The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Report

A necessary and common fight for equality has been one that has survived throughout all of man’s existence. Due to recent racial divide and the product of racial profiling, a movement has risen up to combat these common issues. The most recent and most well-covered is the Black Lives Matter Movement. Even though it has been lauded by some media sources and individuals as the next great movement to champion for civil rights, the Black Lives Matter movement is not the same as the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s nor is it likely to be as successful. If the Black Lives Matter Movement continues with discrepancies in ideology, lack of clear leadership, and trends of hate, the movement is doomed to fail.

Through the rise of groups such as the Black Panther Party, violence became increasingly prevalent. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of black people (Document F).” As a result of the lack of movement on the bill previously proposed my Kennedy to remove segregation, many African-Americans began to give up on this method of peaceful protest. “All of these efforts have been answered by more repression, deceit, and hypocrisy (Document F).” This is because as it appeared to them, it was not working and had no effect on the government. Instead, they discovered a much more direct approach which, was assured to catch the eye of the government. This method was violence. “The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for the black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late (Document F).” Through violent “black power” groups such as the Black Panthers, the previously peaceful Civil Rights movement began to take on a new

Civil rights groups are not a new thing in the United States, but after the disputed case of Trayvon Martin who was killed by George Zimmerman, the movement has been growing tumultuously. After Martin’s death, hundreds of high school teens began protesting, demanding both Zimmerman and chief police be fired. With the help of social media, Umi Selah and other activists were able to organize a forty-mile march from Daytona Beach to the headquarters of Sanford Police Department (the department that dealt with Martin and Zimmerman’s case.) The march lasted four days and ended in a five-hour blockade of the Sanford Police Department’s door. This organized protest was just the beginning of what quickly became the Black Lives Matter movement (McClain 2016).

The American Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s and 1960s generated massive international following and controversy, which made the movement one of the most important in U.S. history. The movement’s legacy can still be felt today, with the positive aspects, such as voting rights to African Americans and wide spread desegregation of public facilities, still being felt in the United States, and in many similar models across the globe. Although there were many “battlegrounds” where civil issues were debated, many people who know of the movement today would argue that the movement’s heart was rooted in the Deep South, ironically where it could be argued that the mentality of people living in the area at the time were the most violently opposed to such civil rights. In contrast, those who championed the Civil Rights Movement chose the tactic of nonviolence, at least at first, as a tool to dismantle racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality. They followed models that Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists had commissioned, using principles of nonviolence and passive resistance. Civil rights leaders had understood that segregationists would do anything to maintain their power over blacks. So, in consequence, they believed some changes might be made if enough people outside the

Many African Americans would have separate schools, bus seats, and even fountain drinks for the “colored”. If an African American would ever break these “laws”, they were either jailed, beaten, or killed for it. In response, many Africans saw the negative effects of violence and instead of choosing to fight back violently, they chose to protest through “nonviolence [,] as it grows from Judaic-Christian traditions [and] seeks a social order of justice permeated by love” (Doc. A). Many African Americans believed that through nonviolence it would help benefit the fight for equality because it would help them gain sympathy and support from the people through the sight violence being used on peaceful people. However, many African American’s were getting frustrated at how long it was taking to gain equality, protection of civil rights, and justice in courts so many thought that the time had “come for black people to arm themselves against [violence] before it [was] too late” (Doc. F) Many African Americans then started to turn to violence to try to push the fight for equality, but this was ultimately a disastrous decision because this caused the Civil Rights Movement to lose a lot of support they had from the

This book explores the relationship between nonviolence and armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Cobb points out the importance of armed self-defense in African American history and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb gives a voice to war veterans, nonviolent activists, and members of the armed self-defense groups to explain the significance of self-protection during the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb discusses how dangerous nonviolence political demonstrations were in an area (the South) where Jim Crow laws

Martin Luther King Jr.’s effective policy of non-violence. Furthermore, the “Black Lives Matter” movement’s disruptive protest and impassionate public mission statement speeches about the persistent purpose of racial inequality have been disconcerting to many Americans who wonder what the real message for this new generation of civil rights protests are, and if their arguments, tactics, and cause is effective and productive to inciting change. To many times their stances have appeared contradictory and hate filled because of their lack of specific purpose and a central governing body. Responding to this criticism, Black Lives Matter leaders assert this is, “not your grandfather’s civil-rights movement,” to distinguish its tactics and its philosophy from those of nineteen-sixties-style activism. However, despite insinuating they are not typical of older civil rights movements they frequently allude to past civil rights

On Easter weekend in 1960, as a college student, Bond wound up as a pioneering member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The committee which grasped on all the

One thing that I learned about that I didn’t know about was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In the course book on 940, it mentions that they embraced civil disobedience and the nonviolence principles of Martin Luther King Jr. They would not respond with violence if they were attacked. In an article titled, “SNCC”, written by the History.com staff, it mentions that in 1966, when Stokely Carmichael was elected head of the SNCC he had new tactics one of which was the use of violence as a legitimate means of self-defense. It goes on to mentions that his successor, H. Rap Brown, went further, saying, “Violence is as American as cherry pie.” This is what made it interesting, they group started of with not responding to the

The chapters on the Southern Movement, Cobb highlights the relationships between young activists and local participants in rural communities. He explains how he and other organizers began to recognize that their activism put local participants in danger of getting hurt or even killed. The fact that armed self-defense and gun ownership were ingrained into the southern culture, coupled with the risk involved with black resistance, made it difficult for national organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) to convince local people to engage solely in nonviolent civil disobedience.

McAdam states that there are six strategies social movement groups can employ to bring about change. In the case of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), even though blacks could now vote “legal subterfuge and extralegal intimidation” prevented them from taking part of political reform in the south (McAdam, 345). This intimidation extended as far as murder to prevent the

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee claims that America is being irresponsible both in and out of America. They claimed that in the South murderers are not being prosecuted for killing Civil Rights activist and in Vietnam America is murdering the Vietnamese. They claim that there were no regulatory forces that are opposing America that are trying to stop them in Vietnam. They question if the government is being effective, they claim that civil rights acts are not being enforced to their full potential. This organization wants America to be peaceful, they don’t want racism or war they want what they think is best for America. They want Americans to show that they do not want war in the polls and vote for more liberal candidates. Why

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was a civil rights organization. The organization was led by black college students who felt the need to make a statement on campus that they deserve to be treated equally as white students. These students were highly motivated to make an impact immediately, so they planned out sit-ins for students in the organization. All the students stuck together because they believed that if they continued their sit-ins it would lead to the lunch counters being shut down. So there were only two choices end the discriminatory policy or go out of

One of the most elements of the book is the evolution of the organization called SNCC. SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was founded in conjunction with the lunch counter sit0ins that originated in Greensboro, North Carolina in February 1960. SNCC activists were known to practice slow, tedious and patient voter registration drives in the most dangerous parts of the South. However, they seldom received credit for their efforts on a national level. Despite their lack of national attention, SNCC activists often managed to annoy white federal officials and black civil rights leaders. SNCC attracted radicals from the Revolutionary Action Movement, black nationalists from the North and a host of other mavericks. From its humble beginnings, SNCC was a peaceful group that used nonviolent methods to seek racial equality. Over the course of time, SNCC became more assertive in their methods of demanding racial equality and

Columbia University was a place of great tension between students and university staff in 1968. Students, some as young as late teenagers, protested against the school with strikes and sit-ins, and the situation escalated to the point where the university chose to use the New York Police Department force the students out. The two groups responsible for the protests were the the Student-Afro American Society (SAS) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Although the SDS had violent motivations and militant ideals during this period when racial tension was high, the SAS was a peaceful and nonviolent group, and considering factors such as support from outside communities, the roles of social class, the groups’ leadership styles, and ultimate