruit; neither doth a comrpt tree bring forth
good fruit.
6:44 For every tree is known by his ovm fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs. nor of a
bramble bush gather they grapes.
6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and
an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of
the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to
whom he is like:
6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a
rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could
not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house
upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell;
and the ruin of that house was great.

The Holv Bible. King James Version. 1611.

OUESTIONS
1. Compare Luke's version of The Sermon with Matthew's.
2. Ouery: this sermon is the essence of Jesus' doctrine of social justice.
3. Ouery: Jesus was the first non-violent revolutionary.
4. Explain the influence of The Sermon on the Mount on the following:
a. Leo

Tolstoy

b. Henry David

d. Martin Luther King,

Jr.

Thoreau

c. Mohandas K. Gandhi

e. Cesar E. Chavez

5. compare The Sermon with Hinduism's theory of ahimsa (non-violence).

with Buddhism's theory of kqruna (compassion).

takagaki
Dhammapada: Chapter Ten: Violence

All tremble at violence;

Ail fear death.
Seeing others as being like yourself,
Do not kill or cause others to

kill.

(129)

tremble at violence;
Life is dear for all.
Seeing others as being like yourself,
Do not kill or cause others to

kill.

(130)

A11

If, desiring

happiness,

You use violence

To harm living beings who desire happiness,
You won't lind happiness after death.

If desiring

(131)

happiness,

You do not use violence

To harm living beings who desire happiness,
You wili frnd happiness after death.

(132)

Don't speak harshly to anyone;

What you say will be said back to you.
Hostile speech is painful,
And you will meet with retaliation.

(133)

Whoever uses violence to harm

The nonviolent and innocent
Quickly goes to one of ten conditions:
Intense pain or great loss,
Bodily injury or insanity,
Serious illness or vicious slander,
Oppression from Rulers or the loss of relatives,
Houses consumed by fire or wealth destroyed.
And with the breakup of the body
The unwise one falls to hell.

037-l4O)

Buddha. Dhammapada. (Gil Fronsdal, translator). Boston: Shambhala Pubiications. Inc. 20A5.
pages 35-36,37.

takagaki

Tao Te Chine, Chapter

3l

Even the finest arrns are an instrument of evil.

A spread ofplague,
And the way for a vital man to go is not the way of a
soldier.
But in time of war men civilized in peace
Turn from their higher to their lower nature.
Arms are an instrument of evil,
No measure for thoughtful men
Until there fail all other choice
But sad acceptance of it.
Triumph is not beautifrrl.
He who thinks triumph beautiful
Is one with a will to kill,
And one with a will to kill
Shall never prevail upon the world.
It is a good sign when man's higher nature comes
forward,
A ba<i sign when his iower nature comes forwarci.
When retainers take charge
And the master stays back
As in the conduct of a funeral.
The death of a multitude is cause for mourning:
Conduct your triumph as a funeral.

Lao Tzu. Tao Te Chine. "Chapter 31,,

Bynner, lYitter (translator). The lltqaf LifuAccordins to Lao Tzu. New york;
The Berkley Publishing Group. 1944. page 60.

takagaki

Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi

A leader of his people, unsupported by any outward authority: a politician whose

success

rests not upon craft nor the mastery of technical devices, but simply on the convincing power

of his personality; a victorious fighter who has always scorned the use of force; a man

of

wisdom and humility, armed with resolve and inflexible consistency, who has devoted all his
strength to the upiifting of his people and the betterment of their lot; a man who has
confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being, and thus at all
times risen superior.

Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh
and blood walked upon this earth.

Einstein, Albert. "Mahatma Gandhi" Essays in Humanism. New York: Philosophical Library,
Inc.1950. page94.

QUESTIONS

takagaki

"Gandhi Was My Greatest Teacher,

Gandhi was my greatest teacher, not only by what he said and wrote and did but by the
example he set. Granted that

I was a poor student, what did he teach

me?

....The greatest single thing was to seek the Trutl1 to shun hypocrisy and falseness and
glibness, to try to be truthful to oneself as well as to others, to be skeptical of the value of most

of life's prizes, especially the material ones, to cultivate an inner strengtlq to be tolerant

of

others, oftheir acts and beliefs, however much they jarred you, but not tolerant of your own

faults...,
There was much else that Gandhi taught me: the value of contemplation and how to
achieve

it in the midst of the pressures and distractions of life in the 20tr Century.

...

The

necessity to discipline your mind and body and to keep your greeds and your lusts and your
selfishness and your worldly ambitions in check; the obligation to love, to forgive and not to
hate.

Shirer, william L. Gandhi: A Memoir. New york: Simon and Schuster. 1979.
(as reviewed by Robert Kirsctq Los Angeles Times. 13 January l9g0).

O.UESTIONS

1.

According to Gandhi, what is the "greatest single thing,,?

2. What is hypocrisy? Give examples.
3. What is glibness? Give examples.
4. Why is it important to shun hypocrisy, falseness and glibness?
5. Why is it important "to be skeptical of the value of most of life's prizes, especially the
material ones"?
6. Why is it important to cultivate "an inner strength,,?
7. Why is it important to be "tolerant of others, of their acts and beliefs, however much they
janed you"?
8. Why is it important to "not be tolerant of your own faults,,?
9- Why is it important "to discipline your mind and body and to keep your greeds and your
lusts and your sel-fishness and your.Norldly ambitions in check"?
10. Why is it important to love?
11. Why is it important to not hate?

takagaki

Satyagraha, Civil Disobedience, Passive Resistance, Non-co-operation

Satyagraha is literally holding on to Truth and it means, therefore, Truth-force; Truth is
soul or spirit. It is therefore, known as soul-force. It excludes the use of violence because
man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth and, therefore, not competent to punish. The
word was coined in South Africa to distinguish the non-violent resistance of the Indians of
South Africa from the contemporary 'passive resistance' ofthe suffiagettes and others. It is

not conceived as a weapon of the weak.

Passive resistance is used in the orthodox English sense and covers the suffiagette
movement as well as the resistance of the Non-conformists. Passive resistance has been
conceived and is regarded as a weapon ofthe weak. Whilst it avoids violence, being not open
to the weat it does not exclude its use if, in the opinion of a passive resister, the occasion
demands it. Howeveq it has always been distinguished from armed resistance and its
application was at one time confined to Christian martyrs.

Civil Disobedience is civil breach of unmoral statutory enactments. The expression was, so
far as I am aware, coined by Thoreau to signify his own resistance to the laws of a slave State.
He has left a masterly treatise on the duty of Civil Disobedience. But Thoreau was not perhaps
an out and out champion of non-r'iolence. Probably, also, Thoreau llrrited his breach of
statutory laws to the revenue law, i.e., payment of taxes. Whereas the term Civil Disobedience
as practiced in 1919 covered resister's outlawry in a civil, i.e., non-violent manner. He
invoked the sanctions of the law and cheerfully suffered imprisonment. It is a branch of
Satyagraha.

Non-co-operation predominantly implies withdrawing of cooperation from the State that in

the non-co-cperator's view has become comrpt and excludes Civil Disobedience of the fierce
type described above. By its very nature, non-co-operation is even open to children of
understanding and can be safely practised by the masses. Civil Disobedience presupposes the
habit of willing obedience to laws without fear of their sanctions. It caq therefore, be
practised only as a last resort and by a select few in the first instance at any rate. Non-cooperation, too, Iike Civil Disobedience is a branch of Satyagraha which includes all non-violent
resistance for the vindication of Truth.

Gandhi, M.K. Non-violent Resistance (Eeryagahe). New York: Schocken Books. 1951.
pages 3-4.

Satyagraha, Civil Disobedience, Passive Resistance, Non-co-operation

OUESTIONS

M.K. Gandhi? How might his background and environment have influenced his
philosophy oflife?
2. Define satyagraha3. Explain why you agree or disagree with Gandhi's theory that "man
is not capable of
knowing the absolute truth.',
4' Explain why you agree or disagree with the theory that if a person is incapable
of
knowing the absolute trut[ it must follow that heis not competent
to punish.
1' Who is

Explain how this theory relates to Dostoyevsky's views on crime and punishment
as expressed by Father Zossima in The Brothers Karamazov. To
Hesse,s concept
of the miraculous transcendence of opposites. To fatilit Cibran,s..Crime
and
Punishment" in The Prophet.
5. According to Gandhi, what is passive resistance?
6. According to Gandhi, what is civil disobedience?
7. According to Gandhi, what is non-co-operation?
8. What was the Suftagette Movement? Who were some of the
leaders in the U.S.
Suftagette Movement?
9. What is a non-conformist? What might J. William Fulbright
say about this in
The Arrogance gfPower?
10. what might Martin Luther King, Jr. say about this reading?
compare Gandhi,s
ideas with King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail.,,
11. What might Cesar E. Chavez say about this reading?

takagaki

Satyagraha or passive Resistance

Question: Is there any historical evidence as to the success ofwhat you have called
soulforce or truth-force? No instance seems to have happened
of any ,atio, havi;g risen through
soul-force. I still think that the evil-doers will not
doing wil withoui physical
punishment.
".ur"
ar.tdhi: The poet Tulsidas has said: "of religion, pity, or
love, is the root, as egotism of
the body' Therefore, we
G-

should not abandon pit! ro ionj as we are alive.,, Tiris

appears to
me to be a scientific truth. I believe in it as ..r.h
as I befieve in two and two being four. The
force of love is the same as the force of the soul or truth.
we have evidence of its working at
every step' The univ_erse would disappear without the existence
of that force. But you ask for
historical evidence- It is, therefot., ,"".r*r.y to know what
history means. The Gujarati
equivalent means: "It so happened." IfJhgt is tle meaning
of history, it is possiure to give
copious evidence. But, if it means the doings of kings
uri
be no evidence
of soul-force or passive resistance in such tirtory.
"*p"rorr.'tt
expect silver ore in a tin mine.
History, as we know it, is a record of the
oith" world, and so there is a prorrerb among
Englishmen that a nation which has no history that is, no
wars, is a happy nation. How kings
played, how they became enemies of one *oth..,
how they murdered one another, is found
accurately recorded in history, and if this were alithat hadiappened
in the world. it would
have been ended i?ng
Ifthe
story
ofthe
universe
had
commenced with wars, not a man
would have been foynd?go-,
alive today. 'ihore people who have been warred against
have
disappeared as, for instance, the natives of Australia
of whom hardly u.ur"*u, left alive by
the intruders' Marlq please, that these natives did not
use soul-for.. i, self-defense, and it
does not require much foresight to know that the

**,

fo, *ot

"i.'"*

Australians will share the same fate as their

victims' "Those that take the sword shall perish by the i*ora.'
with us ttre prorr"ru is that
professional swimmers will find a watery grave.

The fact that there are so many men still alive in

the world shows that it is based not on the
force of arms but on the force or-truttr or rove. rhereforilhe
greatest *o orort
unimpeachable evidence of the success of this force
is to 6e found in the fact that, in spite of
the wars of the world, it still lives on.
Thousands, indeed tens

of thousands, depend for their existence on a very active

working
ofthis force. Little quarrels of millions of families in their daily
lives aisapi# before the
exercise of this force. Hundreds of nations live in peace.
History does not and cannot take
note of this fact' Flistory is really a record of very
intemrption oithe
*orking of the
force of love or ofthe soul. Two brothers qra..ei;
one ofihem repents"r.n
and re-awakens the
lgye tlat was lying dormant in him; the two again
begin to live in peace; nobody takes note of
this' But if the two brothers, through the interventioriof sori"itorc'or-ro*.'ot"nir
reasorq take
up anns or go to law-which is another form of the
exhibition of brute force-their doing
would be immediatelv noticed in the press, they would
be the talk of their neighbors and
would probably go down to history. And whaiis true
of families and communities is true of
nations' There is no reason to believe that there is
one law for families and another for

Satyagraha or Passive Resistance

nations- History the4 is a record of an intem-rption of the course of nature. Soul-force, being
natural, is not noted in history.
Question. According to what you say, it is plain that instances of this kind of passive
resistance are not to be found in history. It is necessary to understand this passive resistance
more fully. It will be better, therefore, if you enlarge upon it.

Gondhi. Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering; it is the

reverse of resistance by arms. I use soul-force. For instance, the Government of ilie day has
passed a law which is applicable to me. I do not like it. If by using violence I force the
Government to repeal the law, I am employing what may be termed body-force. If I do not
obey the law and accept the penalty for its breactq I use soul-force. It involves sacrifice
of
self.
Everybody admits that sacrifice of self is infinitely superior to sacrifice of others.
Moreover, if this kind of force is used in a cause that is unjust, only the person using it
zuffers. He does not make others suffer for his mistakes. Men have before now doie many
things which were subsequently found to have been wrong. No man can claim that he is
absolutely in the right or that aparticular thing is wrong because he thinks so, but it is wrong
ior irim so iong as that is his deliberate judgment. It is therefore meet that he should not do
that which he knows to be wrong, and suffer the consequence whatever it may be. This is
the
key to the use of soul-force.

Question. You would then disregard laws-this is rank disloyalty. We have always been
considered a law-abiding nation. You seem to be going even beyond the extremists.
They
say that we must obey the laws that have been passed, but that ifthe laws be
bad, *" ,n rri
drive out the law-givers even by force.
Gandhi: Whether I go beyond them or whether I do not is a matter of no consequence to
either of us. We simply want to find out what is right and to act accordingly. The real
meaning of the statement that we are a law-abiding nation is that we are
iassire resisters.
When we do not like certain laws, we do not break the heads of law-giveis but we
suffer and
do not submit to the laws. That we should obey laws whether good or bad is a newfangled
notion- There was no such thing in former days The people disregarded those laws th-ey did
not like and suffered the penalties for their breach. tt is contrary to our manhood if
we obey
laws repugnant to our conscience. Such teaching is opposed to religion and means
slavery. If
the Government were to ask us to go about without any clothing, rlLrld we do so?
If I were a
passive resister, I would say to them that I would have nothingio do with
their law. But we
have so forgotten ourselves and become so compliant that *" do not mind
any degrading law.

.,

Satyagraha or Passive Resistance

Gandhi (cont.): A man who has realized his manhoo{ who fears only God, will fear no
one else. Man-made laws are not necessarily binding on him. Even the Government does not
expect any such thing from us. They do not say: "You must do zuch and such a thing," but
they say: "ffyou do not do it, we will punish you." We are sunk so low that we fancy that it
is our duty and our religion to do what the law lays down. If man will only realizettrat it is
unmanly to obey laws that are unjust, no man's tyranny will enslave him. This is the key to
self-rule or home-rule.

It is a superstition and ungodly thing to believe that an act of a majority binds a majority.
Many examples can be given in which acts of majorities will be found to'have been wrong
and those of minorities to have been right. All reforms owe their origin to the initiation oi
minorities in opposition to majorities. If among a band of robbers a knowledge of robbing is
obligatory, is a pious man to accept the obligation? So long as the superstition that men
should obey unjust laws exists, so long will their slavery exist. And i passive resister alone
can remove such a superstition.
To use brute-force, to use gunpowder, is contrary to passive resistance, for it means that
we want our opponent to do by force that which we desire but he does not. And, if such a use
of force is justifiable, surely he is entitled to do likewise by us. And so we should never come
to an agreement. We may simply fancy, like the blind horse moving in a circle round a mill,
that we are maicing progress. Those who believe that they are not bound to obey laws which
are repugnant to their conscience have only the remedy of passive resistance opln to them
Any other must led to disaster.

Gandhi, M.K. Non-violent Resistance (Saryagahd. New york: schocken Books. 1951.
pages i5-i9.

OI]ESTIONS

i. Define

history.
2. Explain Gandhi's definition of history as "a record of the wars of the world."
Explain why you agree or disagree with his definition.
3. Explain why you agree or disagree with Gandhi's theory that without satyagraha,
the world would have been destroyed long ago.
4. Gve examples of people who depend on satyagraha for their very existence.
5. Gve evidence to support the theory that "soul-force is not notedin history.,, 6ive
evidence to refute it.
6. Write a history of the USA which includes examples of the use of satyagraha.
7. Write a history of the world which includes examples of the use of satyagraha.
8- According to Gandhi, what is the difference between body-force and soul-force?

Satyagraha or passive Resistance

OIIESTIONS (cont.)
9. Gandhi writes, "Everybody admits that sacrifice of self is infinitely superiorto
sacrifice
of others." Explain why you agree or disagree with this statemeni theory What might
a
Social Darwinist say about this theory. What might Jesus say? What might Buddha
say?
10- Gandhi writes that if soul-force is used "in a cause that is unjust, only
th-e person using it
suffers." Give evidence to support this view. Gve eviderri to refuie it. '
11. Explain why "it is contrary to our manhood if we obey laws repugnant
to our conscience.,,
Explain why it is not.
12. Gandhi writes, "It is a superstition and ungodly thing to believe that an
act of amajority
blnds a minority." Explain why yo11 agree or disagrie with this statement. What mighi
Thoreau say aboyt this? A u.S. politician? Thomas Jefferson? Dostoyevsky,s
Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment? Nietzsche's "superman"? Hermann Hesss,e
Demian? Tom Robbins' Bernard in Still Life with Woodpecker? John Stuart Nfill?
James Madison?
13. Ouery: in a democratic society, the basis for government is that a political
act of a
majority binds a minority.
14- Gve evidence to support Gandhi's statement that "Ail reforms owe
their origin to the
initiation of minorities in opposition to majorities." Give evidence to refute it.
15. Ouery: the so-called American Revolution was initiated and supported
by a small
minority of American colonists.
16. Ouery: most ofthe so-called political revolutions, a.g., Americarq Frenclq
Russian,
chinese, cubaq were not revolutions for they all used violence.
17. Explain how you might begrn to condition yourself to practice Gandhi's
theory of
non-violent resistance.
18. Explain why you should begin to condition yourselfto practice
Gandhi's theory of
non-violent resistance. Explain why you should not.
19. Ouery: what with the increased threat of weapons of mass destructioq
it is in every
one's enlightened self-interest to resolve conflicts by non-violent means only.
20. Ouery: it is of the highest priority that each of you become more like Gandhi,s
non-violent resister, Fulbright's "dissenter," Thoreau's individual, Tolstoy,s
cbristia4 Hesse's "man of the spirit," Robert F. Kennedy's..youth.,,

takagaki

Satyagraha: Means and Ends

Question'. Why should we not obtain our goal, which is good, by any means
whatsoever: even by using violence? Shall I think of the means when I have to deal with a
thief in the house? My duty is to drive him out anyhow. You seem to admit that we have
received nothing, and that we shall receive nothing by petitioning. Why, then, may we not do
so by using brute force? And, to retrain what we may receive we shall keep up the fear by
using the same force to the extent that it may be necessary. You will not find fault with a
continuance of force to prevent a child from thrusting its foot into fire? Somehow or other we
have to gain our end.

Gandhi: Your reasoning is plausible. It has deluded many. I have used similar arguments
before now. But I think I know better now, and I shall endeavour to undeceive you. Let us
first take the argument that we are justified in gaining our end by using brute force because the
English gained theirs by using similar means. It is perfectly true that they used brute force and
that it is possible for us to do iikewise, but by using similar means we can get only the same
thing that they got. You will admit that we do not want that. Your belief that there is no
connection between the means and the end is a great mistake. Through that mistake even men
who have been considered religious have committed grievous crimes. Your reasoning is the
same as sa5'ing that we can get a rose though planting a noxious'weed. If I want to cross the
ocean, I can do so only by means of a vessel; if I were to use acart from that purpose, both the
cart and I would soon find the bottom. "As is the God, so is the vota4/," is a maxim worth
considering. Its meaning has been distorted and men have gone astray. The means may be
likened to a seed, the end to a tree: and there is just the same inviolable connection between
the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree. I am not likely to obtain the
result flowing from the worship of God by laying myself prostrate before Satan. If, therefore,
ary" one were to say: "I want to worship God; it does not matter that i do so by means of
Satan," it would be set down as ignorant folly. We reap exactly as we sow. The English in
1833 obtained greater voting power by violence. Did they by using brute force better
appreciate their duty? They wanted the right to voting, which they obtained by using physical
force. But real rights are a result of performance of duty; these rights they have not obtained.
We, therefore, have before us in England the force of everybody wanting and insisting on his
rights, who shall give them to whom? I do not wish to imply that they do no duties. They
don't perform the duties corresponding to those rights; and as they do not perform that
particular duty, namely, acquire fitness, their rights have proved a burden to them. In other
words, what they have obtained is an exact result of the means they adopted. They used the
means corresponding to the end. If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have
to fight for it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay for it; and if I want a gift, I shall
have to plead for it; and, according to the means I employ, the watch is stolen property, my
own properfy, or a donation. Thus we see three different results from three diflerent means.
Will you still say that means do not ma-tter?

Satyagraha: Means and Ends

Gandhi (cont.): Now we shall take the example given by you of the thief to be driven out. I
do not agree with you that the thief may be driven out by any means. If it is my father who
has come to steal I shall use one kind of means. If it is an acquaintance I shall use another;
and in the case of a perfect stranger I shall use a third. If it is a white man, you will perhaps
say you will use means different from those you will adopt with an Indian thief. If it is a
weakling the means will be different from those to be adopted for dealing with an equal in
physical strength; and if the thief is armed from top to toe, I shall simply remain quiet. Thus
we have a variety of means between the father and the armed man. Again, I fancy that I
should pretend to be sleeping whether the thief was my father or that strong-armed man. The
reason for this is that my father would also be armed and I should succumb to the strength
possessed by either and allow my things to be stolen. The strength of my father wouid make
me weep with pity; the strength of the armed man would rouse in me anger and we should
become enemies. Such is the curious situation. From these examples we may not be able to
agree as to the means to be adopted in each case. I myself seem clearly to see rvhat should be
done in all these cases, but the remedy may frighten you. I therefore hesitate to place it before
you. For the time being. I will leave you to guess it, and if you cannot, it is clear you will have
to adopt different means in each case. You will also have seen that any means will not avail
to drive away the thief. You will have to adopt means to fit each case. Hence it follows that
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Let us proceed a little fuither. That well-armed man has stolen your property; you have
harboured the thought of his act; you are filled with anger; you argue that you want to punish
that rogue, not for your own sake" but for the good ofyour neighbours; you have collected a
number of armed men. you want to take his house by assault; he is duly informed of it, he runs
away; he too is incensed. He collects his brother robbers, and sends you a defiant message
that he will commit robbery irr broad dayiight. You are strong, you <io not fear him, you are
prepared to receive him. Meanwhile, the robber pesters your neighbours. They complain
before you. You reply that you are doing all for their sake, you do not mind that your own
goods have been stolen. Your neighbours reply that the robber never pestered them before.
and that he commenced his depredations only after you declared hostilities against him. You
are between Scylla and Charybdis. You are fulI of pity for the poor man. What they say is
true. What are you to do? You will be disgraced if you now leave the robber alone. You,
therefore, tell the poor man: o'Never mind. Come, my wealth is yours, I will give you arms, I
will teach you how to use them; you should belabour the rogue; don't you leave him alone."
And so the battle grows; the robbers increase in numbers; your neighbours have deliberately
put themselves to inconvenience. Thus the result of wanting to take revenge upon the robber
is that you have disturbed your own peace; you are in perpetual fear ofbeing robbed and
assaulted; your courage has given place to cowardice. If you will patiently examine the
argument, you will see that I have not overdrawn the picture. This is one of the means. Now
let us examine the other. Yor-t set this armed robber dor.m as an ignorant brother; you intend
to reason with him at a suitable opportunity; you argue that he is, after all, a fellow man; you

Satyagraha: Means and Ends

Gandhi (cont.): do not know what prompted him to steal. You, therefore, decide that, when
you can, you will destroy the man's motive for stealing. Whilst you are thus reasoning with
yourself, the man comes again to steal. Instead of being angry with him you take pity on him.
Henceforth, you, therefore, keep your doors and windows open, you change your sleepingplace, and you keep your things in a manner most accessible to him. The robber comes again
and is confused as all this is new to him; nevertheless, he takes away your things. K But his
mind is agitated. He inquires about you in the village, he comes to learn about your broad and
loving heart, he repents, he begs your pardon. returns you yotrr things, and leaves offthe
stealing habit. He becomes your servant, and you will find for him honourable employment.
This is the second method. Thus, you see, dif[erent means have brought about totally
different results. I do not wish to deduce from this that robbers will act in the above manner
or that all will have the same pity and love like you, but I only wish to show that fair means
alone can produce fair results, and that, at least in the majority of cases, if not indeed in all,
the force of love and pitv is infinitely greater than the force of arms. There is harrn in the
exercise of brute force, never in that of pity.

Now we will take the question of petitioning. It is a fact beyond dispute that a petition,
without the backing of force, is useless. However, the late Justice Banade used to say that
petitions served a usefi-rl purpose because the5r..^.,s1s a means of educating people. The5, give
the latter an idea of their condition and warn the rulers. From this point of view, they are not
altogether useless. A petition of an equal is a sign of courtesy; a petition from a slave is a
symbol of his slavery. A petition backed by force is a petition from an equal and, when he
transmits his demand in the form of a petition, it testifies to his nobility. Two kinds of force
can back petitions. "We shall hurt you if you do not give this," is one kind of force; it is the
force oTarms, whose evil results we have already examined. The second kind of force can
thus be stated: "If you dc not concede our demand,'we shall be no longer your petitioners.
You can govern us only so long as we remain the govemed; we shall no longer have any
dealings with you." The force implied in this may be described as love-force, soul-force, or,
more popularly, but less accurately, passive resistance. This force is indestructible. He who
uses it perfectly understands his position. We have an ancient proverb which literally means:
"One negative cures thirry-six diseases." The force of arms is powerless when matched
against the force of love or the soul.
Now we shall take your last illustration, that of the child thrusting its foot into fire. It will
not avail you. What do you really do to the child? Supposing that it can exert so much
physical force that it renders you powerless and rushes into fire, then you cannot prevent it.
There are only two remedies open to you----either you must kill it in order to prevent it from
perishing in the flames. or you must give your own life because you do not wish to see it
perish before your very eyes. You will not kill it. if your heart is not quite full of pity, it is
possible that you will not surrender yourself by preceding the child and going into the fire
yourself. You. therefore, heiplessly allow it to go to the flames. Thus, at arry rate, you are not

Satyagraha: Means and Ends

using physical force. I hope you will not consider that it is still physical force, though of a
low order, when you would forcibly prevent the child from rushing towards the fire if you
could. That force is of a different order and we have to understand what it is.
Remember that, in thus preventing the child, you are minding entirely its own interest, you
are exercising authority for its sole benefit. Your example does not apply to the English. In
using brute force against the English you consult entirely your own, that is the national,
interest. There is no question here either of pity or of love. If you say that the actions of the
English, being evil, represent fire, and that they proceed to their actions through ignorance,
and that therefore they occupy the position of a child and that you want to protect such a child,
then you will have to overlake every evil action of that kind by whomsoever committed and,
as in the case of the evil child, you will have to sacrifice yourself. If you are capable of such
immeasurable pity, I wish you well in its exercise.

Gandhi, M.K. Non-vioient Resistance (Sat-vagraha). New York: Schocken Books. 1951.
pages 9-14.

OUESTiONS
According to Gandhi, why is a person's means as important as his goal? Expiain why you
agree or disagree with him.
2. Explain Gandhi's statement that "real rights are a result of performance of duty."
Give examples of the rights and duties Gandhi is referring to.
3. According to Gandhi, what are the alternative ways of driving out a thiefl Which method
would you condition yourself to perform? Why?
4. According to Gandhi, what are the alternative ways of dealing with a known thief? Explain
which method you prefer and why.
5. Evaluate the following purposes of punishment:
1.

A.

deterrent

C. protect individual
E. protect power structure
G. justice

B. rehabilitation
D. protect other people
F. vengeance

6. Who is Scylla? Charybdis?

7. Explain why you asree or disagree with Gandhi's theory that "the force of love and
infinitely greater than the force of arms."
8. According to Gandhi, what is petitioning? How does petitioning educate people?

pit

is

Satygraha: Means and Ends

OUESTIONS (cont.)
9. According to Gandhi, what are the two kinds of force that can back petitions? What kind

of force would you use? Why?

10. Give evidence to support the theory that a person can be governed only so long as he
wants to be. Give evidence to refute it.
11. According to Gandhi, what are the alternative ways of dealing with a child who wants to
rush into aflre? Explain which method you prefer and why.
12. Define child. Define adult. What are the altemative ways of dealing with an adult who
wants to rush into a fire? Explain which method you prefer and why.
13. Ouery: Gandhi's theory of satyagraha assumes that every person has a conscience and
that it can be affected by love and pity.
i4. Ouery: according to Gandhi, ultimately a person must be willing to die rather than kill.
15. Ouery: to believe in Gandhi's theory of non-violent resistance is to be insane.
16. Ouery: the people who believe in Gandhi's theory of non-violent resistance are the only
sane people.

takagaki

The Power of Non-violence

Nonviolence in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek
submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one's whole should against
the will of the tyrant. Working under this law of our being, it is possible for a single individual
to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay
the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration.

Active Force
The nonviolence of my conception is a more active and more real fighting against
wickedness than retaliation whose very nature is to increase wickedness. I contemplate a
mental and, therefore, a moral opposition to immoralities. I seek entirely to blunt the edge of
the tyrant's sword, not by putting up against it a sharper-edged weapon, but by disappointing
his expeciation that I would be offering physical resistance. The resistance of the shoulci that I
should offer instead would elude him. It would at first dar.rle him, and at last compel
recognition from him, which recognition would not humiliate him but would uplift him. It may
be urged that this again is an ideal state. And so it is. The propositions from which I have
drawn my arguments a.re as true as Euclid's definitions, which are none the less true because in
practice we are unable to even draw Euciid's line on a blackboard. But even a geometrician
finds it impossible to get on without bearing in mind Euclid's definitions. Nor may
we...dispense with the fundamental propositions on which the doctrine of Satyagraha is based.
I admit that the strong will rob the weak and that it is sin to be weak. But this is said of the
soul in man, not of the body. If it be said of the body, we could never be free from the sin of
weakness. But the strength of soul can defy a wbole world in arms against it. This strength is
open to the weakest in body.
Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the
mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. Destruction is not the law of
the humans. Man lives freely by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother,
never by killing him. Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or
inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.
Nonviolence is like radium in its action. An infinitesimal quantity of it embedded in a
malignant growth acts continuously, silently and ceaselessly till it has transformed the whole
mass of the diseased tissue into a healthy one. Similarly, even a little of true nonviolence acts in
a silent, subtle, unseen way and leavens the whole society.

The power of Non-violence

Matchless Bravery
An armed soldier relies on his weapons for his strength. Take
away from him his weapons-his gun or his sword,. and he generallybecomes helplesJ But
a person who has

truly realized
the principle of nonviolence has the God-given strengh for
his weapon and the world has not
known anything that can match it.
A small bodv of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in
their mission can alter
,1
rne course ot hrstory.
Nonviolence of the strong is any day stronger than that
of the bravest soldier fully armed or
a whole host.
Exercise in Faith
The hardest metai yieids to sufficient heat. Even so the hardest
heart must melt before
sufficiency of the heat of nonviolence. And there is no limit
to the capacity of nonviolence to
generate heat.
Every action is a resultant of a multitude of forces even
of a contrary nature. There is no
\^/aste of energy' So we learn in the books on mechanics.
This is equally true of human actions.
The diffbrence is that in the one case we generally know
the forces at worlq and when we do,
we can mathematically foretell the resultant. In the case of human
actions, ihey result from a
conculTence of forces of most of which we have no
knowledge. But our ignoi'ance must not be
made to serve the cause of disbelief in the power
of these forces. Rather is our ignorance a
cause for greeter faith. And nonviolence biing the
mightiest force i, tr,";*ld and also the
most elusive in its working, it demands the greatest eiercise
of faith. Even as we believe in
God in faith, so have we to berieve in nonviolence in faith.
violence like water, when it has an outlet, rushes forward
furiously with an overwhelming
force' nonviolence cannot act madly. It is the essence
of discipline. But, when it is set going,
no amount of violence can crush it. For full play, it requires
unsullied purity and an
unquenchable faith...

A Science
Ahimsa is a science. The word 'failure'has no place in
the vocabulary of science. Failure to
obtain the expected result is often the precursor to further
discoveries.
If the function of himsa is to devour all it comes across, the function
of ahimsa is to rush
into the mouth of himsa In an atmosphere of ahimsa
one has no scope to put his ahimsa to the
test. It can be tested only in the face of himsa.

The Power of Non-violence

Violence can only be effectively met by nonviolence. This is an old, established truth...that
the weapon of violence, even if it was the atom bomb, became useless when matched against
nonviolence. That very few understand how to wield this mighty weapon is true. It requires a
lot of understanding and strength of mind. It is unlike what is neededln military schoois and
colleges. The difficulty one experiences in meeting himsa with ahimsa arises from weakness of
mind.

The I)eed, not Doer

'Hate the sin and not the sinner'is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is
rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.
This ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing every day that the search is
vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis. It is quite proper to resist and attack a system,
but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself For we are
all tarred with the same brush, and are children of one and the same creator, and as such, the
divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to slight those divine
powers, and thus to harm not only that Being but with Him the whole world.
Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth
approbation and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked,
always deserves respect or pity as the case may be.
Those who seek to destroy men rather than manners adopt the latter and become worse
than those whom they destroy under the mistaken belief that the manners will die with the men.
They do not know the root of the evil.
It is the acid test of nonviolence that, in a nonviolent conflict, there is norancour left
behind, and in the end the enemies are converted into friends. That was my experience in South
Africa, with General Smuts. He started with being my bitterest opponent and iritic. Today he
is my warmest friend.
The principal implication of ahimsa is that the ahimsa in us ought to soften and not to stiffen
our opponents' attitude to us; it ought to melt him; it ought to strike a responsive chord in his
heart.
As ahimsa-its, can you say that you practice genuine ahimsa? Can you say that you receive
the arrows of the opponent on your bare breasts without returning them? Can you say that you
are not angry, that you are not perturbed by his criticism?
By reason of life-long practice of ahimsa, I claim to be an expert in it, though very
imperfect. Speaking in absolute terms, the more I practice it the clearer I see how far I am
from the full expression of ahimsa in my life. It is his ignorance of this, the greatest duty of man
in the world, which makes him say that in this age nonviolence has little r"op. in the face of
violence, whereas I make bold to say that in this age of the Atom Bomb unadulterated
nonviolence is the only force that can confound all the tricks put together ofviolence.

Source: The Mind gf Mahatma Gandhi

takagaki

David Harris: Firut Views from the Outside

In the twenty months ofDavid Harris' confinement, the politics of dissent in this country
has swung over Aom protest and marches to pipe bombs and snipers. The Movement, if it
ever existed, has disintegrated into vicious, squabbling splinters ofWeathermen and Red
Guards and disaffected Panthers and Manson cultists and freeJance saboteurs. In the twenty
months of David Harris' confinement, he has been brooding over the brutalization of
revolutionary politics and the lessening regard from all quarters, for the value of human life.

'?eople have worked themselves into a corner," he says from his hilltop. "They're left
taking out their frustration and following a lot of fantasies. I think there are a number of
words people are very attached to-I mean words like peagg, words like freedonr, words like
liberation-and when people chase a word like that through life, they run into the fact that if
they're gonna have to be serious about changing their whole Iives in order to get them.
Because there's nothing easy about gettlqg those things. To get them is going to be a
struggle."
Those who feel cornered, he says have begun to run offin three different directions. "The
first direction is what's been called that 'random violence.' You get frustrated. If you want
things quickiy and you can't have 'em quickly you get very frustrated. And then you start
falling back on tools that you somehow believe are gonna make things happen fast-but don't
make them happen fast. And what you fall into instead is a fantasy. I think those people have
fallen into that same American John Wayne fantasy that Marines are dying for over Vietnam.
They're still playing John Wayne running down the hill shooting Japs. Because they really
believe that that's power. And that that's manhood. I think that what that violence gives them
has nothing to do with political effect. Nobody has made any political successes through the
use of violence. All they've succeeded in doing is disintegrating the political atmosphere.
They've fallen into a misunderstanding that makes 'nuisance' into political strength. They
think that ifyou can annoy people enough you're politically strong. And the second trap they
fall into is to think you're strong if people are afraid of you.

"And so they pick the American paranoia, right down the line, which is 'Armed Marxists.'
Americans have been breeding a fear of armed Man<ists since the turn of the century-and as a
society are absolutely petrified of it. Somebody just happened to discover that and decided,
'Hey, I'm going to be an armed Marxist,' so that he can go out on the street and say to
somebody,' f'm an armed Marxist' and the dude &eaks. And he turns to his friend and says,
'Hey, Ralph, man, we've really got some political power going for ourselves.' And I think
that's the trap that people have fallen into, which doesn't have anything to do with political
process. What it does is satis$ certain people's personal needs to feel as though they're
powerful. And they aren't."

David Harris: First views from the Outside

What if the armed Marxists win? What ifthey overturn the American illusion by mimicking
it? *Ifthey win, they'll do the sarne ******* thing. They may talk about freeing all political
prisoners, but if they're faithful to their own ideology and faithful to their own style of action,
one of the first things they'll do is take a *** ** {< ***** like me and put me up against a wall
and shoot me. And I know it. And they know it. and they'll admit it.
experience under our belts now to drop this **'**'*'r'** about violence.
Enough people have gone through it now to know what it means, enough to know what it
does to them. I mearr--something like the Panthers. There you've got a history that all of us
in some sense have fived next to or through. We can see it. They've fallen apart, they've
disintegrated, they've shot themselves." The object of repression, Harris contends, is not really
to destroy a movement or an idea. "The state understands that it's really not powerfrrl enough
to destroy something like that. But the real object of repression is to transform the terms that
the object they're tr,ving to repress thinks in. The first step is to get you thir,king the same way
they are, to transform you from one kind of organism into another kind of organisnq until
you're a duplication of the state.

"I think we have the

"Ana at the point that you're a duplication of the state, you've gotta play on their grounds.
And they know they can whip you. There's a reason they got all that nerve gas and all them
****** jets and planes and guns and ***+. 'Cause they can win at it. America can win at that
anyplace. They could win at it in Vietnam if they were allowed to. They could blast that
***:t******{'* offthe face of the earth. Pure and simple. If we decide to take the state on
with guns, we'll lose. All we'll succeed in doing is reaping a great deal of destruction. And
maybe getting some feelings of revenge out of it. But I'm not interested in revenge. I'm
interested in real-political change."
Direction number two: electoral politics. The Princeton experiment, the young, scrubbed
college kids going door to door to plead the case for sanity, to get a "good man" elected, to
make it all "right" agair\ youth commiued to social change by "working within the system."
"They've fallen for another fantasy," Harris says, "the fantasy that good men make g
difference. Or that there is such a thing as a 'good man' separate from the process of history
that he's involved in. And that's a lie. They fall for the lie that it's really going to make a
difference if Pete McCloskey is President or Gene McCarthy is President and Richard Nixon
isn't. It won't make a difference. If you go to the beach and see someone surfing, your
response is not to say, 'Wow, look at that cat push that wave around!' He's not pushing the
wave around. The politicians are riding on top of the wave. They're gonna ride it whatever
direction it goes. ***.********************x*******r<**t*****+*******{.r(*****r***

David Harris: First Views from the Outside

That's the nature ofthe politiciaq" he continued. *And the nature of the political machine is
that it's designed to destroy people. All the good politicians and all the bad politicians want to
control us for genuinely good reasons. I mean, Gene McCarthy or Al Lowenstein or Pete
McCloskey are saying, 'I want to control you so we can stop the war.' And I say, 'Wow,
gassy, let's stop the war-but get !ou1 ****1******* hands offme. And don't ever put your
hands o me. I'd rather have Richard Nixon's hands on me, 'cause he knows less about me.
The liberals may know how to hurt me. Richard Nixon has got to guess.
"Those Man<ists have something very much in common with atl the liberals-and that is
that they both believe in manipulating people. And they both use the excuse of the people's
own good. They have opted for authoritarianism." At the point where real decisions and
action are called for, he said, "it's very comforting to know that Gene McCarthy is going to
take care of it all for you, so all you have to do is wait for orders from Clean Gene's Machine.
And it's very comforting to find out that Chairsran Mao kncws e.rerything and that you don't
really have to worry about anything but acting out the Red Book.

"There's a third direction people have gone offrrr, that's what I call 'Space Cadetism.' The
third group has fallen for the hedonist trap. They look at life and say, 'Here are things that are
good, fun-like layrng out in the suq or growing things, and going offinto the country and
smoking dope maybe, and doing a lot of *******, and really getting into each other and
diggrng each other and being close and tight. AI of which are good things-but separated
from any understanding that there are other people's lives on this planet, and that their lives are
somehow bound inextricably to those people.
"The parody of the Space eadet, in my mind, is the guy who believes that ifyou really eat
enough organic honey everything's going to work out all .ight. i don't think it's going to
make a bit of difference. And they're sitting in the middle of a political organism that's right
on its way go going over a cliF-and it's going to take every God-loving one of us with it. AII
the good vibrations in the world aren't going to stop that."
Revolutiorq he was sayng. Revolution.

"It's not a rock festival

and its' not Woodstock Nation. Woodstock Nation is not a

revolutioq Woodstock Nation is a weekend rock festival that was a lot of fun for people, and
I'm glad it was fun-but it's not gonna make a difference. What's gonna make a difference is
something that's done seven days a weelq 24 hours a day. And to do that takes people who

are serious.

David Harris: Firct Views from the Outside

"All the time that I was in the joint, I saw those three kinds of directions really heighten.
And I don't feel part of any of the three. I feel like the task is to take old patterns of social
behavior and to change those patterns of social behavior. And I don't think that's done by
hurting people. I don't think it's done by scaring people. I think it's done by really curin;
about those people's lives."
Two military jets flew over. "Just my parole officer,,, he said.
"One of the things that happened on the streets while I was gone-it became a carnival.
The only way I can interpret Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffinan is as a carnival. Now they
may
be beautiful dudes for all I know-I haven't seen Rubin since 1964 and Hoftnan I,ve
never
seen or known-but their politics are carnival politics, they're politics of things you
do on the
radio and on television, that people watch like a new comedy act. They'.r rJ things that get
down next to people.
"There are things people want. And they've goua decide how bad they want .em. Ifwe
want 'em bad enouglq we can get them. I mean, I know I w.ant 'ena bad enough. I know
about myself. I'm a revolutionary. I'm ready to die for thenr, you know. I'm1 fanatic.,,
He
looked at Joan- "I mean, you can ask her-I go 24 hours u *xi*x* day. I,ll be talking
on and
on and on and find out she's fallen asleep.,,
she corrected him. "r have not fallen asleep on you

*Right,

I'm kidding.

yet-I

warn you.,,

She doesn't.,,

'But believe me," Joan

said,

'That first 48 hours was a non-stop trip. I firally had to give

him a half-hour warning. He never once slowed down.,,

"She is the best listener I've run into," Oa ia said. 'Anyway wherever J
am-I,m sure if
could chronicle my sleep, I'm doing it then, too.,,

"I chronicle your sleep," she confi.rmed, "and you're dorng it then too.,, She turned to here
guests- "He sat up the first night and said, 'Prison!'-lay back down again.
And he never
even woke up...." She paused and stared across the yard at Gretchen, th.ir
G..*an Shepherd.
"I said, 'You're out!' And went back to sleep.,,

David Harris: Firct Views from the Outside

Would he do it agan? "Yeah. Starting over, I'd do it, and I'm sitting right here knowing
that I'm probably gonna spend a good portion of my life in joints. Becarise oftf,"
thing I,m
into. I'm sure what I want, I'm sure how bad I want it. I want it more than I want anything
else. And f'm not sure that there are a lot of people who are gonna make that same decision.
But you don't gotta make that decision-you don't gotta be me to be involved in it. But you
do have to decide that you really want it.,,

Garrity, John. 'David Harris: First Views from the Outside" Rolling Stone Magazine.
issue number 80. April 15, 1971. pages 6, g.

OUESTIONS
1' Who is David Harris? Explain how hisbackground might have influenced
his philosophies.
Note his Goliath (1970). who is Joan Baez? Note heiautobiography Daybreak
(i966).
2. Which twenty months was David Harris in prison? Why? Research
and describe the

socio-political situation in the USA while he was in prison.

3. Explain Harris' evaluation of "random violence." What might
the Dollard-Doob hypothesis
say about his evaluation. Explain why you agree or disagree with
Harris' evaluation.
4' Explain the "John Wayne Fantasy." Explain why you ug."" or disagree
with Harris, theory
5. Query: almost every American male lives in and believes in the "John
Wayne Fantasy.,,
6' Gve evidence to support Harris' theory that'T.{obody has made any poliiical
successes
through the use of violence." Give evidence to refute it.
7. Explain Harris' theory ofthe USA's paranoid fear of ..armed
Marxists.,, Give evidence to
support his theory. Gve evidence to refute it.
8. Research and describe the "Red Scares,, of 1919_1920. Who
was A. Mitchell palmer?
Who were Sacco and Vanzetti?
9. Research and describe "Mccarthyism." who was Millard E. Tydings?
10- Research and explain who Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers
What is the
McCarran Internal Security Bill (1950x the smith Alien Registration
Act (1g40x
Dennis et al. vs. U.S. (1951)?
11. What might Barry Goldwater say about "armed Marxists"?
What might Ronald Reagan
say? George H.w. Bush? George w. Bush? pat Robertson? Jerrylalwell?
12' Query: the object of repression is not to destroy a movement
or idea, but to transform
the thinkine of the people until the.y become a "duplication of the state.,,
compare this idea with Dr. Smith's theory of power in Randy Holland,s
The Fire this Time (1994)

*.i".

David Harris: X'irst Views from the Outside

QUESTIONS (cont.)
13' Research and describe the origins, pu{poses, tactics and effects
ofthe following groups.

A.

Black Panthers
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
C. Weathermen
D. Venceremos Orgnization
E. Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
F. Zapatistas
G. Red Guard
H. PLO, AI Fata}, , Hezbollalr, Hamas, Al eaeda, kgun, Stern Gang
Bloods, Crips, Mexican Mafia, MS_l_?

B.

I.

What might David Harris say about each of these groups? Explain whether
or not you
Consider each ofthem to be an.,armed Marxist,,
S.oup
14- ouery: any attempted revolution in the

usA will be destroyed.

15' Explain why Harris thinks electoral politics is a fantasy Explain
why you agree or disagree
with his theory.
16' Explain Harris' theory that good men do not make a difference.
E4plain why you agree or
disagree with this
What
might
Robert
F.
Kennedy
say aboui this? Thoreau?
lheorl
John Stuart lvfill? Gandhi? Daniel Berrigan? Pete McCloskey?
Gene McCarthy? Richard
Nixon? George McGovern? Ronald Reagan? George w. Bush? Bernard in
Tom
Robbins' still Li& with woodpecker? Huey p. Newton? Bobby
seale? Erdridge
cleaver? Pierre Proudhon? Mikhail Bak-unin? pope John )ofltr?
17. Explain why you agree or disagree with the theory that
American armed Marxists and
liberals believe in manipulating people for the people,s own good.
18- ouery: it makes a difference, no matter how small, who
is minipulating you.
19. Explain Harris' theory of "Space cadetism." Define
hedonism. nxphil"why you agree
or disagree with Harris' evaluation of the Space Cadet. What rrigd
a..yuppie,, say about
this? What might a Vegan say?
20' Define revolutionary. Define fanatic. Is Harris a revolutionary?
a fanatic? Explain.
21. Describe and evaluate the publication Rolling Stone.
22' Describe Harris' alternatives to the present socio-political
relationship of people to
government, and violent revolution. Make a preliminary judgment
ar to *t ett er or not
you agree with Harris.-

takagaki

David Earris, Coming Out

It',s been a Iong time since we've talked.
To get over that time, I think we ought
to talk
about some words we have in common.
words ttrat au of us use to a"r".iu" our extension
into
the world. words rike "peace," ..riberatio4,, .Justice,lLd ..fr."dom.,,
itut
ro"uurrrary
is
central to our existence and our rives are
obviousry barren without it.
Those words, like all words, gain their
meaning from the situation they are
used in. None
of us exist outside of history- rtis in situations
trrlt ou rirres are fleshed out, and it is in
situations that our words take on meaning.
to understand peace and liberation and
justice and freedonq we must
see the situition *",r"

r*" **i

ir.--

That situation is America.

It's a very complex

society.

Yet those complexities have their roots in

some simpre beginnings.

we are in the middle of a society that totals men's

lives in doflars and cents. It,s a capitalist
society where the work of the many has
always bee, .rsJ for the profit of a few.
In that
process all of our lives have been
siripped of any honesror real work. Instead
we have pay
checks' billboards, and 97 brands orrna"ru.m
a"oao.*t. we are bougil
sold
every day
and have next to nothing to show for it.
We are in a society of slaves and slaveholders.

;J

It is also a society of manipulation and control.

America is a coercive and centralized
state
whose power hinges on enforced obedience.
In all its forms-it consistently denies the people
the right to control those situations they
encompass. Instead our lives are manipulated
for the
purposes of the State, and we are
Ieft in impoten"y una lroiution. It is
a
society
where
orders
are given and orders are followed.
we live in an empire that has attempted to
efiend its contror over as many various peoples
as it can' The American empire, like
ail empires, cannot be separated from
the barbaric and
brutal force with which it is Luilt- You
can call that force any number of names. you
can call
it war' you can call it dlurv spending
or you can call it defense. call it *il;l.
you will but
its name can't change its facl. ano itJfac.
i.
urt.rr.w
The empire we live in cannot be
separated from the stacked bodies and
"rr."r all over
burnt children
the world. It isa society of
victims and executioners, executioners
and victims-and the roles are interchangeable.

David Harris, Coming Out

It's a tool, brothers and sisters, that's what it is. It's a tool designed to do certain things. It
can make a few men rich. It can string the rest ofus up like paper dolls. And it can breed
blood and pain and misery over all our lives. But it can't give,r, p"u"", it can't give us justice
or liberation or freedom. So let's not ask it to. Let's do it ourselves instead. Let's not ask the
Pentagon and the politicians for peace, let's make it ourselves.

I signed my peace treaty in 1966. I put my draft cards in an envelope and I wrote a little
note to my draft board. It said:
"Dear sirs: no longer consider me part ofyour organization.,,
That's my peace treaty. I'm no man's butcher and won,t ever be.

Let's not ask Bank of America to share the wealth. Because Bank of America isn't the
wealth. The people are. They produce it and it is by right theirs. Bank of America is the fat.
And it got there by using the people. Let's share the wealth ourselves by not being used
an)rmore.

And let's not ask the government for our lives baclq because they are ours in the first place.
And we don't need permission to take them back.
Then we've turned our peace and liberation and justice and freedom into a reality. Those
words grow ilms and legs and feet and walk out on the streets of this country where they have
not been in a long time.

To do all those things, we have to add a new word to our vocabularies. And that word,s a
word. I thought about it a lot in twenty months. The word is..struggle.,,

simple

We struggle because our lives-those lives composed of peace and liberation and justice
and freedom-are in open conflict with all the apparatus of the organized State around
us.
And in order to be real, we must struggle. And it is a struggle, have no doubts.
Because we aren't talking about changrng a window-dressing or putting a new mask
on an

old face.

We are talking about going to the roots of a society and growing new ones. Nothing less

will do.

That is no small job. The State we are up against is one big ***r.x**{<l.**x(. But the stakes
we're playrng for are even bigger than that.

David Harris' Coming Out

Because we're playrng for our own futures. And you can't play for
anything bigger.

Ifwe look at the world

ofus

as reasonable men

and the social forces that hold swaythere today, I don,t think any
mn expect mankind to survive the next twenty-five years.

I mean there are lots of ends you can write to the script. We could blow ourselves
up. Los
Angeles could expand to include aII of us and we could rt otr to death.
Or perhaps the
ultimate model is that society goes stark raving mad and there is nothing left
walking the
streets except an unrecognizable band ofpsychotics.
All those are possibilities and I'm not gonna pretend to know which ofthose possibilities
is
first. But we don't need to know that anyway. What we need to know is that the

reached

social order we live in has our own deaths ingrAnea in it.

And we struggle for a new order because it is impossible for us

because there are ideas we like, but because we want a future.

to exist without

it. Not just

Now a struggle of those dimensions and with those stakes is another word. It,s
a word that
a lotta people use. And I'm gonna use it in a way that'most
oithose people don,t. The word
is "revolution." That'1what our plunge to the roots of American societyis
about. It is a
revolutionary change that we're looking for.
Now when I say "revolution" I don't mean hurting people. I'm trying to make
a revolution
against the organized process of hurting people and none orus wru find
himself in a new world
by mimickhg that which already exists. I think there's been a confusion.
There are lots of
folks that think violence and revolution are the same thing. As far as I can
see, they aren,t. In
fact, I think they're contradictions. If anything, it is violeice and the State
thai are
synonymous. And both have to be overcome with our revolution.
when r say "revolution' I also have two other things on my mind.
The first is a feeling: If it's a revolutiorq it's a revolution for everybody
or it isn,t a
revolution at all. Revolutions aren't made for people who wear their haiithe
same way or Iike
the same music. Revolutions are made because alLmen have a right to
live and pursue their

lives.

I,ve just come from a penitentiary in Texas. Now they have some red-assed
that work as guards in Texas. I'm not go*u preteird I like those people.
And I obviously hate what those people do. But I am gonna say it's
their revolution too. It is
n9t any set of oeople that we act agahst. We act against a set of
social proeesses that have
victimized all ofus

**{<**********

David

Haris, Coming Out

Revolution and revenge aren't the same things either. If we go out looking for someone to
get back at, we abandon our revolution. Because the revolution operates from here on. We
cannot transform our past. No one settles the debts of history. We can, however, transform
our present and the future that grows out ofit. But not by ignoring the human lives that
surround us.
The second thing on my mind is force. Because revolutions are made with forces; they
don't fall out of the slqy. And I think we have a force available to us that can make a
revolution- That force is love. And I don't mean sloppy love. I don't mean knights on white
horses and I don't mean John wayne getting the nurse with the big **** at the end of
the
movie- I mean a hard love. An aggressive force that shuns passMty as much as it shuns
violence. A force that goes out onto the streets of this society and ias out the reality, the
validity and the sanctity of all the lives on the face of the earth. It's a force that builds
situations, takes risks and pays priees and above all else does nct stop.
One thing in this process is obvious.
vulnerable.

Ifwe do set out after a revolution, we make ourselves

we are pitted against a state that hurts people. And it

can hurt us.

But the thing about vulnerability is that it changes none ofthe issues. The fact of it makes
neither the State nor ourselves any different. The question it raises is one of stakes.
What,s
worth it?

All right, you can get hurt. But you can get hurt anywhere doing anything Is there
something that's worth risking hurt for? I think so. I also think that in many-ways that

question has paralyzed people. It is a very important moment when we disctver

our
wlnerability. The bind it creates can only be escaped by making real decisions both s
individuals and collectives of people. And real decisions are very difficult to make. people
don't have much experience at it.
Over the last five years, two very different models have grown up in response to our
vulnerability- One is the idea of armed struggle. They do sett surptus M-l's and there are
people who believe that vulnerability can be escaped by adopting ihe tools
of the State. I think
the people who believe it are serious people and I have to say I respect anyone who is
willing
to get his *+** down in back of his gig, but I think the politics of it all i, i*******.
The State we are up against has enough nerve gas stored in the Rocky Mountains to
kill the
entire population of the world 37 times over. Now the only way you can make yourself
secure
inside of its terms is to get enough nerve gas to kjll the *oitd 38 times sr,zs1. Ald
we all know
what happens in that process. We can see it all around us. Which is the real point.
We aren,t
after physical safety, we're after revolution.

David Earris, Coming

Out

All ofus are bound in by the perimeters of our own experience. One ofthe things political
institutions do is create experiences for people to go through in order to build values and
behavior in those people. Any process that dehumanizes people strips them of the possibility
of revolution. Ifwe spend ten years killing people, there's nothing left at the end olt"r, years.
All of the genuine alternatives and revolutionary values disintegrate in a morass of destruction.
At the end of that process we don't find ourselves invulnerable, we find ourselves re-enslaved.
The other model is one developed by the Resistance. It's called "IJse your vulnerability
as
an offensive weapon." IJse your vulnerability as a way of cutting at the Siate's power.
We
had a lotta people go on trial in the Resistance but we didn't feeiwe lost many trials

even
though a lotta people went to the joint after the trial. Because we used the government,s act
against us as a way of shaving down the lie. We paid prices, but we made guirr. Five years
ago it was a rare occurrence for anyone to refuse to go into the Army.

The government itself now admits that they have to draft two to get one soldier. And
if
they say it's two to one and that figure is anything like their Vietnam body counts, it,s got
to
be three to one or four to one. And suddenly they are vulnerable too. Suaaenty the
future
may strip them oftheir Army. And the prices we paid are put to a good use. Which is
all we
can do- AII we can do is make them hurt themselves every time they try to hurt us.
And pretty
soon they've been separated from their own base of power.

It's not easy, but then few things are. But I think it's worth the risk. Certainly nothing

could be worse than giving up our lives because we're afraid of what happens
them.

ifwe exercise

If it's

a struggle to make this revolution, one of our biggest tasks is to try and understand
how that struggle takes place.

I think we can begin to answer that question (which is never totally or finally answered) by
payrng attention to the social dynamic around us.
It's a very specific political system we live in. It's called participatory totalitarianism. The
policies that are made and the people who make them are an extensio,
of th" people. It is only
the people's willingness to accept and support the social institutions around themlhat gives
those institutions power.
Richard Nixon is just a man on the street corner with a line of people in back
of him. I,m
not worried about Nixon. f'm worried about the line in back of him. And that line is
us.
Wthout the energies of the people, no society can function. Our willingness to proffer or
withhold those energies is power. And powe.r that we can and must use. Ifwe use it
to
struggle with, it cannot be stopped. The most capable tool available to any society
of people is
the general strike.

David Harris' Coming Out

When I say our struggle is a loving one, I'm not pretending that we will be able to induce
the politicians and generals to eliminate their own jobs. Ifwe can, fine, but f'm not counting
on it. What is clear to me is that their jobs and thet ability to carry them out are dependent
upon the people's willingness to accept and obey. When the people don't, it doesn't matter
what the politicians and the generals want. Stripped ofthe people's power and support, they
are men with opinions.

I don't

expect to see the generals come running out ofthe Pentagon with M-16's when they
find that there aren't any privates left in the Army.

And the poiiticians are men on a wave. When you go to the beach and you see someone
surfing, you don't say, "Hey look at that cat push that wave around." And he's a politician.
When the wave moves, he either moves with it or he falls on his ass.
The problem we face is not men at the top. It's men at the bottom. The problem is that
most of us have handed our lives and energies over to the State. When we retract that gift, we
exercise power. And we b"g, the process of controlling our own lives.

And the bind of the problem is that most of the people think the alternatives are between
what exists and nothing. We have to break the illusion of nothing. We do that by getting next
to people and letting them rub shoulders instead ofwatching it on TV. We also do it by
recognizing that people's lives are composed of concretes. And unless you make a process
tangible, it will make no sense. So we build concrete social forms as a part of our conflict with
the State.
And a new society grows inside the shell ofthe old until the old peels back like a husk.

And someday we can say to Richard Nixo4 "oK. you can have the house. we
understand. The boyhood dream of a child growing up in Southern California and all that.
You can keep your old lady there, your dogs, the whole show. But the rest of this ***rt***,F
is gonna stop."
We are facing the opporlunity to do something that has never been done before in the
history ofthe world. We can build a society that active$ recognizes the reality of its members.
We can build a society of sharing, instead of profits, of peace, instead of militarisnr, and of
power instead of impotence. All that is a possibility.
And I'm optimistic. When I started with this kind of work in 1963, the odds against us
living in the world we wanted to were a 100,000 to one. I think the odds are down to 99 to
one, now. I'm celebrating. we made the odds sheets, brothers and sisters.

David Harris, Coming

Out

But making an opportunity into a reality means

work and possibly pain and probably a lotta
things that we might consider sacrifice.
we shouldn't forget that it iro *"*, joy. Each
of us
is looking for the possibility of exercising
real lives that ar-en't contradictions to
themselves.
we have the possibility, and exercising iiisioyru.
rt,, *tut vre,ve spend too much time
waiting for.
In making that opportunity real, we get no guarantees.
No one can tell you the final
outcome' No one can tell you for sur" ihut it's-gonna
happen And any ,(+*-**-*-***** that
stands up here and says he can is either
a liar or a foor.

,n"Put

we can say is that it has to happen. we find

out whether it can or not after we,ve

]h9 onlV thing I ean say that e.ven sounds remotely like
to do it alone. If there is just you and me, f,[
be there.

a guarantee is that no one will have

Because I intend to ride this ticket

the last stop on the line.

to

Harris, David and Joan Baez Harris. Coming

Out. New york: pocket Books. I97t
chapter 3.

OT]ESTIONS
1' Explain Harris' statement that ". . all words gain their meaning
from the situation they are
statement with Lewi-s canoll'sstatement,
"A word means exacrry

;T* ilr?il|ff:this

what miSht S'I' Hayakawa say about this?

Edward r. Hall,s
Language? Rollo May?
Suzanne Langer? Dr. Smith
R-;; lilent
this rime
ir}lfirt*taneda?

nou-arffi

2' ouery: all words are relative to each other,

the time and place in which they are
used, who
says thenr, who hears them.
3. Explain Harris' statement, .T.{one
of us exists outside of history.,, How does
this relate to
his non-violent,.struggle,;?

David Harris' Coming Out

OUESTIONS (cont.)
4. Note Rollo May's discussion on "The Creative Use of the Past" in Man's Search for Himself
(1953). What might Harris say about May's theory:
Here is the seeming paradox, which no doubt everyone knows to be true in
his own experience, that the more profoundly he can confront and experience
the accumulated wealth in historical tradition, the more uniquely he can at
the same time know and be himself.
Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.
5. How does Harris describe the USA's economic system? Give evidence to support his view.
Give evidence to refute it. What might Marx say aboul Harris' description?

6. Harris writes:

It (USA) is also a society of manipulation

and control. America is a coercive

and centralized State whose power hinges on enforced obedience.

Give evidence to support the theory that the government manipulates and controls people.
Give evidence to refute it. What might Thoreau say about Harris' statement? What might
George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 say? Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orangei
7. Explain Harris' statement.

It (USA) is a society of victims

and executioners, executioners and

victims-and the

roles are interchangeable.

Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. What might Dostoyevsky's Father
Zossima say about this in The Brothers Karamazov? Kahlil Gibran's "Crime and
Punishment"? Tom Robbins' "criminals, outlaws, and victims" in sti[ Life with
Woodpecker? Tolstoy? Hesse? Gandhi? Erich Fromm?

David Harris' Coming Out

OUESTIONS (cont.)
8. Harris writes:

It (the American system) can breed blood and pain and misery over all our lives
But it can't give us peace, it can't give us justice or liberation, or freedom. So
Let's not ask it to. Let's do it ourselves instead.
Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. What might the following people
Say about it:

A. Adam and Eve

B. Prometheus
C. Pandora
D. Oedipus

E. Orestes
F. the Grand Inquisitor
G. Ench Fromm's Escape from Freedom
H. Ignazio Silone's Bread and Wine

9. Harris writes:

And let's not ask the government for our lives back, because they are ours
in the fust place. And we don't need permission to take them back.
Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. What might the following people
Say about it:

Thoreau
B. Malcolm X
C. Maftin Luther King, Jr.
D. Adam and Eve
E. Prometheus

F. Pandora
G. Oedipus
H. Orestes
L The Grand Inquisitor
J. Ignazio Silone

l0
David Harris' Coming Out
OIJESTIONS (cont.)
10. Hanis writes:

We struggle because our lives-those lives composed of peace and liberation

and justice and freedorr-are in open conflict with all the apparatus ofthe
organized state.
Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. What might the following people
Say about it:

A. Thoreau
B. Hesse

Tolstoy
D. Gandhi
E. Daniel Berrigan
F. Philip Berrigan
C.

G. Rollo May's Man's Search for Hmself

H. Adam and Eve
L Prometheus
J. Pandora
K. Oedipus
L. Orestes

Harris' future USA.

Gve evidence to support the theory that humankind will not survive the next 25 years.
Gve evidence to refute it.
13. Assuming the USA will not survive, describe how it will end.
14. Explain Harris' definition of revolution. How does he relate revolution to violence?
to the government? to revenge?
15. Query: government ofrcials are more oppressed than the average citizen; prison guards
11. Describe

12.

are more oppressed than the prisoners.

16. Explain Harris' definition of love. Compare it to Gandhi's saerugraha. to Buddhism's
lroruna. To Hinduism's ahimsa. To Jesus' "Love thine enemy.',
17. Explain Harris' statement, "If we do set out after a revolution, we make ourselves

vulnerable."

Kent State university shootings ofMay 4,1970.

19. According to Harris, what are the two ways people respond to their vulnerability?
Explain why you agee or disagree with his analysis.
20. How might you "use your vulnerability as an offensive weapon"? What might Gandhi say
about this? What might Jesus say?
21. According to Harris, what is participatory totalitarianism? Explain why you agree or
disagree that this is the political system in the USA.
22. Q-uery: "Without the energies of the people, no society can function.,,
23. Explain why you agree or disagree with the theory that "the most capable tool available
to any socielv of people is the general strike." What is a general strike? G-,,e examples
to support your position. What might Crandhi say about Harris' statement? Martin Luther
King, Jr.? Cesar E. Chavez?
18. Research and explain the

11

David Harris' Coming Out

OUESTIONS (cont.)

24.Explanwhyyou agree or disagree with Harris' statement, "The problem we face is not
men at the top, it's men at the bottom." What might Randy Holland's The Fire this Time
(1994) illustrate about this point of view.
25. Query: "Violence is the language ofthe inarticulate." --The Fire this Time (199a)
What might S.I. Hayakawa say about this? Edward T. Ha[? Langston Hughes?
Frar.z Fanon?

26. Ouery: "Revolution is the hope of the hopeless." -Ihq Fire this Time (199a)
What might S.I. Hayakawa say about this? Edward T. Hall? Langston Hughes?
Franz Fanon?

27. According to Harris, how might you break the illusion that there axe no alternatives to
what exists, and that the indMdual is politically impotent? How would you break those
illusions for yourselfl for other people?
28. What are the odds against us living in the world Harris is working for? Cite evidence to
zupport your prediction. What might Joan Baez say about this? Robert F. Kennedy?
John Lennon?

takagaki

David Harris' Coming Out

II

(Q): If we disarm ourselves, what about all the powers in the world that want to invade us?
Do we just let ourselves be taken over?

(A): Obviously not. I presume that any set ofpeople who are serious enough about their
freedom to get rid oftheir aflny are serious enough to deal with an invasion.

It is interesting to

what an important question that is to most Americans. It varies with

coasts. On the East Coast, everyone's worried about the Russians. On the West Coast,
they're worried about the chinese. In Texas, they're worried about Mexico.
see

In trying to answer the questiorq the first thing we should see is that our disarming may just
set everybody else to doing the same thing. I mean, most armies are arranged like a house of
cards. They all lean on eac.h other. I nneaq the5r'r,e been pulling dudes out from behind plows
in Russia by telling them that if they don't get into the Army, the Americans are gonna come
and desecrate the flag, rape their mothers and destroy whatever the Russian equivalent of apple
pie is. Armies are raised the same the world over. It makes the process a lot more
complicated when there's no American Army to point at.
But let's presume the house of cards doesn't fall over. We destroy our armaments and,
sure enouglq here they come, steamin' up to the beach in their weirdJooking boats. So I think
you go down to the beach and say, 'nVhat's happenin'? You need something to drin! a place
to stay?"
And they say, "We're here to run the place."
And you say,

"OI!

run it," and go home

And let's see what the Chinese can do with mile after mile of hamburger stands.
There is no invasion in the history ofthe world that has ever succeeded without the
cooperation of the population that is being invaded. All the instructions to all those machines
that America functions around are all written in English. Ifwe're wi[ing to respond to an
invasion with a general strike, we can repulse the invasion and get fewer people hurt than with
any other means. We may even send the revolution back with the invading

e*y

David Harris' Coming Out

II

We have few historical examples of this kind of action to fall back on. But the few that do
exist are telling. One is the Danish resistance to the Germans during World War tr. The
Danes had no army and the Germans just marched in and started handing out orders. The first
order they handed out was that all Iews should wear yellow armbands. So the next day all the
Danes are wearing yellow armbands. The Germans want to move their troops and all the
Danes are on their way to market, in carts, and a truck can't move on the road. With that kind
of activity they succeeded in saving more of their Jewish population than any other occupied
country. They also talked to the German soldiers. As a result the Germans had to put three
fresh occupation armies into Denmark because their soldiers began refusing orders. ft's a
small example and an incomplete one, but it teaches us things.

But when a question like this is asked, I also like to put it in perspective. It is very easy to
ask hypothetical questions and much harder to deal with real situations. And we have to deal
wrth an invasion right now. The only difference is we're the in'aders. Look, could you go to
Santo Domingo or Vietnam and say, "Hi, I'm an American and I'm worried about being

invaded." They wouldn't laugh. Ifwe want historical parallels, then the question we should
answer is, "What do you do if you're the Germans?" The only answer is resist. Which we
must do.

I think the last perspective we need on the question is to imagine a situation. You're
right? And someone hands you a picture of Los Angeles. Do you want it?

Chinese,

(Q): Do you actually believe that this revolution you are talking about can actually happen?
No such society has ever existed.

(A): So we get to be the first ones to do it. I don't know how you relate to that fact, but it
excites me. I think all of us are looking for fresh territory. well, we found it.
I think it exists as a possibility. We can transforrn our environment into any shape we can
build. But I have to repeat what I said earlier. We find out whether we can after we've tried.
What we can know is whether we have to try. And we know that. We have to, for our own
sanity if for no other reason.
(Q): What do you think of people who get CO's or go to Canada instead of being noncooperators?

(A): I think they're people just like we all are. I think people have to do what's real to
them. I don't think imyone should try to act out or back up a grg that isn't his. If going to
Canada or applying for CO status makes sense to someone, he should follow that sense.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

and doesn't make sense to me. I once tried to fill out a conscientious objector
got
form and
halfway through before I tore it out of the typewriter. I couldn't see how in the
hell five men whose job is to send young men out to kill other young men were going to tell
me I was a conscientious objector. I didn't need them to tell me. I knew. I was just more of a
conscientious objector than the law allows. I was conscientiously opposed not only to war but
all the machines that make it, like the Selective Service System.

It didn't

Canada? Well, I always figured prison was no more than five years. Canada was life. I
had friends who went to Canada and the only mistake I think they made was they thought they
were getting away from something. They weren't They got out of immediate jeopardy but
they didn't escape the beast. Shortly after the got to Canada, they were living under martial
law. You can't escape it because militarism is everywhere. All you can do is try to stop it.

Which is how I tried to use my owrl act of non-cooperation. I tried to use it as one particle
of a larger struggle. I didn't feel I owed the government any part of my life and if they
expected it, they'd have to come out in the open and snatch it. They did. And in the process
their lie got shaved down a little more.
(Q): What kind of prison reform would you like to

see?

(A): There's only one reform that makes sense. Take the keys and open all the doors and
then melt the keys so the doors can't ever be shut again. As long as a social order is founded
on the process of revenge, which is all a prison is, it will be unjust and oppressive. Locking
men up is no sane way for us to deal with each other.
The question begins with justice. Law and order without justice is oppression spelled in
two words instead of one. And there is no one in any penitentiary in this country who is there
for doing anything the government doesn't do ten times over every day.

You do next door and kill someone, you spend your life behind bars. You go 6,000 miles
from home and kill anyone with slant eyes and you get to meet the President and get a medal.
If you go to the local supermarket and steal all the small change, you spend ten years in the
joint. If you lift all the oil in Venezuela, you get to be Governor of New York. That is not
justice.

If murder

and theft are a crime, they are a crime no matter who does them. But they aren't.
Crimes are only committed by criminals and no &iend of the Attorney General's could be a

criminal. Criminals belong to another class.

And criminals are a class. They compose an occupation and are trained to it throughout
their lives.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

You remember in the second grade when they divided dumb from smart? Well that was the
beginning of everyone's training. The ones labeled smart are led on to the university. The
ones labeled dumb are led out to the prisons. Going to the joint was a reunion with a lot of the
people I hung around with in the second grade. And I dug it. They aren't a threat to anyone.
They are people looking for a chance to be real. If you want to worry about thieves, don't
worry about the bank-robbers, worry about the banks.
Any question about prisons leads into a question about the law itself And how the law is
used. One look at the penal systems in this country and the people trapped inside of therq and
it is obvious that our laws serve a code of social behavior that has rrery littl" to do with
protecting any of us. Most of the people in jail are not there for hurting anyone. They are
there for crimes against the State or crimes against decorum or crimes against property.
What do men do to get in prison? In the Federal prison I vsas tn' 6A% of the population
was locked up for crossing an imaginary line in the desert. They are part of a culture that for
four hundred years has walked back and forth across that desert until a hundred years ago
when some cats in blue coats rode down and sfuck up posts and said anyone who comes
across this line without a green card is busted. And the United States government has been
putting them in jail ever since.
Another 20Yowere in jail for taking their own needle and putting it in their own arms. No,
you may not dig shooting dope, but that's a hell of a reason to put a man in jail for ten years.
One ofthe reasons there are so many criminals is that there are so many poli"".., and so
many laws. It has become the function of schools, policemen and courtyto manufacture
criminals. And they do, at a steadily increasing rate.
Prisons are part of the problem and not part ofthe solution. When you sow revenge, you
reap dragon's teeth. All a man learns in the penitentiary is get-back. tf the prisons succeed
in
hurting him the way they try to hurt him, he will hold his next court session in the street. The
prison system is only a device for destroying our human potential as a society.

(Q): What about change through the existing system? Can't we use elections as a way
accomplishing change?

of

(A): I think one of the most basic problems we face is that the people in this country have
accepted a role of impotence. They have allowed the decisions ttrit ought to be
theirs to be
made by someone else. They've become spectators to their own existence. In
that context,
elections become a semi-annual ritual for the celebration of impotence.

David Harris, Coming Out

II

Look at an election. There are two contending parties. One is a set of good guys who
want to control us for good reasons. Another is a set ofbad guys who want to control us for
bad reasons. And I feel left on the outside because I don't want to be controlled for anybody,s
reasons.

I'm leery of electing people to do something for us. Because the problem we face isn't one
of good men or bad men. The problem is the jobs they do. Jesus Christ himself could be
President and still be a ***-**-*-***** because that's what a President is. The problem is the
design of the social organization. Until that is rearranged, our social reality will remain
unaltered.
But there is an electoral process that can and is being used at local levels. And I think it,s
being used to good effect. That's referendums.

I'm thinking specifically of the one in Berkeley on the police that failed, and the one in palo
Alto on land-use that succeeded. The Palo Alto one is of specific interest to me because I live
in the town. Over a period oftime, the Bank of America bought up six square blocks
of
downtown Palo Alto. It was planning on using the land to construct high-rise office buildings
for the use of large corporations. Those buildings would have drasticafy aftered the whole
character of the city. Bank of America has a situation in mind when they started on that

project.

Most large American corporations are expecting the "Asian market" to open up very soon.
So they are all looking for West coast headquarters to oversee their operations in
the pacific.
Los Angeles is too ugly and San Francisco too crowded, so a town like palo Alto is ideal.
It,s
got nice residential areas and a brain factory right next door. So Bank of America
acted to
exploit the situation. And the people ofPalo Alto refused to allow the bank to transform
their

city. They held a referendum

and denied the bank's land-use permission.

I think that was an act that returned power to the people. I think more such acts should
follow it.
I think we're looking for tools to broaden the based of power in the

society.

(Q): have your feelings about non-violence changed any since you were in prison?

(A): First, I don't like the word "non-violence." rt,s a nothing word. I don,t think
of
myself as "non." I think of what myself and others have tried to do as a very positive
force.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

Non-violence has its roots in the Indian word "satyagfua," which translates literally as
"soul force" or "truth force." I like those words much better. I have the same dislike for the
word "pacifist" because most people think it comes out of passive. f'm not passive. I see
myself as someone exercising force. A force that doesn't involve organizing people to hurt
each other.
One of the hard things about the word non-violence is that it is so obviously misunderstood
by the culture. Look, ifthe commander-in-Chief ofthe American Army can stand up on TV
and praise non-violence, he can't have much of an understanding ofwhat it's about.

Everyone tries to see non-violence as a very limited specific means and it isn't. It's a whole
world-view as well. It involves concrete and specific notions about the arrangement of social
institutions and resources. The idea of not hr-rtrng people is an immensely broad social
program that is explicitly revolutionary in this time and in this place.

With those definitions applied to non-violence, I am non-violent or at least try very hard to
be.

(Q): What do you think of properry destruction?

(A): I think property destruction can mean lots of different things.

There are some people who are into blowing up buildings. I'm not. Not because I have
some special respect for buildings. A building is just a building and destroying it isn't
necessarily hurting anyone. But it doesn't make sense to me.
The problem isn't buildings. The problem is that the people keep walking inside them.
When the people won't walk into the draft board, for example, you don't need to blow it up.
Then it's just a building. But as long as the people identify with a building, an act against ii is
considered an act against them. And your actions only succeed in forcingpeople into the
hands of the government. Buildings are a false question. The question is peopte.

At the same time, property destruction has also been used as a way of describing the action
of the Berrigan brothers in Catonwille and the draft-file burnings that have taken place all over
the country. I feel a great solidarity with the people who have taken those actioni. They
aren't final actions but they are real and have done a great deal to help people see the systems
that oppress and exploit them. I think the key to their act is that theywerawiliing to put it in a
human perspective. They did that by publicly and openly engaging in it. They stood behind
their actions and lent the actions the vigor and eredibilitv of thelr own li-.,es. i-hat ccntext
made the act useful.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

(Q): Don't you think we could solve our problems by getting

rid of a few people?

(A): You mean kill a few people?

(Q): Yes.

(A): No. Loolg if I thought that I could live in the world I

want to Iive in by
ofi I would' But you can't. Nole ofus can. The problem lies in a systimblowing a few
of social
organizatiorq not in the people trapped inside of it.
heads

All ofus

are victims. That's something we should work very

hard
Everyone has been used and warped by the play of a social

insanity.

killing the symptoms.

to understand.

N*tirg i, solved by

*itl

And insanity is what we're dealing

l[I were a psychoanalyst and America my patient,
r would diagnose "psychotic verging on schizophrenic."
w" lir" in a diseased body politic; a
pattern of living that nullifies and destroyr ur ur human
beings.
rn that context, the metaphor for revolution is heating.
And a healing force is what we must
attempt to build.

Harris, David and Joan Baez Harris. coming out. New york:
Simon and Schust er. 1971.
chapter 4.

OUESTIONS
1' According to }Iarris, how are armies "raised the
same the world ovef,? How might this
help the non-violent revolution?
2. Gve examples to support the theory:
There is no invasion in the history ofthe worid that
has ever succeeded
without the cooperation of the popuration that is being invaded.

3' Research and describe the Danish non-cooperation

with the Germans during world war tr.
4. Gve evidence to support the theory thar the IJSA,s
fear of being in,,aded frue a wolf s
fear of being attacked by a sheep. Give evidence
to refute it.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

OUESTIONS (cont.)
5. Ouery: to do whatever is real and makes sense to you can be harmful to you and other
people.
6. Harris writes:
feel I owed the government any part of my life and if they expected it,
they'd have to come out in the open and snatch it.

I don't

Explain why you agree or disagree with the theory that every citizenowes a part of his life
to the government. What might Thoreau say about this? John Stuart Mill? Tolstoy?
Daniel Berrigan? Hermann Hesse?

What might John Locke's social coutract theory say about this? Jean Jacques Prousse&u's?
Thomas Hobbes?

What might Plato's The Republic (c. 388 B.C.E.) say about this theory? Thomas More's
Utopia (1516)? Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince (1513)?
7. According to Harris, what is the purpose of prisons? What are the effects of prison on a
prisoner? on society?
8. Explain how Harris would reform the prison system. Explain why you agree or disagree
with his theory. Compare Harris' theory with Angela Davis' views on the "prison industrial
complex."
9. Explain Harris' theory that "law and order without justice is oppression." Explain why you
agree or disagree with this statement. Note Randy Holland's The Fire this time (1994): ;T{o
justice, no peace."
10. Give evidence to support the theory:
There is no one in any penitentiary in this country who is there for doing anything
the government doesn't do ten times over every day.

Gve evidence to refute Harris' theory. What might Daniel Berrigan

say about this?

Philip Berrigan? Thoreau? Malcolm X?

11. According to Harris, how are criminals

'trained" to commit crimes? Explain why you

agree or disagree with Harris' theory. What might Sigmund Freud say about this?
carl G. Jung? Rollo May? Thomas A. Harris? Karl Menninger? B.F. Skinner?
Abraham Maslow? Louis S.B. Leakey? Robert Ardrey? a sociologist? Victor Hugo?
Charles Dickens? Fyodor Dostoyevsky?

What might Plato say in The Republic (c.388 B.C.E.X Thomas More in Utopia (1516)?

David Harris, Coming Out

II

OIIESTIONS (cont.)
12. Give evidence to support the view:

Most of the people in jail are not there for hurting anyone. They are there for crimes
against the State or crimes against decorum or crimes against property.
Note the annual FBI reports on crime. What percentage of laws are made to protect
property?
13. Ouery: people who commit crimes against the State, decorurq or properry should not
be

imprisoned. what might Amnesty International say about ihis?

14. Research and describe the people Harris is referring to when he writes of people
being put
in prison for crossing an imaginalv line in the desert. Why do they cross thatlmaginary
Iine? What miSht CNN's Lou Dobbs say about these people in his TV segment'Broken
Borders"? How many people cross that imagoary line every year? How
do so
legally? How many are children?
15. ouery: a person should not be imprisoned for harming his own body.
16. Explain why you agree or disagree with the theory that*It has become the
function of
schools, policemen and courts to manufacfure criminals." How might they do this?
17. According to Harris, "One of the reasons there are so many criminals is that there
are so
many policemen and so many laws." Explain why you agree or disagree with this
statement. What might Tom Robbins say about this in Still Life with Woodpecker?
compare Harris' theory with Robbins' "Hawaiian Mongoose syndrome.18- How does the prison system destroy "our human potential as a society"?
How does the
prison system help society?
19. What does Harris think about political elections and the socio-politi ca7 organization
in the
USA? Explain why you agree or disagree with his thinking.
20. Explain why you agree or disagree with Harris' view that we have become
spectators to
our own existence. What might Jean-Paul Sartre say about this? Albert Camus? Rollo
May? What might Thomas Jefferson say? Ignazio Silone?

**y

What might a Buddhist say about this? Alan Watts? a Taoist?

21. What does Harris think of property destruction as a way of accomplishing
social change?
Explain why you agree or disagree with this thinking. What mighf nhilipberrigan
say
about this? Daniel Berrigan? The Weathermen? a Palestinian guerrillai a Maoist?
a Trotskyite? Pierre Joseph proudhon? Mikhail Bakunin?
22-Explan why you agree or disagree with Harris' theory that "all of us are victims,,
of the
socio-political structure in the USA. Explain why only the poor and politically po.werless
are victims.

David Harris' Coming Out

II

10

OUESTIONS (cont.)
23. Girve evidence to support the theory that the USA is "psychotic verging on schizophrenic."
Give evidence to refute it.
24. Girve evidence to support the theory that a goup or whole society can be pqychologically
disturbed or insane. Gve evidence to refute it.
25. Explain why you agree or disagree with Harris' analysis of the socio-political situation
in the USA
26. Explain why you agree or disagree with Harris' alternatives to the present socio-political
relationship of people to government and violent revolution.
27.What might a U.S. prisoner-of-war during the Vietnam War say about Harris' ideas of
non-violent resistance?
28. What might a U.S. hostage in kan (November 1979 to January 19S1) say about Harris'
ideas of non-violent resistance?

takagaki

What Would You Do If?

"oK. You're a pacifist. what would you do if someone were, say, attacking
grandmother?"

your

"Attacking my poor old grandmother?,,

"Yeah- You're in a room with your grandmother and there's this guy about to attack
her
and you're standing there. What would you do?,,
*I'd yell, 'three cheers
for Grandma!' and leave the room.,,
't'{o, seriously, say he had a gun and he was about to shoot her. Would you shoot him
first?"

"Dolhaveagun?"
"Yes."
'T.{o. f'm a pacifist, I don't have a gun.,,
"Well, say you do."
"All right. Am I a good shot?"
"Yes."
"I'd shoot the gun out of his hand."
'T.{o, then you're not a good shot."
"I'd be afraid to shoot. Nfight kill Grandma.,,
"Come on. OI! look. We'll take another example. Say you're driving a truck. you,re
on
a nalrow road with a sheer cliffon your side. There's a little girl standing in the middle
of the
road. You're going too fast to stop. What would you do?,,
"I don't know. What would yeu do?"
"I'm asking you. You're the pacifist.,'
"Yes, I know. AII right, am I in control of the truck?.

"Yes."
"How about if I honk my horn so she can get out of the way?,,
"She's too young to walk. And the horn doesn,t work.,,
"I swerve around to the left of heq since she's not going anywhere.',

'T.{o, there's been a landslide."

"Oh. Well, then. I would try to drive the truck over the cliffand save the little girl.,,
Silence.

"'Well, say there's someone else in the truck with you. Then what?,,
"What's my decision have to do with my being a pacifist?,,
"There's two of you in the truck and onty one little girl.,,
"Someone once said, 'If you have a choice between a real evil and a hypothetical evil,
always take the hypothetical one."
"Huh?"
"I said why are you so anxious to kill offall the pacifists?,,
"f'm not. I just want to know what you,d do if-..

What Would You Do

If?

"If I was with a friend in a truck driving very fast on a one-lane road approaching
dangerous impasse where a ten-month-old girl is sitting in the middle of the road
landslide on one side of her and a sheer drop-offon the other."

with a

"That's right."

"I would probably

slam on the brakes, thus sending my friend through the front windshield,
skid into the landslide, run over the liule girl, sail offthe itf *a ph"ge to my own
death. No
doubt Grandma's house would be at the bottom of the ravine and the iruck wluld crash
through her roof and blow up in her liuiog room where she was firally being attacked for
the
first, and last, time."
"You haven't answered my question. you're just trying to get out of it....,,
"f'm really tryrng to say a couple of things. One is that no one knows what he,ll do in a
moment of crisis- And that hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers. I'm
also hinting
that you have made it impossible for me to come out ofthe situation without having killed
oie
or more people. Then you can say'Pacifism is a nice ide4 but it won't work.' But that,s
not
what bothers me."
"What bothers you?"
"'Well, you may not like it because it's not hypothetical. It's real. And it
makes the assault
on Grandma look like a garden party."
"'What's that?"
"I'm thinking about how we put people through a training process so they'll find out the
really good, efficient ways of killing. Nothing incidental like trucks and landslides...just
the
opposite, really. You know, how to growl and yell, kill and crawl and jump out of
airplanes.. -real organized stuff Hell, you have to be able to run a bayonet through
Grandma,s
middle."
"That's something entirely different.,,
"Sure. And don't you see that it's so much harder to look at, because it's real, and it,s
going on right now? Look. A general sticks a pin into a map. A week later a
bunch of young
boys are sweating it out in a jungle somewhere, shooting each other's arms and legs
otiryrft
and praying and losing control of their bowels.... Doesn,t it seem stupid?,,
"'Well, you're talking about war."
"Yes, I know. Doesn't it seem stupid?,,
"what do you do instead, then? Turn the other cheelq r suppose."
'T'{o- Love thine enemy but confront his evil. Love thine enemy. Thou
shalt not kill.,,
'Yeah and look what happened to him.,,
"He grew up."
"They hung him on a damn cross is what happened to him. I don't want to get
hung on a
damn cross."

"You won't."
"Huh?"
"I said you don't set to choose how you're going to die. Or *,hen. you can only decide
how you're going to live. Now."
"well I'm not going to go letting everybody step all over me, that,s for sure.,,

What Would you Do If?

"Jesus said, 'Resist not

evil.' The pacifist says just the opposite. He says to resist evil with
all your heart and with all your mind and body until it has been overcome.,,
"I don't get it."
"Organized non-violent resistance. Gandhi. He organized the Indians
for non-violent
resistance and waged non-violent war against the British until he'd
freed India from the British
Empire. Not bad for a first try don,t you think?,,
*Yeah,
fine, but he was dealing with the British, a civilized people. we,re not.,,
'T.{ot a civilized people?"
'?'{ot dealing with a civilized people. You just try some of
that stuffon the Russians.,,
"You mean the Chinese, don,t you?,,
"Yealr, the Chinese, Try it on the Chinese.,,
"Oh dear. War was going on long before anybody dreamed up
Communism. The problem
is consensus. There's a consensus out that it's 6K to tiu when ytrlr gorr"--ent
decides who
to kill' If you kill inside the country you get in trouble. If you kill ouiside the
country right
time, right season, latest enemy, you get a medal. There are about one
hundred and [ninety]
nation-states, and each of them thinks it's a swell idea to bump offall
the rest because he is
more important. The pacifist thinks there is only one tribe.
billion
members. They come
[Six]
first. We think killing any member of the family is a dumb idea. We think there are more
denenf
lnrl in+alli^anrl
-::-cc^---- -,
uvvvrti qru
ililEriiSviil rt,a"^
^f ^^+1i-w-aJs ui
scluifig GilTerences.
^ r man haci better start investigating
Ano
these
other possibilities because if he doesn't, then by mistake or by desigrq he
will probably Ul of
the whole damn race."
"It's human nafure to kill.',
"Is it?"

"It's nafural. Something you can,t change.,,

"If it's natural to kill why do men have to go into training to

learn how? There,s violence

in human nafure, but there's also decency, love, kindness. Man organizes,
buys, sells, pushes
violence- The non-violenter wants to organize the opposite side. That's
all non-violence isorganized love.

"You're craz1t."

'No doubt. Would you care to tell

me the rest of the world is sane? Tell me that violence

world is in fine shape, that
wa1-have brought peace, understanding, brotherhood, democracy, and
freedom to mankind
and that killing each other has created an atmosphere of trust and
hope. That it,s grand for
one billion people to live offofthe other
[five] UiUio.,, or that even if it hasn,t been smooth
going all along, we a-re now at last beginning to see our way through
to a beffer world for all,
as soon as we get a few minor wars out of the way.,,
has been a great success for the past five thousand years, that
the

"I'm doing OK."

"Consider it a lucky accident.,,
"I believe I should defenri A-merica srrs
h^-)rt --aho Dl(ulun
cran;.ln r^zr.r1. 4, rhet
-'.
L,oL ruu
rur ' IJUII
yOU '-Ogllgvg
m Selrc.1.1.

defenSe?r,

What \ilould You Do

ff?

'T'{o, that's how the Mafia got started. A little band of people who got together
to protect
peasants. I'll take Gandhi's non-violent resistance.,'
"I stifl don't get the point of non-violence.,,
"The point of non-violence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we
can no
longer sink. A platform which stands a few feet above nipalrn, torture, exploitatioq poison
gas, A and H bombs, the works. Give man a decent place to stand. He's
been wallowing
around in human blood and vomit and burnt flesh screaming how it's going to bring p"u"--.
to
the world. He sticks his head out of the hole for a minute and sees ro oAabrrch o?people
gathering material and attempting to build a structure above ground in the fresh
air. .Nice idea
but not very practical,' he shouts and slides back into the hole. It was the same kind of thing
when man found out the world was round. He fought for years to have it remain flat,
with
every proof on hand that it was not flat at all. It had no edge to drop offor sea monsters
to
swallow up his liule ship in their gaping jaws.,,
"How are you going to build this practical structure?,,
"From the ground up. By studyrng, learning about, experimenting with every possible
alternative to violence on every level. By learning how tosay no to the nation-state,
no to war
taxes, 'NO' to the draft 'NO' to killing in general, 'YES' to the brotherhood of man,
by
starting new institutions which are based on the assumption that murder in any form
is ruled
out, by making and keeprng in touch v,,ith non-violent contacts all over the worid, by
engaging
olrselves at every possible chance in dialogue with people, groups, to try to begin tt
chanle
the consensus that it's OK to kill.,,
"It sounds real nice, but I just don,t think it can work.,,
"You are probably right. we probably don't have enough time, so far we,ve
been a
glorious flop. The only thing that's been a worse flop thanlh e organtzation
of non-violence
has been the organization of violence.,,

Baez, Joan. Daybreak. "what would you Do

pages 158-165.

Ifl', New york: Avon Books. 1966.

What Would you Do If?

OUESTIONS
1. Who is Joan Baez?
2' Explain Baez's statement, "L,ove thine enemy but confront his evil."
Explain why you agree
or disagree with this statement.
3' Ouery: "you don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. you
can only decide
how you're going to five. No." Explain why you agree or disagree
with this

statement.

4' rs the USA a civilized people? Explain your answers. Give examples
to support your view.
5.Baez writes.
The pacifist thinks there in only one tribe.
[Six] billion members. They come first.
We think kiling any member ofthe family is a dumb idea. We think
there are more
decent and intelligent ways of settling differences.
Explain why you agree or disagree with this concept.
6. Is it human natrJre tn

lrill, Fvnlain

=,^

T.Accordin*,o"u",,i;;;"'":u;H#JJfiffi

orentsociety?
8. Would you ever own a gun? Explain why. Explain why not.
f.-wo{d you everjoin the u.s. armed forces? Eiplain why Explain why not.
10. what would you do if someone were attacking your grandmother?
1l' What might David Harris say about this reading? Wf,at might "Mrs. Beaumont,,
say?
John Lennon? Valerie Stevenson? Robert F. Kennedy?

takagaki

History Book
Perhaps there will be another century of living things...children and green grffiS, srrnmer
insects and old people...not a burned-out planet floating about the universe, forsaken as a
windy moon crater. If, by God's sudden grace, and a chain of miracles, a new intelligence,
and a tremendous effort, we survive the nuclear age and 1967 is a page in some future child's
history book, the page might look something like this.

"By the middle of the twentieth century men had reached a peak of insanity. They grouped
together in primitive nation-states, each nation-state condoning organized murder as the way
to deal with international differences. Between 1914 and 1960, one hundred and fifty million
people had died as a result of wars and violent revolutions. Some of the larger nations spend
as much as 83Yo of the national budget to build weapons which everyone agreed were too
destructive ever to be used. ln spite of the fact that violence had failed to bring the things that
men said they longed for-peace, freedom (which means 'peace and love'), a brotherhood of
man, etc., men continued to cling to violence.... When the concept of organized non-violence
was first introduced it was, naturally, misunderstood and rejected for many years. its
proponents written offas unpatriotic, unrealistic, idealistic, evil, or just plain craza...."

Baez, Joan. Daybreak. "History Book" New York: Avon Books. 1966. pages

l7g-179.

aury+raNs
1

Will o'our" civilization exist

it changed or disappeared.

00 years from

now? If so, describe it. If not, describe how

2. Write apage on some future child's history book.

3. What might Carl Sagan say about this reading?
4. What might Mark Twain say about this reading? What might John Lennon say?
5. What might Mohandas K. Gandhi say about this reading?
6. What might Martin Luther King, Jr. say about this reading? What might Cesar E. Chavez
say?

7. Compare this reading to those of:

A.
B.
C.
D.

Hermann Hesse
Leo Tolstoy
Albert Einstein
Pete Seeger's "Adam the Inventor"

8. Compare this reading to Plato's The Republic, especially "The Allegory of the Cave."
9. what might Antoine St. Exupery's The Little prince say about this reading?

takagaki

Mrs. Beaumont

I cried a long time tonight

Because a Mr. Beaumont
sent me a letter
praising me
and thinking me for the things

I do

in my struggle for peace...

But do you recognize his name?
His wife
Florence
burned herselfto death
in front ofthe
New Federal Building
in Los Angeles.
She poured
She poured
gasoline
on her clothes
and lit a match to herself
to illuminate the dull fact that
children
children
little children
are being burned to death
in yellow fire...
She gave a gift of
her whole self
to remind the rest of us that
no matter what we're doing,
it's not enough.

Baez, Joan. Daybreak. "Mrs. Beaumont" New york: Avon Books. 1966. pages 116-177.

OUESTIONS

1.

2.
3.

Research and describe the Anti-Vietnam War Movement of the 1960's and 1970,s.
Research and desenbe lv{rs. Beaunnont,s sacrifice.

What, if anything, would you sacrifice your life for?

takagaki

Appendix

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Apnt 16, 1963
Birminghom, Alabomo

Mi Dr,R Fcu-ow ClenctlleN.

While con{ined here in the Birmingham city iait. I came across your recent statement calling
my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my
work and ideas. II I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross rny desk, my secretaries
would have little time for anything other than such conespondence in the course o{ the day'
and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men o[ genuine
good wilt and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement
in what I hope will be pabent and reasonable terms.
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birminqham. since you have been influenced by
the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president
ci the Southem Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southm state, wiilr headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. we have some eighi- five affiliated organizations acrcss the South, and one ol them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human
Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational. and financial resources with our a{filiates.
Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a
nonviolent direct-action program i{ such were deemed necessary. We readily consenled. and
when the hour came we lived up to our promise. so I, along with several members o{ my
staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.
But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of
the eighth century s.c. left their viltages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond
the boundaries of their home towns. and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and

canied the gospel of Jesus christ to the far comers ol the Greco-Roman world, so am I
compelled to camT the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must
constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit
idly by in Atlanta and not be concemed about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destingr. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Iriever again can we ailord to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agtator" idea. Anyone
who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its
bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement. I am
sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the
demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superiicial
kind of social analysis that deals merely with efiects and does not grapple with underlying
causes. lt is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even
more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro communitv wiih no
altemative.

Letter t'rom Birmingham

Jail 272

anu nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection ol the facts to
determine
.ln
whether iniustices eist; negotiation; self-purification: and direct action. We
have gone through
all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice
engulfs
this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segegated
city in the united
States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes hare expl.iencei grossly
unjust
treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings
oi Negro homes and
churches in Birminqham than in any other city in the nation. These ire the hird,
brutal facts
of the case. On the basis of these condihons. Negro leaders sought to negotiate with
the city
fathers But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotia-tion.
Then. last September. came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's
economic
communi\r. In the course of the negotiations. certain promises were made by the merchants-for example. to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the baiis of these
promises. the Reverend Fred Shurtlesworth and the leaders of the
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonshations. As the weeks
and
months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.
A few signs,
briefly removed. returned: the others remained.
As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow
ol deep
_
disappointment setrled upon us. we had no alternative except to prepare for
direct action,
wherebv we would present our very bodies as (-r means of laying our case
before the conscience of the local and the national communit-v. Mindful of the difficulties involved,
we
decided to undertake a process of self-puri{icatiori. we began a series of workshops
on nonviolence. and we repeatedlv asked ourselves. "Are vou able to accept hlows withotrt
retaliattotr / ' "Are you able lo endure the ordeal of jail/" We decided
to schedule our direct-action
program for the Easter season, realizing that except for christmas,
this is the main shopping
period ol the year. Knuwing that a strong economic-withdrawal program wourd
be the byproduct of direct action, we {elt that this would be the best time to
bring pressure to bear on
the merchants (or the needed change.
Then il occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and
we speedily decided to postpone action until afler election day. When we disiovered
that the
commissioner of Public safety, Eugene "Bull" connor, had piled up enough votes to be in
the run-off. we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run-off so that the
demonstrahons could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to
see
Mr. connor defeated. and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having.aided in this community need, we felt that our direct-action program could be delayed
no longer.
may well ask, "why direct action? why sii-ins, marches, and so forth!, isn't negotiation
.You
a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiations. lndeed,
this is the very purpose
of direct action. Nonviolent direct actions seeks to create.such a crisis and foster such a
tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiale is forced to confront the
issue. lt seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing
the creation
o[ tettsiort as part o[ the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I
must confess that I am not a{raid of the word "tension." I have eamestly opposed violent
tension, but there is a type of constructive. nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.
Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that indivlduals
could rise from the bondage ol myths and hal{-truths to the unlettered realm of creative
analysis and objective appraisal. so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create
the kind of tension in socie! that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and
racism lo the maiestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will
inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in youi call for
negotiation. Too long has our beloved southland been bogged down in a hagic eflort to live in
monologue rather than dialogue.
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have

278

Letter t'rom Birmingham Joil

"Why didn't you give the new city

taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked:
give to this query is that the new
administration time to act?" The only answer that I can
as the outgoing one' before it
much
as
about
be
irodded
Birmingham administration must
Boutwell as mayor will
will act. we are sadly mistaken if we {eel that the election ol Albert
gentle person than
more
a
much
is
Boutwell
Mr.
while
bing the millennium to Birmingham.
of the status quo. I have
to
maintenance
dedicated
segrlgahonists.
are
boih
they
Mr. 6onnor,
futilitu of massive resistance to
hoped that Mr. Boutwell will Le ieasonable enough to see the
devotees of civil rights My
pressure
from
without
this
see
not
will
he
desegregation. But
without detergain
in civil
single
friends, t must say to you that we have not made a
.rights
that privileged groups
fact
an
historical
it.is
Lamentably.
pressure.
r:rined legal and nenvitlent
see the moral light and voluntarily
seldom E've up their privileg;es voluntarily. Individuals.may
reminded us, groups tend to be
has
Niebuhr
Reinhold
give up their unjust posturir but. as
more immoral than individuals
given by the oppressot:
we know lhrough painful experier.rce that freedom is never voluntarily
a.djrect-action
yet
to
engage-in
I
have
Frankly'
oppressed'
the
by
demanded
it must be
.,well-timed'l in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the
campaign that was
heard the word "wait!" lt rings in the ear of
disease of segregation. F.; ;;;r. now I ha.re
..Wait.' has almost always meant ..Never.,' We
every Negro with piercing fa-.Iiun,y. This

"iustice too long delayed iustice

must come to see, with one of our distinguished iurists, that
denied. "
and God-Even rights The
We have waited for more than 340 years lor our constitutional
is

toward gaining political indepennations of Asia and Africa are movini with ietlike speed
a cup of cof{ee at a lunch
gaining
pace
toward
ai
horse-and-buggy
dence, but we still creep
darts of seglegation to
stinging
feit
the
counter. Perliaps ii is easy for ihose who have never
fathers at will
your
mothers.and
lynch
mobs
vicious
you
seen
have
say, "Wait." But when
policemen
hate'filled
seen
you
have
and drown your sisters and brothers at whim: when
see the vastmaiority ol
you
when
sisteis:
and
brothers
Uf".f.
curse, kick, and even f,iff
of poverty in the midst ol
your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage

f.r,

anaffluentsociety;whenyousuddenly{indyourtonguetwistedandyourspeechstammering
why she can't go to-.the public amuseas you seek to explain to your six-yeir-ol'1 daughter
see tears welling up in her eyes
ment park that has iust been advertised on television' and
and see ominous clouds of
children.
colored
to
is
closed
rrnto*.,
when she is told that
beginning to distort her
her
see
and
in{eriority beginning to form in her little mental sky'

personalitybyrlevelopinganunconsciousbittemesstowardwhitepeople;whenyouhaveto
"Dadd;-, urhy do white people treat
concoct an answer 1o, u firr"-y"ur-old son wi,t, is askir,g,

take a cross.country drive and finri it necessary to slep

because no motel will
night after night in the uncomfoiable comers of your automobile
signs reading "white"
nagging
by
out
day
and
in
day
accept you; when you ur" i,*ttiutta
becomes "boy"
name
"nigger"'
your
middle
and "colored": when your Iirst name become
wife
and mother are
your
"John"'
and
becomes
(however old you are) and your last name
by day and haunted by night
you
harried
are
"Mrs.";
when
title
given
respected
the
never
stance, never quite knowing what
by the fact that you u," u-N.g,o. living constantly al tiptoe
when you are forever
resentments:
outer
and_
fears
iiner
with
ptugr"na
ura
tJ expect next. una
,.nobodiness"-then
why we find it
understand
will
you
fighting a degenerating ,""nr" o{

colored people so mean?,,1

*h"n yo,

di(ficulttowait.Therecomesatimewhenthecupofendurancenrnsover.andmenareno
our
sirs' you can understand
longer willing to be plunged into the abyss o{ despair' I hope'
legitimate and unavoidable impatience

Youexpressagreatdealo{anxietyoverourwillingnesstobreaklaws,Thisiscertainlya

obey the Supreme Court's decision

legitimate concern si*n *" ,oJifigently u'g" people to
glance it may sem rather para{irst
at
puutic
schools.
ttie
in
se$egation
of 1g54 outlawing
"How
can you advocate breaking
ask:
well
may
doxical for us consciousiito break laws. one

somelawsandobeyingothers?',Theanswerliesinthefactthattherearetwotypeso{laws:
a legal
advocate obeying iust laws. one has not only
iust and uniust. I *outa L" ihe iirst to

Letter t'rom Birmingham

Jail

279

but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to
disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Now. what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is
just or uniust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of
God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms
of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and
rratural law. Any law that upiifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human
personality is uniust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul
and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the
segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregahon, to use the terminology of the Jewish
philosopher Martin Buber. substitutes an "l-it" relationship for an "l-thou" relationshlp and
ends up relegating persons to th status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically,
economically, and sociologically unsound. it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said
th:t sin is separation. ls nol segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation,
his awful estrangement. his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954
decision of the Supreme Court. for it is morally right: and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.
Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code
that a numerical or power majoritv group compels a minorih; group to obey but does not
nrake binding on itself. fhisis diflerence made legal- By the same token. a iust law is a code
that a maiority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is somene.*s made legal.
Let me give another explanation. A law is uniust if it is inflicted cn a minority that, as a
resuit of beirig denied the nght to vote. had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can
say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregahon laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negoes
from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes
constitute a maiority of the population. not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted
under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjrrst in its application. For instance, I have been
arrested on a charge ol parading without a permit. Now there is nothing wrong in having an
ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes uniust when
it is used to maintain segregabon and to deny citizens lhe First-Amendment privilege of peaceful
assembly and protest.
I hope gou are a'ole to see the cirstrnctron i am rryrng to point out. in no sense cio iadvocate
evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregahonist. That would lead to anarchy.
Cne who breaks an uniust law must do so openly. lovingly. and with a willingness to accept
the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is uniust.
and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of
the comrnunity over its iniustice, is in realitv expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. lt was evidenced
sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach. Meshach. and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by
the earlv Christians. who were willing to face hungrv lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain uniust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree.
academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our
own nation. the Boston Tea Parfu represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and evervthing the Hungarian freedom fighters did in I lungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and
comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germanv. Even so. I arn sure that, had I lived in Germany at the
hme. I would have aided and comforted mv Jewish brothers. If todav I lived in a Communist
country where certain principles dear to the Christian laith are suppressed, I would openly
advocate disobeying that country's anh-religious laws.

280 Letter t'rom Birmingham

Jail

I must
two honest confessions to you. my Christian and Jewish brothers First'
modwhite
the
with
gravely
disappointed
been
have
confess that over the past few years I
I must make

great stumbling block

erate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's
Ku Klux Klanner' but
the
or
Counciler
in his stride toward freedom is notlhe White Citizen's
prefers a negative
who
to
than
"order"
to
iustice;
devoted
who
is
more
the white moderate.
presence
of iustice:
the
is
which
peace
peace which is the absence of tension to a positive
wilh your
agree
I
cannot
bui
you
goal
seek'
the
"l
you
in
with
who constantly says, agree
another
for
timetable
the
set
methods of direct acbon": who patemalisticallytelieves he can
the
advises
constantly
who
and
time
of
concept
mythical
man's freedom; who lives by a
irom people of good
Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding
people of ill will. Lukewarm
will-is more frushating than absolute misunderstanding from
reiection'
outright
than
more
bewildering
much
is
acceptance
exist for the
I had hoped that the white modeiate would understand that law and order
the danthey
become
purpose
in
this
fail
they
justice
when
that
and
purpose of establishing
white
the
that
hoped
i
had
progress.
g"rou.ly structured dams that block the flow of iocial

moderatewouldunderstandthatthepresenttensionintheSouthisanecessaryphaseo(the
passively accepted his
hansition from an obnoxious negative peace. in which the Negro
will respect the dignity
men
all
which
in
peace.
positive
anJ
substantive
plight, io a

uniust
direct action are not
and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent
that is already
tension
hidden
the
sur{ace
the
to
bring
W"
the creators of tension.
-"rnty
a boil that can
Like
with.
dealt
and
alive. we bring it out in the open. wherJit can be seen

neverbecuredsolongasitiscoveredupbutrrlustbeopenedwiihallitsuglinesstothe

all the lension its exposure

natural medicines of air and light. iniustice must be exposed, '"vith
opinion, before it can be
natonal
of
the
air
and
creates, to the light of human- conscience
cured.
peaceful' must be condernned
In your statement you assert that our acfions, even though
lsn't this like condemning a
assertion?
logical
a
this
is
But
violence.
precipitate
they
because
act of robbery? lsn't this
evil
the
precipitated
robbed man because his possession ol money
to truth and his philosophical
commitment
unswerving
his
because
Socrates
like condemning

inquiriesprecipitatedtheactbythemisguidedpopulaceinwhichtheymadehimdnnkhern-

and neverlock? Isn,t this like condemning Jesus-because his unique God-consciousness
to see
come
must
we
ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion?
to cease
individual
an
to
urge
wrong
it
is
af{irmeci,
that. ai the federal courts have ionsiitently
quest may precipitate violence'
his eflorts to gain his basic constitutional righis because the
punish
the.robber'
Society must protect the robbed and
the myth concerning time in relation
I had also hoped that the white moierate would reiect

totheskuggleforfreedom.IhavejustreceivedaletterfromawhitebrotherinTexas.Hebut
writes,

,,All

rights eventually,
Christians know that the colored people will receive equal

itispossiblethatyouareintoogreatareligioushumT.lthastakenChristianity.almosttwo to
Christ iake time to come
thousand years to accomplish what it has The teachings of

of time. Irom the strangely inaearth." such an attitude stems from a hagic misconception
ihat will inevitably cure all ills'
time
of
flow
very
the
in
something
is
there
that
tional notion
or constructively' More and
deskuctively
either
Actually, time itself is neuhal: it canie used

morelfeelthatthepeopleofillwillhaveusedtimemuchmoreeffectivelythanhavethe
peopleofgoodwill.Wewillhavetorepentinthisgenerahonnotmerelylorthehatelulwords
of the good people. Human
and actions of the bad people, but for the appilting silence

the tireless e{forts of men

progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitabilityl it comes through
itself becomes an ally o{
time
work,
hard
this
withoui
and
Coa,
willing to be co-workers witi
that the time is always
knowledge
the forces ol stagnation. we must use time creatively, in the

ripetodoright.Nowisthetimetomakerealthepromiseofdemocracyandtransformour
to lift our
inio a creatve psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time
pending national

"tegy
solid rock of human dignity'
national policy from the quicksand of racial in,ustice to the
I was rather disappointed that
{irst
At
exheme.
as
in
Birmingham
You speak of our activity
exhemist. I began thinking
an
o{
nonJolent efforts as those
fellow clergymen would .""

-y

Letter from Birmingham

Jail

281

about the fact that I stand in the middle of turo opposing forces in the Negro community. One
is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who. as a result of long years of
oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have
ad.iusted to segregation. and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because ol a degree
of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation,
have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bittemess
and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. lt is expressed in the various
black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known
being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's fruskation over the
conhnued existence of racial discriminahon. this movement is made up of people who have
lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded
that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."
I have Aied to stand between these two lorces, saying that we need emulate neither the
"do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For
there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that,
through the influence of the Negro church, the way o{ nonviolence became an integral part
of our struggle.
If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets ol the South would, I am convinced. be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss
as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action,
and if they refuse to support our nonviolenl efforts, millions of Negroes will, out o{ frustration
and despair. seek solace and security in hlack nationalist ideologies--a development that
would inevitably lead to a {rightening raciai iiightmare.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed lorever. The yeaming for freedom eventually
manifests iiself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has
reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has remincied him that it
can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously; he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and
with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers o{ Asia, South America.
and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward
the promised land of racial iustice. lf one recognizes this vital urge that has ngiilfed ihe Ne$o
community, one should readily understand why public dernonstrations are taking place. The
Negro has many pnt-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So
let him march; iet him make prayer pilgnmages to the crty hall; let him go on freeciom ridesand try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in
nonviolent ways, they wiii seek expression through violence; this is noi a threat but a fact of
history. So I have not said to my people, "Gt rid of your discontent." Rather, I have hied
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.
But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an exhemist, as I continued
to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not
Jesus an exhemist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not
Amos an exhemist lor iustice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness lik an
ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist Ior the Christian gospel: "l bear in my body
the marks ol the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand: I cannot
do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "l will stay in iail to the end of my days
before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot
survive half slave and hall free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be selfevidenl, that all men are created equal. . . ." So the question is not whether we will be
extremists. but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?
Will we be exkemists for the preservation of iniustice or for the extension of justice? ln thai
dramatic scne on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never Iorget that all three
were crucified for the same crime-the cnme of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. Ihe other. Jesus Christ. was an extremist for

282

Letter t'rom Birmingham Jail

love, truth. and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South. the
nation. and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic;
perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that lew members of the
oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed
race, and shll fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong' persistent. anci deiermineci action. I am lhank{ul. however, that some of our white brothers in the

South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it.
They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some-such as Ralph McGill.
Lillian smith, HamT Golden, James McBride Dabbs. Ann Braden, and Sarah Patton Boylehave written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with
us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach-infested iails,
"
suflering the abuse and brutality o( policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-iovers Unlike
oi the
urgency
the
recognized
have
so mant of their moderate brothers and sisters. they
moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of
segregahon.

Leime take note ol my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed
with the white chtrrch and its leadership. of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am
not unmindlul of the fact that each ol you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I
commend you, Reverend stallings. for your christian stand on this past sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on .'r nonsegregated basis. I commend the catholic
learlcrs of this slate for inlegrating Sprinq Hill Colleqe several years aqo
But despite these rrotable xceptions. I must honestly Ieiterat that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one o{ those negative critics who can alway's find
something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel. who loves the church:
who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who
will remain true to it as long as the cord o{ lile shall lengthen'
When t was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery'
Alabama, a {ew years ago. I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the
white ministers, priests, and rabbis ol the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead'
some have been oukight opponents. refusing to understand the freedom movement and
misrepresenbng its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous
and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.
In spiie of rny shattered dreams. I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white
reliqious leadership oi this community would see the iustice o{ our cause and. with deep
moral concern. would serve as the channel through which our iust grievances could reach
the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have bpen
disappointed.

I have heard numrous southem religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply
with a desegregahon decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers
declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is
your brother." ln the midst of blatant iniustices inflicted upon the Negro. I have watched
white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious
trivialities. In the midst o{ a rnighty struggle to rid our nation o{ racial and economic iniustice.
I have heard manv ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real
concem." And lhave watched many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which makes a strang, un-Biblical distinction behveen body and soul. between
the sacred and the secular.
I have haveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi, and all the other southern
the South's
states. On sweltering summer days and cnsp autumn mornings I have looked at
heheld
the
impressive
I
have
pointing
heavenward.
beautiful churches with their lofty spires
myself
found
I
have
over
and
over
buildings.
religious-education
her
massive
outlines o{
asking: "what kind of people worship here? who is their God? where were their voices
when the lips of Governoi Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification?

Letter t'rom Birmingham

Jail

283

Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion

call for defiance and hatred? Where
were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro
men and women decided to rise
from lhe dark dungeons of compracency to the briglt hirL
of creative protest?"
Yes' these questions are stilr in my mind. In deep disappointment
I have wept over the
laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears
of love. yes, I love the
church. How could I do otherwise? t am in ihe rather unique position
of being the son, the
grandson, and the great-grandson of preachers yes,
I see ihe church as the bidy ol christ.
But, ohl How we have blemished and scarred that body through
social neglect and through
fear of being nonconformists.
There was a time when the church was very power{ul-in rhe time when
the early christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to sulfer for what
they berieved. ln those days the

church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and
orinciples of popular

opinion: it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever

the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed
and immediately sought to
convict the christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and ,,outside agitatois."
But the
christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were ,.a colony
of heaven.,, called to obey
God rather than man. Smarl in number, they were big in commitment. They
were too Godintoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort
and e*umpleihey brought an
end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiaiorial contests.
Things are diflerent now. So often the contemporary church is a weak,
ineffectual voice
with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo.
Far from being
disturhed by the presence of the church. the power structure of
the average community is
consoleci by the church's srient-and often even vocar-sanciior
of things u. th"y ur".
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never belore, lf today's churih
does not
recapture the sacrificial spirit of the earlv church, it will lose its authenticity,
forfeit the ioyalty
of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning
for the twentieth
century. Every day I meet young peopre whose disappointment with the church
has tumed
into ouhight disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. ls organized
religion too inextricably bound
to the status quo to save our nation and the world? peihaps I muit
tum my faith to the inner
spiritual church, the church rvithin the church, as the true elrklesio and hope
of the world. But
again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized
religion have
broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined
us asictive partners in the
struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked
the sheets cf
Albany. Georgia, with us They have gone down the highways of the
South on tortuous
rides

for freedom. Yes. they have gone to jail with us. some have been dismissed
from their

c.hurches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers.
But they have acted in
the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witnesi has
been the
spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled
times. They
have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain

of disappointment.
I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour.
But even il the
church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about
the future. I have no fear
about the outcome ol our skuggle in Birmingham, even if our motives
are at presnt misunderstood. we will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all
over the nation, because
the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scomed ihough *e may
be, our destiny is tied
up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at plymouth, we were
here. For more
than two centuries, our forebears labored in this country withour wages:
they made coflon
king: they built the homes of their masters while suf{ering gross injustice and
shameful humiliation-and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continueJ to thrive and develop.
lf the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the
opposition we now face will surely fail. we
will win our freedom because the sacred heriiage of our nation and the
etemal will of God
are embodied in our echoing demands.
Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement
that has hou..
bled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force
for keeping ,,order.'

284

Letter lrom Birmingham Jail

,,preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police
sinking their teeth inlo unarmed. nonviolent Negroes l doubt
force il you haJseen its dogs
-ommend
the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and
that you would so quickly
in the city jail: if you were lo watch them push and
here
inhumane treatment of Negroes
kick old
curse old Negro women und yorng Negro girls: if you were to see lhem slap and
occasions'
two
did
on
they
as
them,
lo
observe
you
were
Negro men and young boys: if
you in
refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot ,oin

and

your praise of the Birmingham police department.

It ls true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonshators'

ln this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public' But for what

purpose? To preserve the evil system o{ segregation. Over the past few years I have consisienily preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the
moral
ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain
use moral
ends. But now I must affirm that it is iust as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to
means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have 6ssn l2iher
the moral
nonviolent in public. as was Chief Prilchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used
has said,
means o{ nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial iniustice. As T. S. Eliot
"The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do ihe right deed for the wrong reason'"
I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators o( Birmingham for
of
their sublime courage, their willingness to su{fer, and iheir amazing discipline in the midst
great provocation. On" day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James
jeering and hostile
Merediths, with the noble sense o{ purpose that enables them to face
v'rill
mobs, and wiih the agonizing ioneliness that characterizs the life of the picneer. They
in
woman
two-year-old
a
seventy
in
symbolized
women,
Negro
be old. opprcssed. battered
people decided not
Montgomery, Alabama, *ho ,oie up with a sense of dignity and with her
to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungtammatical prolundity to one who
be the
inquired Jout her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They. will
of
their
a
host
gospel
and
the
of
young
ministers
the
young high school and college stuJents,
nld..i .orrug"ously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to iail
children of
for conscience sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited
in the
is
best
what
for
up
standing
in
reality
were
they
lunch
counters,
at
ciown
God sat
thereby
heritage.
Judaeo-christian
American dream and for the most sacred values in our
by the
bringing our nation back to.those great wells of democracy which were dug deep
{athers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declarahon o{ lndepen-

tounaing
dence.

to take your
Never beiore have I written so long a letter. I'm a{raid it is much too long
been witing
if
I
had
shorter
much
been
precious time. I can assure you that it would have
jail cell'
from a comfortable desk, but *hat else can one do when he is alone in a narrow
prayers?
pray
long
and
other than write long letters, think long thoughts,
lf I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable
truth and
impatience, I beg you to {orgive me. lf I have said anything that understates the
I
than
brotherhood,
less
for
anything
to
settle
me
allows
patienle
that
having
a
my
indicates
beg God to forgive me.
will soon make
I hope this letter finds you shong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances
but as a
it possible for me lo meet each of you, not as an integlationist or a civil rights.leader
preiracial
clouds_of
dark
the
that
hope
all
Let
us
brother.
and
a
Christian
clergyman
feilow
our
fearfrom
lifted
will
be
udice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding
and
love
o(
stars
radiant
the
tomonow
distant
not
too
in
some
and
drenched communities.
brotherhood will shine over our gleat nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Youns ron rHE cAUSE oF PEAcE AND BRoTHERHooD'
MnnlN LurHrR Knc, Jn.

takagaki

I Have a Dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest
demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great Americarq in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed
the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a greatbeacon light'of hope
to millions ofNegro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came
as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of
the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the clains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast
ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the
corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here
today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of
our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, Black men as well as Wtite merq would be
guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It

is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her
citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this iacred obligation, America has given
the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back markeJ"insufficient funds.,i
But
we refuse to believe that the bank ofjustice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there
are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come
to cash
this check-a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security
of
justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of
now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling offor to take the tranquilaigdrug of
gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now iJthe
time to rise
from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the

time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
is the time to make justice the reality for all of God's children.

Now

I Have

a Dream

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering
sunmer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn
of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro
needed to blow offsteam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the Nation
returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the
Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the
foundations of our Nation until the bright day ofjustice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warn threshold
which leads into the palace ofjustice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not
be gutlty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfr our thirst for freedom by drinking from
the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of
digruty and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical
violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with
soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not
lead us to a distrust of all White people, for many of our White brothers, as evidenced by their
presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they
have come to realize that there freedom is inextricably bond to our freedom. We cannot walk
alone.

And as we wallg we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot
turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be
satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable
horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long_as our bodies, heavy with the
fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger
one. We can never be satisfied, as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and
robbed of their dignity by signs stating, "For Whites Only." We can never be satisfied as long
as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for
which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down
like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas
where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by
the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to
work with the faith that unearned suffered is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to

Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,
knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley
of despair.

I Have a Dream
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the
prodigious hilltops ofNew Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains ofNew
York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring
form the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of
California. But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom
ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of
Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring, and when this happens, when we
allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state
and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and
White men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in
the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are
free at last!"

King, Jr., Martin Luther. Washington, D.C. August 28, 1963.

I Have a I)ream
OUESTIONS
1. Who made this speech? Where? When?
2. Approximately how many people witnessed this speech live?
3. How long ago is "five score years"?
4. What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
5. What was the 13m Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? When was it ratified?
6. What is a promissory note?
7. What is the "promissory note" that America has defaulted on?
8. What does Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. want? What are his goals?
9. HOW does Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. advocate reaching his goals?
10. Describe King's "dream."
1 1. Do you think or feel that America will ever achieve King's dream for the people of
the USA? Explain your answer.
12. Quote your favorite parts of the speech.
1.3 What might Malcolm X say about this speech?
14. What might Eldridge Cleaver say about this speech?
15. What might Stokely Carmichael say about this speech?
16. What might James Baldwin say about this speech?
17. What might Nikki Govanni say about this speech?
18. What might Maya Angelou say about this speech?
20. What might Zora Neale Hurston say about this speech?
21. What might Ralph Ellison say about this speech?
22.What might Richard Wright say about this speech?
23. What might Langston Hughes say about this speech?
24.Iilhat might Jesus say about this speech? What might the Buddha say?
25. What might Mohandas K. Gandhi say about this speech?
26. What might David Harris or foan Baez say about this speech?
27.What might Leo Tolstoy say about this speech? What might Albert Einstein say
about this speech? Benjamin Spock? Hermann Hesse? Mark Twain?
28. What might John Lennon say about this speech?
29. What might Archbishop Desmond Tutu say about this speech? What might Steve Biko
say? Nelson Mandela?
30. Write a speech about the USA.
31. Write a speech about the racial problems in the USA.
32. Make a list of the following oratory and literary techniques in this speech:

rhythm:

repetition:

METAPHORS &

SIMILES:

alliteration.

assonance:

Biblical phrases and allusions:

takagaki

Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Bibliography

Books by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stride toward Freedom (1958)
Why We Can't Wait (1963)
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Communit)r? (1967)

Books about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963.
New York: Simon and Schuster. 1988.
Chambers, Bradford. Chronicles o:f Bhck Protest. New York: The New American
Library. 1968.
Dennis, Denise and Susan Willmarth. Black History for Beginners. New York: Writers
and Readers Publishing, Inc. 1984.
Fishel, Leslie H. and Benjamin Quarles. The Negro American: ADocumentary History.
Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1967.
Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. New York: Random House, Inc. 1986.
Grant, Joanne. Black Protest. New York: Fawcett World Library. 1968.
Killian, Lewis M. The Impossible Revolution? New York: Random House, Inc. 1968.
*Lewis, Anthony. Portrait gfg Decade: The Second American Revolution. New York:
Bantam Books, Inc. 1964.
Lomax, Louis E. The Negro Revolt. New York: Signet Books. 1963.

*Anthony Lewis' Portrait sf Decade is the best book on this list about Martin Luther
4
Kng, Jr. and the entire Black Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1963.

takagaki

PRAYER OF THE FARM WORKERS' STRUGGLE

Show me the suffering of the most miserable.
So

I will lntow my people's plight.

Free me to prayfor others;

For you are present in every person.
Help me take responsibilityfor my own life;
So that I can be free at last.
Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.
Give me honesty andpatience;
So that I canworkwith otherworkers.

Bringforth song and celebration;

So that the Spirit will be alive among

us.

Let the Spiritflourish and grow;

So that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have diedfor justice;
For they have given us lW.
Help us love even those v,ha hate us;
So we can change the world.
Amen.

Written by C6sar E. Chhvez, UFW Founder (1927-1993)

c6sar E. ch6vez Foundation 1741 s. Harvard Blvd. Los Angeles,
213 -7 33 - 634 6 e-mail <chavezfcltn@gc. apc. org>

cA 90006

takagaki

Education of the Heart--Quotes by Cesar Chavez

Character
"Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the
character and growth of its speakers."

Commitment
"...there has to be someone who is willing to do it, who is wiliing to take whatever risks are
required. I don't think it can be done with money alone. The person has to be dedicated to the
task. There has to be some other motivation."
'Being of service is not enough. You must become a servant ofthe people. When you do,
you can demand their commitment in return."
"Se.lf dedication is a spiri*al experience."
"The name of the game is to talk to people. ffyou don't tark to people, you can't get
started...You knock on twenty doors or so, and twenty guys tell you to go to hell, orthat they
haven't got time. But maybe at the fortieth or sixtieth house you find the one guy who is all
you need. You're not going to organize everything; you're just going to get it started.
"T'here are vivid memories from my childhood--what we had to go through because of low
wages and the conditions, basically because there was no union. I suppose if I wanted to be fair
I could say that I'm trying to settle a personal score. I could dramatize it by saying that I want
to bring social justice to farm workers. But the truth is that I went through a lot of hell, and a
lot of people did. If we can even the score a liule for the workers then *" *. doing something.
Besides, I don't know any other work I like to do beuer than this. I really don'1."
"There is no substitute for hard worlq 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute-for
patience and acceptance. "
"There's no turning back...We will win. We are winning because ours is a revolution of
mind and heart..."
"We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We
shall endure-"
"We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure
of discipline."
"I remember with strong feelings the families who joined our movement and paid dues long
before there was any hope of winning contracts. Sometimes, fathers and mothers would take
money out of their meager food budgets just because they believed that farm workers could
and must build their own union. I remember thinking then that with spirit like that... we had
to
win. No force on earth could stop us.',

Education of the Heart

"The picket line is the best place to train organizers. One day on the picket line is where a
man makes his commitment. The longer on the picket line, the stronger the commitment. A lot
of workers think they make their commitment by walking offthe job when nobody sees them.
But you get a guy to walk offthe field when his boss is watching and, in front of the other
guys, throw down his tools and march right to the picket line, that is the guy who makes our
strike. The picket line is a beautiful thing because it makes a man more human."
"As one looks at the millions of acres in this country that have been taken out of
agricultural production, and at the millions of additional acres that have never been cultivated;
and at the millions of people who have moved offthe farm to rot and decay in the ghettoes of
our big cities; and at all the millions of hungry people at home and abroad; does it not seem
that all these people and things were somehow made to come together and serve one another?
Ifwe could bring them together, we could stem the mass exodus of rural poor to the big city
ghettoes and start it going back the other way; teach them how to operate new farm
eopipment; and put them to.xork on those no'w uncultivated acres to raise firod for the hungry.
If a way could be found to do this, there would be not only room but positive need for still
more machinery and still more productivity increase. There would be enough employment,
wages, profits, food and fiber."
"If you realiy want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat u,ith him...The people
who give you their fbod give you their heart."
"In this world it is possible to achieve great material wealttr, to live an opulent life. But a
life built upon those things alone leaves a shallow legacy. In the end, we will be judged by
other standards."

Community
"We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for
our community...Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of
others, for their sakes and for our own. "
"When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit that our lives are all that really
belong to us. So, it how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my
deepest belief that only by grvirrg our lives do we find life..
"When you have people together who believe in something very strongly - whether it's
religion or politics or unions - things happen."
"You are never strong enough that you don't need help."

Culture
"Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other
cultures. "
"We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity
that nourishes and strenghens this community - and this nation."

Education of the Heart

Dignify
"A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Artec eagle. It gives
pride...When people see it they know it means dign ty."
"Do not romanticize the poor...We are all people, human beings subject to the same
temptations and faults as all others. our poverly damages our dignity.',"From the depth of need an despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to
solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength."
"What is at stake is human diguty. If a man is not accorded respect h" ,*oot respect
himself and if he does not respect himself, he cannot demand it.,'
"The strike and the boycott, they have cost us much. What they have not paid us in wages,
better working conditions, and new contracts, they have paid us in self-respect and human

di$ity.'

Education
"A word as to the education of the heart. We don't believe that this can be imparted
through books; it can only be irnparted through the loving touch of the teacher."
"ReaI education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own
students. what better books can there be than the book of humanity?"
"The end of all education should surely be service to others.,'
"The end of all knowledge should surely be service to others."
"The end of all knowledge must be the building up of character."
"Years of misguided teaching have resulted in the destruction of the best in our society, in
our culfures and in the environment."
Farm workers
"(Farm workers) are involved in the planting and the cultivation and the harvesting of the
greatest abundance of food known in this society. They bring in so much
food to feeJyou and
me and the whole country and enough food to export to othir places. The
ironic thing and the
tragic thing is that after they make this tremendous contributiorq they don't have any
money or
any food left for themselves."
"f have met many, many farm workers and friends who love justice and who are willing to
sacrifice for what is right. They have a quality about them that reminds me
of the beatitudes.
They are lirri.rg examples that Jesus'promise is true: they have ben hungry
and thirsty for
righteousness and they have been satisfied. They are determined, patient people
who believe in
life and who give strength to others. They have glven me more love ancl tope
una strength than
they will ever know."
"It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and hawest the fruits, vegetables, and
other
foods that fiil your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves."

Education of the Heart

Farm workers (cont.)

"Our very lives are dependent, for sustenance, on the sweat and sacrifice of the campesinos.
Children of farm workers should be as proud of their parents'professions as other children are
of theirs."

Future Generations
"It is not enough to teach our young people to be successful...so they can realizs thgil
ambitions, so they can earn good livings, so they can accumulate the material things that this
society bestows. Those are worthwhile goals. But it is not enough to progress as indMduals
while our friends and neighbors are left behind.,'
"Perhaps we can bring the day when children will learn from their earliest days that being
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,^f rLLv 6rvv
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L\r +L^
LllE r.rut,roLrt
uls L--rlulotner- wno su[ers.
It is up to each one ofus. It won't happen unless we decide to use our lives to show the way.',
"Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think
and act for themselves-and be free."
Boycott
"The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of nothingness down
which farm workers have had to walk for many years. It is a gate of hope through which they
expect to find the sunlight of a better life for themselves and their families."

Hope

"Ifyou are going to organize and ask for commitment, you cannot go to the most
desperately poor. They are not likely to take action. If you stand on a man's head and push
it
into the dirt, he may not even see the heel of your boot. But if his whole face is afreiay above
ground, he can see your heel and he can see freedom ahead."
Humanity
"Our conviction is that human life and limb are a very special possession given Uf coa to
man and that no one has the right to take that away, in any ca.,re, however just..."
"We are certain God's will is that all men share in the good things this earth produces."
"When a man or woman, young, or old, takes a place on the picket line for
u day or
"rr", nontwo, he will never be the same again. He has confirmed his own humanity. Through
violence, he has confirmed the humanity of others.,'
"When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic
rights of feeding, sheltering and caring for his own family, the whole
of man is
sick. "

"o**u.tity

Education of the Heart

Justice

"It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see werywhere. But God did
not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us th; gift of life and allows
us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an u*".o*" opportunity."
"People who have lost their hunger for justice are not ultimately powerfi.rl. rh"y ur" iit.
sick people who have lost their appetite for what is truly nourishing. Such sick people
should
not frighten or discourage us. They should be prayed for along with the sick petple who
are in
the hospital. "The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of ourteing but it is
also
the most true to our nature."
"There is a great fear of our Union - a fear that I do not fully understand, but that I know is
present-..What is it that causes some men to act so hastily and so cruelly? It cannot
be that we
are so powerful. Is it so much to ask that the poorest people of the land have a measure
of

justice?"
"We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work.
We know how to combat the forces that oppose us. But even more than that, we are true
believers in the whoie iciea ofjustice. Justice is so much on our side, that thai is going
to see us
through."
"We shaii strike- We shall organrze boycotts. We shall demonstrate and have political
campaigns. We shall pursue the revolution we have proposed. We are sons and daughters
of
the farm workers' revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice.,'

La Causa
"Viva la causal"
"Our opponents in the agricultural industry are very powerfi.rl and farm workers are still
weak in money and influence. But we have another kind of power that comes from
the justice
of our cause. So long as we are wffing to sacrifice for that
so long as we persist in non"u,rr",
violence and work to spread the message of our struggle, then
millions olpeople around the
world will respond from their heart, will support our efforts...and in the end we will
ovgrcome.tt
"We are involved in

just cause. We know that most likely we are not going to

do anything

else in the rest of our life except this. We know that if we weren't doing
this wJwouldn,t be
doing anything else we would like to do more than this. We know reall"y there is nowhere
else

to go and although we would like to see victory come soon we are *iili"g to wait."

Education of the Heart

Labor Union
"In the no-nonsense school of adversiry which we did not choose for ourselves, we are
learning how to operate a labor union."
"The road to social justice for the farm worker is the road of unionization. Our cause, our
strike against table grapes and our international boycott are all founded upon our deep
conviction that the form of collective self-help, which is unionizatioq holds far more hope for
the farm worker than any other single approach, whether public or private- This conviction is
what brings spirit, high hope and optimism to everything we do."
"We know what unions have done for other people. We have seen it and we have studied
and we have cherished the idea of unionism. We have seen the history and development of
unions in this country and we tell the growers that we want nothing more, but that we want
our own union and we are going to fight for it as long as it takes."
tt So fhew are trvins to do somethino rhnrrf it Tharr qrA nnf dninc if h., cooLinc nho-i+.,
They are not begging at the welfare office. They are not, like many of their employers,
lobbying the halls of Congress with their gold plated tin cups asking to be paid for not growing
crops. They are trying to do it in the way that millions of other Americans have shown is the
right way-organizatioq unionisnq collective bargaining. "

Leadership

"I am an organizer, not a union leader. A good organzer has to work hard and long. There
are no shortcuts. You just keep talking to people, working with thenr, sharing, exchanging and
they come along."
"I'm not going to ask for anything unless the workers want it. If they want it,

it.'

thellt

ask

for

"There are many reasons for why a man does what de does. To be himself he must be able
to give it all. If a leader cannot grve it all he cannot expect his people to give anything."
"These observations tie in directly with the whole question of organizing. lvhy do we have
leaders? We put some people out in the fields and all of a sudden they hit, they click.
Everyone's happy with them and they begin to move mountains. With other people there are
problems and heartaches. They just don't go. When we look and see what's happening, almost
invariably the differences are along the lines of willingness to sacrifice and work long hours."

Education of the Heart

Motivation
"Si se puede!"
"rf you're not frightened that you might fail, you'll never
do the job. ffyou're frightened,
you'll work like cra-4r.''
"The road to social justice for the farm workers
is the road to unionization. our cause,
our
strike against table grapes and our international
boycott *." uu founded upon our deep
conviction that the form of collective self-help
wticr, is unionization holdi far more hope for
the farm worker tfl
other single approactr, whether public or private.
This conviction is
what brings spirit, high-anv
hope and optimism to ."".ytfrirg we do.,,

Non-Violence
"In non-violence the eause has to be just and clear
as well as the iiiesrrS."
"Non-violent",.YHt! is the quality ortne heart, cannot
come by an appeal to the brain.,,
"The first principle of non-violent action is
that of non-cooperation with everything
humiliating."
"The non-violent technique does not depend for
its success on the goodwill of the
oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance
of God.',
"There is no such thing as defeatt non_violence.,,
"There's no reason to be non-violent. There's no
challenge unless you are living for people.,,
"You know, ifpeople are not pacifists, it's not
tn"i. a"rt. rt's because ,o"i",y puts them in
that spot' You've got to change it. you
don't just
u man - you,ve got to change his
environment as you do it."
"rr*g"
""'people think non-violence is really weak
and non-militant. These are misconceptions
that
people have because they don't understand
what non-violence means. Non-violence
takes
more
guts' ifl can put it bluntly, than violence.
Most violent acts are accomplished by getting
the
opponent offguard, and it doesn,t take
that much
I thirh;;;;;;,
to do it.,,
"Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried
"hu.u"t..,
that we cannot win without violence.
we
have proved it before through persistJnce,
hard worh faith and willingness to sacrifice.
we can
win and keep our own self-respect and build
a geat unio;inut *itt secure the
spirit of all
a re-dedication and re-commitment
to the strugglafor justice

ffiAffiff-i""i:*"1*

"Imagine the National Guard being

against a group ofpeaceful people.
How far can
we get' how disgraceful can it become?,lxed
Tt's thJmost aiigraCerul
the
mosi
thing I,ve
r""3_T all -y years of orgamangfarm labor.,,
"Non-violence means people in action. People
have to understand that with non-violence
goes a hell of a lot of organization."
"Non-violence exacts a very high price from
one who practices
it. But once you are able to
'
meet that demand then you can domost
has suffered its biggest defeat in
the hands of people who most want to
talk

*it"a

things.,,

"o"Jil;'olence

Education of the Heart

Non-Violence (cont.)
"Non-violence is a very powerful weapon. Most people don't understand the power of nonviolence and tend to be amazed by the whole idea. Those who have been involv"a i" U.irgiog
about change and see the difference between violence and non-violence are firmly committeJ
to a lifetime of non-violence, not because it is easy or because it is cowardly, but because it is
an effective and very powerfirl way."
"Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak...Nonviolence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win."
"Non-violence is very weak in the theoretical sense; it cannot defend itself But it is most
powerful in the action situation where people are using non-violence because they want
desperately to bring about some change. Non-violence in action is a very potent force
and it
can't be stopped- The people who are struggling have the complete ruy-ro. No man-made
law,
no human ruler, no army can destroy this. There is no.ray it can be destroyed... And so,
if w-e
have the capaclty to endure, if we have the patience, things will change."
"Violence just hurts those who are already hurt...Instead of exposing the brutality of the
oppressor, it justifies it."
"We are convinced that non-violence is more powerful than violence, We are convinced
that non-vioience supports you if you have a just and moral cause...ffyou use violence, you
have to sell part of yourself for that violence. Then you are no longer u *urt".
of your own
struggle-"
"When workers fall back on violence, they are lost. O[ they might win some of their
demands and might end a strike a little earliel but they give uptheir imagination,
their
creativity, their will to work hard and to suffer for what they believe is ri!ht."

Organizing
"...many have the idea that organizing people is very difficult, but it isn,t. It
becomes
difficult only at the point where you begin to see other things that are easier. But if you
are
wifling to give the time and make the sacrifice, it's not that difficult to organize.,'
"I think one of the great, great problems...is confirsing people to the
foirrt *h".e they
become immobile- In fact, the more things people can find^ouf for themselves,
the more vigor
the organization is going to have."
"Ifthey had $2.00 for food, they had to give $1.00 to the union. Otherwise, they would
never get out ofthe trap of poverty. They would never have a union because
they couldn't
afford to sacrifice a liule bit more on top oftheir misery."
"Money is not going to organize the disadvantaged,, the powerless, or the poor. We need
other weapons. That's why the War on Poverty is such a miserable failure. you
put out a big
pot of money and all you do is fight over it. Then you run out of money
and you run out of
troops. "
"Organizing is an educational process. The best educational process in the
union is the
picket line and the boycott. you learn about life."

Education of the Heart

Organizing (cont.)
"The life ofthe union depends upon more people getting to share the limelight, because
with the limelight also comes responsibiliry and with the responsibility comes u"tittt" sharing
of
the load."
"There isn't enough money to organize poor people. There never is enough money
to
organize anyone. rf you put it on the basis of money, you,re not going to suieed."
"We are organizers at heart. Most of us in the movement take great pride in being able to
put things together."
"We're going to pray a lot and picket a lot."

Power
"It's amazins how people can get so excited about a rocket to the iiioorr arrd not give
a
dqn about smog, oil leaks, the devastation of the environment with pesticides, hunger,
disease. When the poor share some of the power that the afluent ,o* rnono polize,*"
*iff
give a damn."
"Society is made up of groups, and as long as the smaller groups do not have the same
rights and the same protection as others - I don[t care wheth". you call it capitalism
or
communism -it is not going to work. Somehow, the guys in power have to bL reached
by
counter-power, or through a change in their hearts and minds, or change will not
come.,,
"We always believed that the growers weren't that powerful, and I could never subscribe
to
the theory that the growers were invincible. I realized that the growers appeared
to be so
powerful simply because the workers had no power. If they ro,rta gain some power,
the
growers wouldn't seen so invincible."

Public Action
I've always maintained that it isn't the form that's going to make the difference.
It isn't the
rule or the procedure or the ideology, but it's human berngs that will make it."
'In the final analysis it doesn't really matter what the political system is...We don't need
perfect political systems; we need perfect participation."
"It is not good enough to know why we are oppressed and by whom. We must join the
struggle for what is right and just. Jesus does not promise that iiwm be
an easy way to live life
and His own life certainly points in a hard direction; but it does promise
that we will be
"satisfied" (not stuffed; but satisfied). He promises that by gving life we
will find lile - fiIl,
meaningful life as God meant it."

Education of the

Heart

10

Public Action (conl)

"Jesus'life and words are a challenge at the same time that they are Good News.
They are a
challenge to those of us who are poor and oppressed. By His life ile is calling
us to give
ourselves to others, to sacrifice for those who suffer, to share our lives with
our brothers and
sisters who are also oppressed. He i5 salling us to "hunger and thirst after justice,,

in the same
way that we hunger and thirst after food and water: that is, by putting ouryearning
into
practice. "
'Talk is cheap...It is the way we organize and use our lives everyday that tells what we
believe in."
"I]ntil the chance for political participation is there, we who are poor will continue to attack
the soft part of the American system - its economic structure. We will build power
through
boycotts, strikes, new union - whatever techniques we can develop. These attacks
on the status
quo will come, not beca-r-tse we hate, but because.J,,e knov,, America
can construct a humane
society for all its citizens - and that if it does not, there will chaos."
"Those who are willing to sacrifice and be of service have very liule difficulty
with people.
Thev know what they are all about. People can't help but want to be near
them. They help
them; they work with them. That's what love is ail atout. It starts with your
heart and radiates
out.tt
Respect
We want to be recognized,yes, but not with a glowing epitaph on our
tombstone...,,
"Respect for faith of others stands on the same footing as culture.
"

Sacrifice

"It is clearly evident that our path travels through a valley of tears well known to all farm
workers, because in all valleys the way ofthe farm worker has been one
of sacrifice for
generations. Our sweat and our blood have fallen on this land to
make other men rich. This
Piigrimage is a witness to the suffering we have seen for generations.',
"It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anythinglo change the social order.,,
"The poor, you know, have a way of soMng problemr..rt"y have a tremendous
capacity for
suffering. And so when you build a vehicle to-get something done,
as we,ve done here in the
st!I-<e and the boycott, then they continue to suffer-- and maybe
a little bit more--but the
suffering becomes less important because they see a chance of progr"rr;
sometimes progress
itself They've been suffering all their lives. It's a question orsrfering with
some kind of hope
now. That's better than suffering with no hope at all.,
"The thing that we have going for us is that people are willing to sacrifice
themselves.,,
"We are suffering. We have suffered. And we are not afraid to suffer in order
to win our

cause.tt

Education of the

Heart

11

Sacrifice (conl)
"We can choose to use our lives for others to bring about a better and more just
world for
our children. People who make that choice will knowlardship and
sacrifice. But if you give
yourself totally to the non-violence struggle for peace and justice
you also find that people give
you their hearts and you will never go hungry und rr"rr..
U" aton".-and h giving of yourself
you will discover a whole new life full of meaning and love."
"We'11 orgaruzeworkers in this movement as long as we're willing
to sacrifice. The moment
we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing."
"When any person suffers for someone in greater need, that person is a human.,,
"I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to
sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice.r,
"We have suffered unnumbered ills and crimes in the name ofthe Law
ofthe Land. Our
men women and children hav. e s,-rfilo-red not only the basic brutality
of stoop iabor, and the
most obvious injustices ofthe system; they have also suffered the
iesperatircn of knowing that
the system caters to the greed of callous men and not to our needs.
Now we will suffer for the
pulpose oiending the poverly, the misery, and the injustice,
with the hope that our children
will not be exploited as we have been. They have imiosed hungers on us,
and now we hunger
fi.rr jusiice. "
The Movement

"A movement with some lasting organization is a lot less dramatic than
a movement with a
lot of demonstrations and a lot of marching and so forth. The more dram
atic orgarization does
catch attention quickel over the long hau[ however, it's a lot
more difficult to ieep together
because you're not buiiding solid...A lasting organizztion is
one in which people will continue

to build, develop and move when you are not there.',

"Across the San Joaquin valley, across Califomia, across the entire
nation, wherever there
are injustices against men and women and children who work
in the fields - there you will see
our flags - with the black eagle with the white and red background,
flyrng. our movement is
spreading like flames across a dry plain.',
is enough love and good will in our movement to give energy
.--"There
to our struggle and
still have plenty Ieft over to break down and change the climate
of hate and fear around us,,,
'This is the beginning of a social movement in fact and not in pronouncements.
We seek
our basic, God - given rights as human beings...We shall do it
without violence because it is
orrr destiny' To the growers and to all who oppose us, we
say the words of Benito Juarez..
'Respect for another's right
is the meaning of peace."'
"We are tired of words, ofbetrayals, of indifference...they years are gone
when the farm
worker said nothing an did nothing to help himself...No* *"
have newlaith. Through our
strong will, our movement is changing these conditions...we
shall be heard.,,

t2
Education of the Heart
The Movement (cont.)
"We are tired of words, of betrayals, of indifference...the years are gone when the farm
worker said nothing and did nothing to help himself...Now we have new faith. Through our
strong will, our movement is changing these conditions...we shall be heard."
"We do not need to kill or destroy to win. We are a movement that builds and not
destroys. "

The Struggle
".-.the workers aren't going to stop struggling. They're going to struggle to have a union
and they have the right to have it. The police repression and the grower indifference to the

workers'demands for recognition cannot go unheard so we're going to keep on struggling until
we' o--'---set fhaf recoqnifion tt
"Because we have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to survive, we are ready
to give up everything - even our lives - in our struggle for justice."
"However important the struggle is and however much misery and poverty and degradation
exist, we know that it cannot be more important than one human life."
"Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerfi.rl and they have
many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do
not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons."
"Our union represents a breaking away...represents sharing a power, represent questioning,
represents a new force...however long it takes, we are geared for a struggle."
"When we a.re really honest with ourselves we must admit that our lives are all that really
belong to us, so it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my
deepest belief that only by g"ing life do we find life, that the truest act courage, the strongest
act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for jusi=ice.
To be a man is to suffer for others, God help us to be men."

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To Be a Man

It is my deepest belief that only by giving

Iife do we find life, that the truest act of
courag, the strongest act of manliness is to

sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally

non-violent struggle for justice.

To be a man is to suffer for others, God
help us to be men.
--Cesar E. Chavez

takagaki

Silone's Freedom
"Freedom is not something you get as a present," said Pietro. "You can live in a
dictatorship and be free-on one condition: that you fight the dictatorship. The man who
thinks with his own mind and keeps it uncomrpted is free. But you can live in the most
democratic country on earttr, and if you'relazy, obtuse or servile within yourself, you're not
free. Even without any violent coercion, you're a slave. You can't beg your freedom from
someone. You have to seize it--everyone as much as he can."

Silone, Ignazio. Bread andWine. NewYork: TheNewAmericanLibrary, Inc. 1937. page43.

OIJESTIONS
Y/ho is Ignazio Silone? How mrght the time and place he -*rote in have influenced him?
2.Explain how "The man who thinks with his own mind and keeps it uncom:pted is free."
What might Thomas More say about this idea? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Thoreau?
The Buddha? Lao Tsu? Alan Watts? Bernard in Tom Robbins' Still Life with
Woodpecker?
3. Compare this statement with James Kavanaugh's poem Freedom.
4. Compare this statement with Dostoyevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor" in The Brothers
Karamazov.
5. Compare this statement with Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom (194i). With Eric
Hoffer's The True Believer (1951).
6. Compare this statement with George Orwell's Animal Farm (1946) and 1984 (1949).
7. Compare this statement with Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (i930).
8. What might Malcolm X have said about this statement? What might Eldridge Cleaver have
said in Soul on Ice or Post-Prison Writings? What might Stokely Carmichael have said
about this in 1966? What might James Baldwin have said? What might a Black Panther,
especially Huey P. Newton or Bobby Seale, have said?
9. In Alex Haley's Roots, what might Kunte Kinte have said about this statement? What
might Chicken George have said?
10. What might Thomas Jefferson have said about this statement? What might Thomas Paine
1.

have said?

1i. Ouery: freedom is frightening

and undesirable to most individuals, especially to young

people.
Read "John Steinbeck's Advice to His Sons." What might his sons say about this?

What might Holden Caulfied say in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the &ye?
Hermann Hesse's Demian? Antoine St. Exupery's The Little Prinse?
Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull or Illusions?

takagaki

To Seek a Newer World

timesfor building justice; these are timesfor confronting
injustice. Ihis, we feel, is the mtmber-one item of natiorwl business-

These are not

to confront the entrenched, massive, ond complex injustice of our country.

Andto correct it justly, non-violently, andwithmuimum expofltre of oneself
and one'sfuture-Philip Berrrigan
Prison Journals qf4
Purs! Revolutionary

If you fly in a plane over Europe, toward Africa or Asia, in a few hours you will cross over
oceans and countries that have been a crucible of human history. In minutes you will trace the
migration of men over thousands ofyears, seconds, the briefest glimpse, and you will pass
battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. You',,;ill see no national
boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works
of man-homes and factories and farms-everywhere reflecting man's corrrmon efficrt to
enrich his life. Everywhere new technology and communications bring men and nations closer
together, the concerns of one more and more becoming the concerns of all. And our new
cioseness is stripping away the false masks, the iiiusion of difference that is at the root of
injustice and hate and war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning
superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ended at river shore, his
corlmon humanity enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town and views and the
color of his skin.

Each nation has different obstacles and different goals, shaped by the vagaries of history
and experience. Yet as I talk to young people around the world i am impressed not by the
diversity but by the closeness of their goals, their desires and concerns and hope for the future.
There is discrimination in New Yorlq apartheid in South Africa, and selfclom in the mountains
ofPeru. People starve in the streets of India, intellectuals go to jail in Russia; thousands a.re
slaughtered in Indonesia; wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing
evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice,
the inadequacy of human compassiory the defectiveness of our sensibility toward the sufferings
of our fellows; they mark the limit of our ability to use knowledge for the well-being of others.
And therefore, they call upon cofirmon qualities of conscience and of indignation, a shared
determination to wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home
and around the world.

To Seek a Newer World

Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth-not a time of life but a state of mind,
a temper of the will, a quality of the imaginatiorq a predominance of courage over timidity, of
the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles ofthis swiftly
changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by
those who cling to a present that is already dyurg, who prefer the illusion of security to the
excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress. It is a revolutionary
world we live in; and this generation, at home and around the world, has had thrust upon it a
greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.

"There is," said an Italian philosopher, "nothing more difficult to take in hand, more
perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of
a new order ofthings." Yet this is the measure of the task ofthis generation, and the road is
strewn with many dangers.
First is the danger of futility, the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do
against the enormous alray of the world's ills-against misery and ignorance, iniustice and
violence. Yet many ofthe world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from
the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general
extendeC an ernpire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth! and a young woman reclaimed

the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and
the thirry-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.
"Gve me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world."

These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend
history itse[ but each of us can work to change a sma]l portion of events, and in the total of all
those acts will be written ihe history of this generation. Thousands oiPeace Corps voiunteers
are making a difference in isolated villages and city slums in dozens of countries. Thousands of
unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation ofthe Nazis and many died, but
all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse
acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an
ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and
resistance.

"If Athens shall appear great to you," said Pericles, "consider then that her glories were
purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their dury.' That is the source of
all
greatness in all societies, and it is the key to progress in our time.

To Seek a Newer World

The second danger is that of expediency, of those who say that hopes and beliefs must
bend before immediate necessities. Of course, if we would act effectively we must deal with
the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing President Kennedy
stood for that touched the most profound feelings of people across the world, it was the belief
that idealisrn, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most
practical and efficient of programs-that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and
reaiistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and mind and the
rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hardheaded to
solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values. It is thoughtless
folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and passion and belie{, forces ultimately more
powerful than all the calculations of economists or generals. Of course, to adhere to standards,
to idealisnr, to vision in the face of immediate dangers, takes great courage and selfconfidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly
achieve
"* "rr.,
greatly.

It

is this new idealism that is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation that has
iearned that while efficiency can lead to the camps of Auschwitz or the streets ofBudapest,
only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hill to the Acropolis.

A thfud danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval oftheir fellows,
the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral
is a rarer commodity
"o*ug"
than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essentiat,
vitat quaiity for those
who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. Aristotle iells us that,,atthe
Olympic Games it is not the finest and the strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter
the lists-. -. So too in the tife of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who
win
the pize." I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict
will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.
For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy
and the familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before
those
who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for
us.
There is a Chinese curse that says, "May he live in interesting times.; Like it or not,
we live in
interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty, but they area also more
open to
the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And all of us will ultimatelybe
judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves, on the
effort we have contributed
to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped
that
effort.

To Seek a Newer

World

Our future may lie beyond our visiorq but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the
shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history but
the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine destiny.
There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is
the only way we can live.

Kennedy, Robert F. To Seek a Newer world. New york: Bantam Books. 196g.
pages 231-235.

OUESTIONS
Who was Robert F. Kennedy? Explain how his background and environment mieht have
influenced his philosophies.
2- Explain why Kennedy believes the world's hope is its youths. What might a political realist
say about this? Tcistoy? Hesse? Ga,'tdhi? David Harris? Dostoyevsky's Father Zossima
in
The Brothers Karamazov? Bernard in Tom Robbins' Still Life with Woodoecker? Richard
Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagufl? Donald Shimoda in Richard Bach's illusions,
Tr
Adventures g[4 Reluctant Messiah? Sir Thomas More?
3. Kennedy writes:
1-

The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield
to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moveri by those
who cling to a present that is already dyrng, who prefer the illusion of
security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most
peaceful progress.

What might Charles A. Reich's The Greening af America (1970) say about this? Alvin
Tofler's Future Shock (1970)? J.J. Servan-schreiber's The Ameriian Challenge (1967)?
Jerry Rubin's Do It! (1970X
What might Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. say? Robert Heinlein? Allen Ginsberg? Lawrence
Ferlinghetti? David Harris? Joan Baez? Hermann Hesse? Tom Robbins? Henry Miller?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky?
4. According to Kennedy, how is futility a danger to building a better world? What does
he
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To Seek a Newer World

OIIESTIONS (cont.)
5. Give historical examples which support the theory.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others,
or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and
crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of
oppression and resistance.

Explain why you agee or disagree with this statement. What might David Harris say about
it? Compare this statement to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech
(28 August 1963).
6. According to Kennedy, how is expediency a danger to building a better world? What does
he say about overcoming this danger? Explain why you agree or disagree with him.
7. What might David Harris say about expediency and the political system? What might
Gandhi say? Hesse? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Valerie Stevenson?
8. According to Kennedy, ho*'is timidity a danger to buiiding a better world? What does he
say about overcoming this danger? Explain why you agree or disagree with him.
9. Ouery: if you attempt to build a better world, the economic and political power structure
will either change you, hurt you, or destroy you.
10. According to Kennedy, how is comfort a danger to building a better world? What does he
say about overcoming this danger? Explain why you agree or disagree with him.
11. Explain why you might be willing "to seek a newer world." Explain why you might not.
12. What are the chances that Kennedy's better worid wiil soon exist? Expiain. What might
David Harris say about this? Joan Baez? John Lennon?

takagaki

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven

It's

easy

ifyou try

No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Ttnqoina qll +ho nonnlo
Hvvl/rv

Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'lljoin

And the world will be one

us

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed nor hunger

Abrotherhood ofman
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Lennon, John. "Imagine" Northern Songs Limited. 1971.

Imagine

OIIESTIONS

i.
2'
3.
4'

5.

6'

Who is John Lennon? Who are the Beatles?

Ouery: the Beatles and Bob Dylan are the two greatest influences on so-called popular_
music today.
Research and describe the socio-political situation in the USA in 197
1.
Explain what the world would be like with no countries. Explain
why it would be a better
world. Explain why it would not.
What might a political realist say about a world with no countries?
What might David
Harris say? Robert F. Kennedy?
Explain what the world would be like with no religions. Explain
why it would be a better
world. Explain why it would not.
What might Dostoyevsky's *The Grand Inquisitor" say about this?
What might
Rollo May's Man's Search for Himself say? the ropei Jean-paul
Sartre?
What might the Buddha say about this? What might Lao Tzu
say? AIan Watts?
Friedrich Nietzsche? Jesus? Karl Marx?

'

Explain what the world would be like with no possessions.

Explain rvhy it would be a
better world. Explain why it would not.
What might a capitalist say about this kind of world? What
might Karl Marx say?
Mao Zedong? Che Guevara? a Social Darwinist? Jesus? guAlhaZ
Lao Tafl

what might plato say about this kind of world? Thomas More?
What might Thomas Hobbes iay about this kind of world?
John Locke?
Jean Jacques Rousseau? Thomas Jefferson?

8'

Explain why you think Lennon is only a dreamer. Explain

why he is not. what might
Hermann Hesse say about this? David Harris? Joan iaez?
iot..t F. Kennedy?
9. Describe a utopian USA.
10. Describe a utopian world.
1 1. Describe a utopian school.
12. Describe a utopian education system.
13. ouery: utopia comes from two Latin words meaning
nowhere.
14. Write a song.