Dr. King clearly saw the potential for destruction and violence building in his own people. About this he said:
At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two 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 adjusted to segregation...The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black-nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation... Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, 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 tried to stand between these two forces, 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. [4]
There are those who are asserting that they represent the spirit of Dr. King because they "refuse to compromise with evil." But remember Dr. King chose a middle path between the two extremes. He chose a path that was active, not passive. He rejected a hatred and a frustration that leads to a demonization of our fellow humans. This is the way of "love and nonviolent protest."
NON-DEMONIC POLITICAL RHETORIC
Many in our citizenry who oppose Trump or Clinton are engaging in this dangerous demonizing rhetoric justifying its use as resisting "evil."
Nick Gass's Politico article, describes in some detail, how candidate Bernie Sanders refuses to use this rhetoric or engage in demonization. The article says:
"And what I say in a time when this country has enormous crises, we do not and cannot have a man with Trump's temperament, with the nuclear code and running this country," Sanders said.
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