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irisblue

(32,828 posts)
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 08:49 PM Jun 2020

Civility, a tweet and an NYT article, I think on.

This is the African American Group, please respect this




(excellent follow on Twitter IMO)

NYT--
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/opinion/civility-protest-civil-rights.html

Remember this written in June 2018

snip--"Recent disruptive protests — from diners at Mexican restaurants in the capital calling the White House adviser Stephen Miller a fascist to protesters in Pittsburgh blocking rush-hour traffic after a police shooting of an unarmed teen — have provoked bipartisan alarm. CNN commentator David Gergen, adviser to every president from Nixon through Clinton, compared the anti-Trump resistance unfavorably to 1960s protests, saying, “The antiwar movement in Vietnam, the civil rights movement in the ’60s and early ’70s, both of those were more civil in tone — even the antiwar movement was more civil in tone, but certainly the civil rights movement, among the people who were protesting.”

snip--''The theme: We need a little more love, a little more King, a dollop of Gandhi. Be polite, be civil, present arguments thoughtfully and reasonably. Appeal to people’s better angels. Take the moral high ground above Trump and his supporters’ low road. Above all, don’t disrupt."


snip--" But in fact, civil rights leaders, while they did believe in the power of nonviolence, knew that their success depended on disruption and coercion as much — sometimes more — than on dialogue and persuasion. They knew that the vast majority of whites who were indifferent or openly hostile to the demands of civil rights would not be moved by appeals to the American creed or to bromides about liberty and justice for all. Polite words would not change their behavior."


snip--" Dialogue was necessary but far from sufficient for passage of civil rights laws. Disruption catalyzed change.
That history is a reminder that civility is in the eye of the beholder. And when the beholder wants to maintain an unequal status quo, it’s easy to accuse picketers, protesters, and preachers alike of incivility, as much because of their message as their methods. For those upset by disruptive protests, the history of civil rights offers an unsettling reminder that the path to change is seldom polite."


more at thst source

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MenloParque

(505 posts)
1. Civility
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 08:57 PM
Jun 2020

As an African-American woman I won’t allow this person to speak for me. I choose to be civil in all forms of dealing with others. Also, as someone who has a family in law enforcement, I don’t agree with Ms. Adaway’s “Fuck the Police” stance.

irisblue

(32,828 posts)
3. Welcome to DU. I appreciate your input
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 09:28 PM
Jun 2020

Your views are/may be different then mine, but I want to hear what you have to say.
As my mom reminds me, I do not know everything.

DonCoquixote

(13,615 posts)
2. the ugly fact is
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 08:57 PM
Jun 2020

For all of the success of Dr. King, people would not have listened to him if Malcolm X was not ready to speak in much harsher tones.

irisblue

(32,828 posts)
4. Yeah that disruptive thing, kinda burns and itches and maybe makes you some smarter.
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 09:35 PM
Jun 2020

Thanks for your reply

summer_in_TX

(2,680 posts)
8. Civility is mistaken for submissiveness, keeping the peace at all costs.
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 11:27 PM
Jun 2020

But in reality civility is strong truth delivered in a manner in which it can be heard and received.

"Letter From a Birmingham Jail" doesn't mince words, but there is power in its truth and also in its civility. It calls moderate whites out. And it had the power to convict of sin.

Does anyone think that confronting and spitting on some in the Trump administration had any such moral power?

As a young teen whose parents were news junkies and supporters of the Civil Rights Movement, it was MLK who made a difference in hearts and minds and made us believe in the morality of the cause of civil rights.

Maybe some in the Deep South noticed Malcolm X because of the legacy of fear of freed slaves that their guilt made them prey to down to that generation. But in our household, Martin Luther King was our hero. I read "Stride Toward Freedom" and "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by the age of fourteen.

The next year on my parents' wedding anniversary Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. My parents and I were devastated.

For many years, the assassination marred their anniversary and they were sad. The commissioned a bust of a young MLK, which to this day is on a bookshelf at their home (although my mom has been gone several years now). And when a documentary came out a couple of years later, the whole family went to see it at the old Paramount Theater in downtown Austin.

King wasn't submissive, he was a man of strength and strong moral authority. And his civility was part of that moral authority.

Nothing was stronger than Dr. King. Not Malcolm X. Not the KKK. And not Bull Conner.

His moral message opened many hearts and minds, mine included. But a new generation of white people are now hearing the moral call. I hope the Black Lives Matter movement is able to keep the hotheads and those provocateurs who would love to provoke a race war from succeeding.

tishaLA

(14,176 posts)
5. I'd love to hear more about Gergen's Disney version
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 10:49 PM
Jun 2020

of the anti-war and civil rights movements of the late 60s an early 70s. The late 60s civil rights movement, after all, gave us the "pigs" slang for cops and the Panthers were literally walking the streets with guns and calling people fascists; in fact, they even hosted a conference in the late 60s called "United Front Against Fascism."

Midnight Writer

(21,546 posts)
6. Civility is the basis for civilization. Don't take it lightly. And David Gergen is an ass.
Sun Jun 28, 2020, 11:05 PM
Jun 2020

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. That's true.

But more hate is not the cure for hate.

spicysista

(1,663 posts)
9. You know, I was thinking about this topic....
Mon Jun 29, 2020, 10:50 AM
Jun 2020

My upbringing predisposed me to appreciate nonviolence and longsuffering. I think it comes from a sort of privilege. Let me explain.

I grew up surrounded by affluent black people. Everywhere! Most members of my home church were multigenerational college educated upwardly mobile black families. Those who were not were usually pretty comfortable anyway because of family businesses or "good plant" jobs.

They are the legacy of those legendary marchers. The purse of the civil rights movement found a home in my city. So, many of the people around me were very comfortable. "If you want changes done, it's going to be a long journey. Quick changes are short lived. Show them you are better. " These are the ideas surrounding my upbringing.

I have experienced the "______ while black" more times than I can count! However, I've always had a black attorney, judge, principal, cop, mayor, lawmaker, dentist, doctor, surgeon, researcher....whatever I need, in my cell phone. Since moving out of my hometown where I have none of these connections, things feel very differently. Those connections back home were such an amazing security blanket for me. The lack of cushion has made my experiences much more difficult to shoulder.

If I had grown up in the circumstances in which I now live, I may not have appreciated the tactical prowess of disagreeing, civilly. However, I do feel both can be effective in fostering change. I do think that one path is less likely to get you into the board rooms and meetings where the change often happens.

Your posts are always thought provoking. Thanks for sharing, irisblue.

tulipsandroses

(5,092 posts)
10. I believe in doing what is necessary. If your opponent responds to civility, then OK, if not then do
Wed Jul 8, 2020, 10:16 PM
Jul 2020

what is necessary. I am not talking about physical violence. Sometimes disruption is necessary.

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