Dear Friends,

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(01:26) Nonviolent action, from Minneapolis to Greenland – LISTEN
(20:09) We need darkness, with James Bruton – LISTEN
(37:24) Irish music scene is exploding, with Jon Duvick – LISTEN
(54:21) Good-greens pop quiz, with Kathy Byrnes – LISTEN

This week, many of us (not President Trump, it seems) celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The holiday is promoted as a day of public service. Planting trees, picking up litter, tutoring kids, volunteering at senior centers, serving meals at homeless shelters, that sort of thing.

Lincoln Memorial Youth March for Integrated Schools, from the National Archives Catalog.

All important. But if we ignore the reality that King’s holiday is, first and foremost, about his role in the 1960s struggle for racial justice and equality, we’ve missed the main point.

And the Civil Rights movement was emphatically nonviolent. Black people and their White allies got clubbed and arrested for peacefully protesting.

Given the violence unleashed against them, protesters won the hearts and minds of the American people, and eventually, enough members of Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

As we reflect on and continue to learn from King’s legacy, it’s critical to maintain a commitment to nonviolence in today’s struggles. Last week, when recently-pardoned Jan 6th rioter, Jake Lang, showed up in Minneapolis to taunt ICE protestors, some in the crowd threw things at him, called him names, and even kicked Lang repeatedly when he was in a car.

That response is counterproductive. So it was encouraging to hear an anti-ICE organizer, Drew Harmon, say on a local news broadcast, “We are very committed to nonviolence and not taking the bait. We want them to see us standing strong, and standing with resolve and discipline, something we’ve seen the other side lack consistently.”

I understand the fury people feel at what ICE is doing to our families, friends, and neighbors. I share that anger. But when we act out of anger, when we respond to hatred and violence with hatred and violence, we fall into Trump’s trap.

The Civil Rights struggle was successful largely because it was peaceful. That’s the most important take away from Martin Luther Jr. King Day, if we have the patience, restraint, and wisdom to apply it.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action.

Ed Fallon

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