I (Justin) often wonder what would have happened if blacks had tried to mount an armed insurgency against slavery and the oppressive Jim Crow system. Where would black Americans be had we chosen sabotage and violence in lieu of peaceful demonstration (with the ever-present threat of riots)? In South Africa, blacks used both peaceful and violent means to overturn apartheid. Umkhonto we Sizwe (”Spear of the Nation”) was the militant wing of the African National Congress. One of the founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe was Nobel Prize Winner and former South African President Nelson R. Mandela. The purpose of Umkhonto we Sizwe was to mount guerrilla attacks and sabotage against the white South African apartheid regime. Mandela learned bomb-making and other terrorists tactics as part of his training.
The obvious differences are that South Africa is a majority black country, and the white economic elite was totally dependent on the stability of the black working class. Blacks in South Africa could topple an electrical power pole and then escape into the shadows of the townships. Blacks here had no such respite, and no real access to arms. In the USA, blacks are roughly 13% of the population, and, therefore, a much easier target with less economic clout, relatively speaking.
All in all, I’m glad our people chose non-violence. Had we chose violence, we would probably have been wiped off the face of the earth. The question reminds of me of something Stokely Carmichael once said to Dr. King, “Dr. King, why must we be more moral than white people?”
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