National Campaign Nonviolence Week

According to the Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service website, this is Campaign Nonviolence Week, which culminates in the International Peace Day on September 21.

Pace e Bene is tracking nonviolence actions this week across the world. You can take a look at the latest update here.

As part of this weeklong celebration of an alternative to violent confrontation, in all its forms, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a few historic figures who practiced nonviolence in their own lives.

From a biblical perspective, nonviolence is an essential part of the Christian faith and those who follow Jesus.

In the New Testament, Jesus told the Pharisees (in Luke 11:42) "What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe yes, but do not neglect the more important things." (NLT)

You could argue that among the 'more important things' that Jesus walked out in his own life were a commitment to nonviolence - even to the point of death - justice and humility.

Of course, the Old Testament standard of what the Lord requires of us is answered very succinctly in Micah 6:8: "Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God." (NLT)

On a more recent level, the following list of individuals is by no means exhaustive, it's meant only to inspire us in our own seeking of nonviolence.

Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights activist, in particular in the area of voter registration. Starting in 1963 she traveled across Mississippi helping register blacks to vote while resisting Jim Crow laws.
In 1964 she helped organize Freedom Summer which brought in hundreds of college students from across the country to help register voters. That same year she helped to found the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party when the national Democratic Party sought to block blacks from being delegates to the national convention.

Though Hamer was arrested several times, as well as beaten - once almost to the point of death - she never countered with violence. She was an unabashed Christian and often mentioned the teachings of Jesus and his nonviolence as a bedrock of her own actions.

Rosa Parks helped set the table for the Civil Rights Movement by refusing to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery. In 1955 she simply stayed seated when asked to move to make room for white passengers. Parks' action helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which the Women's National History Museum called "one of the largest social movements in history." It was also nonviolent. Even before her action in 1955, Parks had a history of civil rights engagement.

Harriet Tubman was an active member of the Underground Railroad in the 1850s. After she herself escaped from the South, she eventually returned several times to bring other slaves to freedom. Because of her Underground Railroad work, she gained extensive knowledge of actual railroad transportation lines. It was in this capacity that she became a Union spy during the Civil War.

John Lewis, who is currently serving as a US Representative from Georgia, had a decades-long involvement in the Civil Rights movement. This included walking alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Lewis' skull was fractured by police while attempting to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965.

So horrific were the newspaper images of the violence perpetrated by law enforcement officials who unsuccessfully sought to squelch their march that the day was labeled "Bloody Sunday."

Throughout his involvement with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, Lewis repeatedly advocated for nonviolent action among its participants.

As the Campaign Nonviolence Week culminates with an international day of peace on September 21, let's keep in mind the powerful example of those who have gone before us.