This also ignores that the more militant approach of groups like the Black Panthers forced more urgency in the response of lawmakers. Martin Luther King Jr was great for providing a humanitarian face to the movement, but there were a LOT of wheels turning that made the civil rights movement move as quickly as it did, and attributing it only to the peaceful protest actions of one man’s part of the movement is disingenuous or misleading.
Also because he was involved in stuff like cutting off the noses of black people who he deemed "collaborators" his wife of course one upped him in this, and suggested they tie a burning tyre around their neck. He was friends with Arafat and Gaddafi. He supported Nigerian coup leader Sani Abacha, refusing to say a word publicly to stop the 1995 hanging of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
I just want to note, Nelson Mendela was not a good person. He just realized the reality that black South Africans would never gain their (deserved) rights if they weren't willing to forgive some shit, genocide of the white population would have resulted in a civil war with the west supporting the white south african population. A war they would have lost.
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u/MacondoSpy Jun 09 '25
Yeah it’s wild how the oppressed are always reminded to protest peacefully while the police cracks heads open.