Forum Post: Both MLK and Gandhi believed in armed self defense, MLK even once applied for a concealed carry permit.
Posted 11 years ago on Jan. 24, 2013, 9:03 a.m. EST by nomdeguerre
(1775)
from Brooklyn, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Gandhi: "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.” http://democratsforgunownership.org/famous-quotes/
MLK: "Most people think King would be the last person to own a gun. Yet in the mid-1950s, as the civil rights movement heated up, King kept firearms for self-protection. In fact, he even applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
A recipient of constant death threats, King had armed supporters take turns guarding his home and family. He had good reason to fear that the Klan in Alabama was targeting him for assassination.
William Worthy, a journalist who covered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, reported that once, during a visit to King's parsonage, he went to sit down on an armchair in the living room and, to his surprise, almost sat on a loaded gun. Glenn Smiley, an adviser to King, described King's home as "an arsenal."" https://secure.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/mlk-and-his-guns_b_810132.html
Among MLK's armed guards: The Deacons. "The Deacons for Defense and Justice were a black self-defense group with a fascinating history. Founded in Jonesboro, LA to combat the violence of the KKK, they went on to provide security for civil-rights groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Campaign (SCLC — Martin Luther King’s organization)." http://differentriver.com/archives/2006/01/11/mlk-and-self-defense/
Nonviolent social struggle was chosen as a tactic to confront vastly superior power, it is our choice too. But being a pacifist in the struggle against power, does not require being a pacifist in defense of the self.
It all Sounds true to me. Many Americans don't understand their history, or the struggles of other people through out history. The British Raj in India will piss you off. The struggles of Blacks in the US will piss you off even more.
You serve in the Military, you serve with people that may want to own guns ... some of them black, some latino, some asian.... Of course if there are young kids around, most will prefer not to own guns... I'm guessing.
Both MLK and Gandhi had experiences with corrupt and evil human beings in their pre-fame lives. Many Americans grow up without first hand experience of such. And some liberals are so hampered by their human-nature-is-naturally-good mantras that they can't come to grips with evil in the flesh.
Yeah, I feel that the Universities have been infiltrated by TPTB. Not sure it if started in the Macarthy Era or after Milton Friedman came up with Neoliberalsim. But I'm a cynic. Oh, my point is that many see America as progressive. I think we can look to better ideas and call them progressive, ... but I don't think the US is progressive if we followed Vietnam with similar conflicts, war in foreign lands that have nothing to do with us. I also heard some nasty stuff was done by our US Soldiers in Panama when they went after Noriega. We had no reason to kill civilians in Panama or to go to full battle in Panama ... what for a police action ... for a drug kingpin that we trained.
Vietnam, Panama, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Iraq, none of it makes sense. After the British and the Russians wars in Afghanistan ... why would the US go and do the same thing. Because we are NOT Progressive. We have not learned our history. And I am guilty here too, but I've learned a little.
And how can people know about the military conspiracy to kill MLK as came out in the Civil Suit by MLK's Family... and still think we are a progressive nation?
The problem with US Culture ... is that people think we are progressive.
Gandhi: "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.”
YOU CAN FIGHT WITHOUT VIOLENCE!!!!!!! fucking morons.......
Arms dont equal guns and Gandhi was most definately NOT in favor of violence.
A single ambiguous quote about 'arms', does not mean gandhi was in favor of violent action.
YOU CAN FIGHT WITHOUT VIOLENCE!!!!!
You have a problem with reading comprehension.
I'm not the one saying "Gandhi was pro-violence" based on a single obscure quote.
You put that phrase in quotes, but I never said it. You seem to be a slimy Breitbartian.
By saying "Gandhi is pro-guns" you are implying "Gandhi is pro-violence". You can't be non-violent and for guns.
Thanks for the bump.
De nada.
MLK: "I contended that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun when his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use a gun while participating in an organized demonstration. (Where Do We Go, p. 27)." http://www.manuampim.com/NonviolentTradition.htm
MLK's application was denied due to racism.
". . . after King's house was bombed, King applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama. The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless. At the time, the police used any wiggle room in the law to discriminate against African Americans." https://secure.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/mlk-and-his-guns_b_810132.html
He should have moved to Indiana....we are a "shall issue" state.
"May issue" is such BS.
Well known pacifists that advocate private gun ownership. That wont go over well on this site, devoted to all things anti american.
So you feel that OWS is anti-American?
Eat Shit and Bark at the moon - do You?
You can leave at any time - maybe your soul mate is waiting on a bircher sty umm site well sty.
blank verse is not your forte.
This site and OWS are absolutely NOT "devoted to all things anti American." Who sells you that garbage?
There some anti-Americans here, committed One Worlders/NWOers, paid posters (by NATO, etc.), probably even a few communists -- gasp! But you probably mean liberals and progressives are anti-American, which is nonsense.
Almost all liberals and progressives want a return to the rule of the law and constitutional principles. They're very big supporters of the Bill of Rights -- with the sad exception of the 2A. The reasons for this are complex. I'm doing what I can to bring them over, http://occupywallst.org/forum/support-of-the-entire-bill-of-rights-including-the/ .
You should not listen to Fox Liars News. The U.S. government/the Pentagon is waging all out information warfare against us the citizens and taxpayers. Fox exists to mislead the Right, CNN, the Center, MSNBC, liberal democrats, DemocracyNOW, the progressives. They are all players. It's called divide and conquer.
Do you believe the DHS reason for their purchase of 1.4 billions of rounds of ammo is for target practice? Also purchasing ammo is the Social Scurity Administration, and the National Weather Service.Among their buying was 450 mil rounds of hollow points. Hollow points are banned for use in international warfare.
That's a scary one. I don't know.