Why We Can’t Wait

Peggy Noonan, in my opinion, is one of the best opinion columnists among the mainstream media these days.
The former Reagan and Bush speech writer has penned her column “Declarations” for the Wall Street Journal for more than 25 years, earning her a Pulitzer Prize for her commentary. She’s a self-described conservative who isn’t afraid to reflect on deficiencies in both parties but always does so in a measured and thoughtful way, always well-written.
Her column on January 31, in the wake of the shootings in Minneapolis, fits that bill. Titled “America Needs Restraint – And Facts,” she called for de-escalation on both sides of the immigration situation that is still flaring, as well as the need for wire services and local papers to do a better job presenting facts without jumping to baseless conclusions.
On the protestor front, she cites the need to more closely align with Reverend Martin Luther King’s approach in the civil rights protest era, specifically the nonviolent direct action he promoted in his leadership.
She noted about King’s movement: “He believed peacefulness and nonviolence were morally grounded in Christianity and historically tested by Gandhi... In Birmingham there were marches, sit-ins, and boycotts. The police chief, “Bull” Connor, turned fire hoses on the demonstrators, who didn’t physically retaliate. King knew the divide between those demonstrators and the violent response would play out on TV screens across the country. And he knew which side America would take. Current protestors should emulate that dignity and power, not fall into formless jeering and harassment.”
She exhorts protestors to “be slow to interfere with law enforcement and summon support by your bearing.”
I agree. But that level of discipline is a hard thing to summon in today’s social media-fueled environment of outrage. Thankfully, there’s a detailed, prescriptive formula given to us by MLK himself and which today’s protestors might benefit from following if they’re seeking the same level of change and success King’s movement achieved.
It’s detailed in MLK’s 1963 book “Why We Can’t Wait,” my favorite book of his.
In it, he describes the highly programmed way his movement recruited and trained volunteers. In order to qualify for the marches that he organized, volunteers had to sign a ten-point pledge card governing their behavior on the streets. I won’t list all ten, but here are a few, pulled from the book:
Remember always that the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory.
Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue or heart.
Seek to perform regular service for others and the world.
If volunteers were unable or unwilling to commit to these tenets in their interactions with the public, they were assigned other tasks, like running errands, typing papers, etc.
“If a volunteer wasn’t suited to march,” King wrote, “he was utilized in one of a dozen other ways to help the cause.”
What’s lacking in today’s protest movements, it seems to me, is that level of clarity, discipline, and centralized leadership, along with the ability to fully comprehend the true power of King’s nonviolent direct-action approach.
In many ways, it could feel like a quaint pipe dream to think we could ever achieve that level of peace and discipline when everyone is so pig-biting mad about seemingly everything these days.
But I don’t think so. And neither does Noonan, who ended her column by saying: “I realize this sounds like ‘let’s return to the old ways.’ But yes, let’s. They worked, the country didn’t rupture, we endured. Which is what we want.”