Monday, January 17, 2011

African Americans put up with a lot for a long time

This is a clip of Martin Luther King Jr responding to Malcom X's criticism of non-violent resistance:



It's just coincidence that I've recently learned more about Thomas Paine and his efforts to end slavery, at least in America at the time of its founding. African Americans have put up with a lot for a long time, even after the end of slavery. 1963 was not that long ago. It was the same year Abdul Karim Qasim was overthrown and killed.

Malcolm X may have been too violent for America (he was radicalized, to say the least), and non-violent resistance is always the best approach, but it makes me feel good to know that at least one group of African slaves fought back and won their freedom on a slave ship, but it was pushed by winds northward towards the USA, where a ship called The Washington captured it. Spain claimed ownership of La Amistad and its human cargo. John Quincy Adams, a former President at the time, fought hard to free them.

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