The legislative process cannot produce the same climate that demonstrations produce. The legislative process is in Washington. Demonstrations can be in all fifty states in various cities and counties with thousands of people participating at any given time. They can be in the largest cities or they can be in the smallest towns. They can appear on the local news or they can create a conflict that echoes throughout the national media, calling attention to the demonstration itself and sometimes the focus of the demonstration.
Demonstrations may be limited in the future, but contrary to some belief, they will not be abandoned. Demonstrations educate the onlooker as well as the participant, and education requires repetition. That is one reason why they have not outlived their usefulness. Furthermore, it would be false optimism to expect ready compliance to the new law everywhere. The Negro's weapon of non-violent direct action is his only serviceable tool against injustice. He may be willing to sheath that sword but he has learned the wisdom of keeping it sharp.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have allowed tools against injustice like non-violent direct action to become dull. Large parts of the population concerned with the future of the country rely on elections and hope for legislation to correct the problems of society. The tool of voting can only be wielded on an annual, bi-annual, or quadrennial basis, depending on the office up for election. Not many Americans can wield the tool of legislation; it is a tool that only those bought and paid for by corporate and special interests in Congress can wield.
The tool of demonstration can be wielded whenever, wherever and however. Strategies and tactics can be employed. People walking by can be educated as they take a leaflet, they can choose to stop and participate, and they can gaze and take photos or video, which might spread widely on the Internet giving the event even more legitimacy (even if the photos or video were not taken by someone who supported the demonstration).
Finally, King's "The Last Steep Ascent," provides a window into what King thought about the aftermath of civil rights legislation. King's final essay published by The Nation suggested how Negroes and others dedicated to economic emancipation could continue to win social justice victories.
"[a] poverty program, which in concept elated the Negro poor, became so embroiled in political turmoil that its insufficiencies were magnified by paralyzing manipulations. Big-city machines felt threatened by it and small towns, particularly in the South, directed it away from Negroes. Its good intentions and limited objectives were frustrated by the skillful maneuvers of experienced politicians. The worst aspect of these negative experiences was the doubt cast upon the program as a whole and the discredit SIX- tained by those Negroes involved directly in its administration. To launch a program with high-minded goals and to fail to safeguard it from opportunists and enemies amounted to sabotage, whether deliberate or undeliberate. It should have been obvious that Negroes, who alone were under pressure for results, would encounter difficulties in administration. They were ill prepared to handle the complexities that attended any novel and wideranging program. Yet they would have been successful even with their limitations if their efforts had not been impeded in so many instances by hostile municipal officials. At almost every turn malevolent press reports and irresponsible charges denigrated the projects that Negroes headed. Rumors and suspicions of corruption and waste proliferated until it became a hazard to assume responsibility.
Americans might consider how insufficient health and financial reforms were. They might point to how those reforms omitted or failed to address key social problems. Their "high-minded" visions for those limited victories might be more reasonable if they were guarding the beginning stages of radical change from "opportunists" and "enemies."
It's easy to say that the Obama Administration should have been ready for "complexities" that would arise, but the people who want change should be willing to step up and take responsibility. That is how they can truly own the moment of change, fully preserve small victories and take steps to grow those victories into much larger changes.
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