Newspaper article by Suketu Patel

This is a newspaper article by Suketu Patel titled “How King’s beliefs helped South Philly”, a personal reflection of the recent Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as related to current events in the Philadelphia school system. This was printed in the Friday, January 22, 2010, newspaper edition of the Bucks County Courier Times.

“How King’s beliefs helped South Philly”

One can paraphrase Newton’s third law of physics by stating that “Every action is followed by an equal or greater reaction”.

A falling rock in the mountains can cause an avalanche. A minute of intense shaking can devastate so many homes and lives in Haiti.

Just as we see this saying in action as elements of nature clash, it also applies as people’s ideas and feelings clash. If one person hits a second person, it is innate human nature to want to hit back harder. Sometimes this hit-back approach resolves a violent conflict but usually it causes the violence to escalate.

Mahatma Gandhi recognized this aspect of human nature repeated throughout history, and developed a philosophy called satyagraha to end such conflicts through nonviolent means. In effect Mahatma Gandhi redefined what the term greater reaction to every action meant.

Born a Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi generalized the concept of God as a universal eternal truth that he called satya. Satyagraha is the philosophy he developed to align one’s own actions, reactions and thoughts in accordance with the moral standard of this universal, eternal truth.

Satyagraha philosophy insists that one should stand against injustices, institutionalized or otherwise, against anyone, including minorities and majorities being discriminated against. Satyagraha philosophy also was very specific that one’s reactions in standing against these injustices should be nonviolent in nature.

So sit-ins and other means of protesting social injustices, such as boycotts and peaceful protests, were advocated by this philosophy. If a community stood united against unjust laws or circumstances, then they had the best chance of getting those injustices addressed and overturned.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher who saw great potential in applying Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha philosophy, in combination with his own religious convictions to Jesus Christ, in overcoming the unjust laws of segregation that were practiced in America during his time.

The principles of nonviolent conflict resolution continue to be practiced today in very important ways which usually receive little media attention because they are not easily sensationalized.

Fortunately, one recent incident of nonviolent conflict resolution has received good media attention, but unfortunately, much of the general public has not realized its significance in this practical context.

In December 2009, a number of Asian South Philadelphia High School students boycotted school. They had been the target of numerous threats and acts of racial violence against them, allegedly by predominantly African-American students.

These Asian students had contacted school officials multiple times, but did not feel that the educational institution was responding to assure their safety. They instead decided as a group to peacefully boycott school in favor of doing their classwork themselves in safer home settings. This bold, yet simple nonviolent act did much more to have their school safety concerns addressed then all the months of prior meetings with school officials.

A number of human relation councils stepped in, and the school board changed its tune and committed to doing more. With this in place, and after an eight-day boycott, the Asian students bravely returned to class in a setting much safer not only for the Asian students, but for all those attending South Philadelphia High School.

An important aspect of this story not often discussed is what would have happened if the students chose a violent reaction instead of the nonviolent approach they took.

In the face of such violent racial attacks, what if they joined an Asian gang to fight the attacks harder each time? How far would a violent approach to conflict resolution have escalated?

Fortunately, the Asian students, under the guidance of their parents and a number of supportive nonprofit Asian agencies, took a more educated approach. And as a result of embracing the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and the same nonviolent conflict resolution principles adopted by King, the entire school and Philadelphia community benefitted.

Sometimes many who lack proper understanding confuse King’s struggles as purely a black vs. white conflict. In reality, the satyagraha philosophy that King embraced was meant to work for any minority or majority who faced institutional injustices. Those nonviolent conflict resolution principles are still alive today, and being put into practice with very successful outcomes.

Hopefully in the new year, this nonviolent approach to conflict resolution will be used more often to make our world a more peaceful place for everyone.