Violence Is Never The Answer

By: Donald V. Watkins

©Copyrighted and Published on October 11, 2018

In the aftermath of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing and President Donald J. Trump's mocking of Dr. Christine B. Ford for testifying against Kavanaugh, some critics have hinted that opponents of Trumpian strongman politics need to deploy more aggressive tactics in their resistance. Some have hinted at fighting back in ways that are I believe are counter-productive.

Let me be clear on one thing: Violence is never the answer to systematic discrimination and sexual abuse. Violence is the language of the unheard.

History has shown us that freedom of speech is the greatest tool for liberation from oppression that man has ever created. For thousands of years, despots and tyrants around the world have tried to suppress freedom of speech. None has succeeded in quashing it on a permanent basis.

Jesus Christ was crucified because he actively engaged in a full measure of freedom of speech. He paraded in the streets without a permit. He healed the sick without a medical license. He fed the hungry and clothed the naked without government permission. He disrupted the gaming establishment by engaging in disorderly conduct. He had no permanent street address and did not wear custom-made clothes or name-brand shoes. He treated all men and women with respect. He never called any woman or man a "dog" or "pig".

In fact, Jesus stopped the stoning of a woman who had been accused of adultery, which was punishable by death under Jewish law. Jesus said to her executioners, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

Jesus could have defeated any army, yet he never used or encouraged his followers to use physical violence. When violence was inflicted upon Jesus, he literally asked God to forgive the perpetrators because they did not know what they are doing.

For those who call upon Democrats to match the gutter politics of the Trumpian era with an antidotal brand of gutter politics, I say this: One cannot defeat gutter politics by wallowing in the gutter ourselves.

Sooner or later, God will send someone to lead America out of the Trump abyss of self-centered, sexist, xenophobic, regressive, narrow-mindedness. As for me, no man or women stands tall when he/she has to stand of the necks of others in order to elevate himself/herself.

I have no respect for President Trump or any man/woman who proudly calls women "dogs" and "pigs", or who lusts after his own "voluptuous", "piece of ass" daughter. Those who do not condemn this type of deviant behavior, apparently embrace it.

According to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "[o]ur lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." He continued by stating, "[i]n the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

Finally, Booker T. Washington once said, "[a] lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it is accepted by a majority. Adolf Hitler's rule as "Führer" in Nazi Germany is the world's best example of this axiom. Donald Trump's rule as President of America demonstrates that this axiom is alive and well today.

PHOTO: Violence is never the answer.