I believe if Coates and King began to discuss their very
different opinions on whether or not violence is the right choice to solve
political and social issues they would both be very frustrated with each other.
I think Dr. King would tell Coates that by being violent people just reinforce
the stereotypes and stigmas politicians and police have for certain racial and
economic demographics. He would tell Coates that if he wants anything to change
they need to first show that they can be peaceful about their protest. I
believe Coates would come right back and tell him that if people stopped
showing violence in protests just because the people in power tell them they
should then they’re telling those people that they’re right in their actions
and that they can do whatever they want because everyone will just stop when
they’re told to. I think both authors are educated but they’re both from such
different times. While discrimination is still an issue I think the types of
discrimination have vastly shifted (not saying their worse or better, just
different). If I could sit down and talk to them both I would tell them that
neither of them are right, and neither of them are wrong this world isn’t black
and white, or yes and no The way to deal with injustice isn’t one way or the
other. There is nothing that will just “solve” the issue of discrimination or
police brutality. Peaceful protests can project a lack of passion and an
admission or correctness of political leaders. While violent protest can create
a world of correctness in the leader’s minds because “how can we expect them to
comply when pulled over if they can’t even protest peacefully. Sadly, I’d tell
them that either way they’re playing into the hands of those who have power,
but that doesn’t mean they should stop what they’re doing. I would tell them
that at some point if they keep compromising with each others methods of
protest they might find “the golden ticket” of protesting that can’t be
undermined by politicians or police men.
Like Carson said, both authors are from different times and sometimes different times call for different measures. Coates and King may not agree with each other on the subject of violence but they both want the same thing which is justice for all people. If I were to join their conversation, I would tell them that what they're doing can and will be influential and there might be a possibility for change but there's always going to be some form of corruption when it comes to who is in power. I think power makes people evil (to an extent) because people take advantage of that power and abuse it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both the author and the first commenter that saying that Coates and King may not agree with each other on the subject of violence but they both want the same thing which is justice for all people. Both Coates and King make it clear that they see a problem that needs to be issued but what in particular is their opinions of what the issue is. I don’t agree that violence is strictly the answer to get your view across to other people, but then again keeping silent isn’t how it need to come about. I feel like a violent approach won’t get a point across and rather rise more problems and more issues that have to be fixed in the future. I think that we should show that we have a problem and explain how it needs to be solved as we all come together rather than just setting a certain issue out and start pointing fingers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carson on how Coates and King will probably not agree with each other because they both have different views on violence. They both essentially want the same thing which is change with police brutality. I feel like Coates is more violent about the matter and talks about how it is harder to remain calm towards the matter because a lot of innocent people have been killed and injured because of the abuse with the police. But in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he emphasizes how you have to be nonviolent when it comes to police brutality because you can not fight violence with more violence. They both want a change and I feel like they would agree on that but they approach it on complete different ways. I think King has the right approach on how to handle things because acting violent would just make things worse and it would prove to officials that they were right and give them a reason to be violent. If they did it a certain way, they could probably work something out with police officials and show them how they have an upper hand on the issue.
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