(LifeSiteNews) – I have always agreed with John Cavenaugh-O’Keefe that the pro-life movement really needs to study nonviolence, especially learning about the American civil rights movement.
We, as a movement, too quickly shy away from the prospect of arrest, and fear what others think and what the secular world calls “illegal” – but are in reality virtuous acts of justice.
Here in jail I was able to read a special supplement in the Washington Post about the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington led by Rev. King. In the opening of his famous “I have a dream” speech on August 28, 1963, he greeted marchers from around the country, recognizing especially those who had just been released from jails in Mississippi.
He had no fear. The crowd cheered when he said these words. They did not recoil in shame, fear, or embarrassment.
Neither did the students. SNCC, the national Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was on the ground in D.C. for the historic 1963 rally and march assisting in leadership positions. In the early 1960s, SNCC organized sit-ins across the south, often in dangerous locations. Historians estimate that 70,000 college students participated in these “illegal” sit-ins, with between 3,000 to 4,000 students being arrested.
What amazing courage! These were mostly black students, but many whites also participated and risked arrest too. Thousands of STUDENTS. And it was NORMAL! A campaign of nonviolence confronted the evil of racism to its face via direct action. Unjust arrests were an ORDINARY outcome of confronting injustice. The people then knew it. Sadly, our people do NOT. This needs to be remedied. I think our movement, especially college students, needs a thorough educational formation in the philosophical, strategic, and practicalities of nonviolence. Imagine 70,000 students rescuing in the U.S.!
Will Goodman was found guilty of conspiracy against rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking access to late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic in downtown Washington, D.C. in October 2020.