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This essay is about non-violent theory and practice. The main elements of Dr. Martin Luther king’s non-violent theory are Agape, Consistency, and Unity. Dr, King believed in Agape, Agape is A Greek word meaning the Will power to love under any condition which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. He preached to love thy enemy. He also believed in Unity of all people, nothing he preached or believed in would have been possible if the people weren’t unified with the same beliefs and goals. Unity made me think of the word solidarity. Last but not least Dr. King believed in Consistency. He used Consistency in marches, protests, and speeches through the phrase by Mahatma Gandhi “Never let them rest”. His Consistency to me reminded me of the phrase Raw Determination. Examples of these practices would be The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Birmingham march, and The Poor Man’s Campaign. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was so successful at his non-violent approaches largely due to the teachings and studies of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer who became the fame leader of the Indian revolts against   the British rule through his philosophy of non-violent protest. Dr. Martin Luther King also used a higher power as a motivating factor in his speeches. Dr. King was born January 15, 1929 and was assonated April 4, 1968. He graduated from segregated high school in Georgia at the age of 15. He received his BA degree in 1948 from Morehouse College. He obtained his Doctorates from Boston University in 195. He also was the youngest person at age 5 to receive the Nobel Peace prize and turned over the prize money ($54,123) to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. In this essay I will show these three elements worked in the Birmingham March, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, and The Poor Man’s Campaign.

              One example of the elements that MLK used to make his non-violent protests a success would be Agape. I first learned of this method in the article I read online “Birmingham March by C.T. Vivian. In this article by C.T. Vivian he talks about the march in Birmingham .Dr. King said after the Montgomery Bus Boycott at the Birmingham airport “What’s next” he was very persistent in the never letting the civil rights movement rest or take a break. He gave a speech to the youth high school kids to be exact about his views and how we all as people must play apart in the stopping of injustices committed to the Black people by the white supremacist groups and the segregation laws. He explained to the youth that they would be verbally assaulted, abused, Hosed, and possibly attacked by vicious police dogs. He never, not once lied to them or gave them a false sense of hope that this would be easy. His speech provided them with security and hopes they needed as well as hope and pride something like an out of body experience. After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech to the High school students they started their march. The protesters were verbally assaulted, physically beaten, hosed down with fire hoses shooting out water at high pressures strong enough to tear flesh off of bones, and attacked by police dogs. The teenagers were faced with all of this but still managed to continue marching without resorting to violence against their aggressors. The world witnessed first hand what injustices these teenagers endured that day through the media footage taken. This I believe was a tactic MLK used to show the world what was going on in Birmingham. He provoked the violence through his non-violent, during a time where no assaults or killings were being committed on a regular basis but MLK wanted the world to see what was really going on and his plan worked. MLK captured the attention of the world as well as the United States President who at the time was John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy changed the segregation laws due to this injustice. The use of Agape help protesters keep their spirits up in a time where most people would have been broken down. I believe the use of Agape or the practice love your enemy helped spark a change in Birmingham March.

             Another example of the elements that MLK used to make his non-violent protests a success would be Consistency. I first incorporated Consistency with the Montgomery   Bus Boycott after reading an online article about “The Montgomery Bus Boycott by Lisa Cozzens”. In this article by Lisa Cozzen she talks about a lady named Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913. She was a well educated woman, who attended the Laboratory school at Alabama State College. She became a seamstress because she couldn’t find a job to suit her skills. On Thursday December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white man. This was the start of what was soon to be called The Montgomery Bus Boycott. This was the start of a mass boycott to stop riding the bus. MLK helped by having mass meetings in his church.  His words were if we can get at least 60% of the people to cooperate this boycott will become a success. To MLK’s surprise no one rode the bus. At first Black cab drivers were giving people a ride for the same price as a bus ride, until they were fined or jailed for not charging the standard rate of 45 cents. This didn’t stop or detour the bus boycott everyone just started walking. The bus boycott lasted 13 months until the U.s. Supreme court ruled that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. The Consistency of MLK and the people showed with the boycott proved that non-violence could be effective by not riding the bus the state lost a lot of money in turn, forcing the U.S. Supreme court to take notice of what was going in that situation.  This couldn’t have been done over night it was the determination and will of the people who made this non-violent boycott a success.