Letter from Jonathan D. Greenberg, Director
New generations depend on us, and we depend on them: to keep our most cherished values and rights alive; to enable us to rise up from fear and hatred; to let freedom ring and justice heal our national wounds.
In the words of Amanda Gorman, our magnificent Youth Poet Laureate, in her inauguration poem “The Hill We Climb“:
We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.
The USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice empowers students, activists, and community-based organizations to adopt the principles and methods of nonviolence advocated and practiced by Martin Luther King, Jr. so that we can overcome the greatest evils Dr. King opposed – racism and white supremacy, poverty and economic inequality, militarism and systemic violence – and create the Beloved Community Dr. King envisioned.
Traumatic and sorrowful events of the past year culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob to disenfranchise millions of Americans and overthrow the results of our democratic election.
The ugly and terrifying episode of violence on the national stage reflects corrosive forces that continue to threaten our social fabric and highlight the utmost urgency and necessity of our institute’s mission and our work.
This attack on democracy failed. But we must not be complacent, as the risk of mass violence remains acute.
Every institution in our society depends upon the bedrock of nonviolence. If this foundation is corroded, our nation can no longer function as a democracy based on Constitutional order, human rights and rule of law.
As Amanda Gorman shared with us, on the steps of the Capitol, on January 20:
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
This effort very nearly succeeded.
It is up to us to ensure that such an effort will not succeed next time.
We must be engaged, and vigilant and courageous, and we must be well-versed and well-trained in the theory, practice and methods of Kingian nonviolence. Only with this training and dedication can we protect our democracy, our rights, our families and our lives, and reaffirm the network of mutuality that binds us together.
The work of our institute is deeply collaborative. Whether we succeed or fail in our mission depends upon your sustained participation and support.
Like the February 27, 1933 arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the German parliament, the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 reflected a society wracked by pervasive racism, economic inequality, mob violence and authoritarian propaganda.
This immensely dangerous attack did not arise out of nowhere. On the contrary, it flowed from the toxic foundation of authoritarianism and white supremacy, from our shared national history of chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and Klan terror, from the White Citizens Councils of the 1950s that galvanized to combat Supreme Court’s desegregation decisions to the re-energized hate groups and militias of the present day.
As Dr. King warned in a 1958 address to the American Jewish Congress, “There are Hitlers loose in America today, both in high and low places.” Decades later, today’s grassroots vigilantes are inflamed by entrepreneurs of hate in positions of public and corporate power who profit by the violence they facilitate.
On January 6, their effort nearly succeeded.
Why did it fail in the end, this time?
It failed because of the dedication, courage and patriotism of an informed citizenry and responsible evidence-based journalism in the establishment media.
It failed because of conscientious state and local governmental and electoral officials, Republican and Democratic, who defended the Constitution and rule of law.
And it failed because the nation’s authorities mobilized the National Guard to protect the inauguration itself against widespread threats of violent attack.
As a result, our nation was able to peacefully transfer power to a new administration in Washington, affirming the will of the people and the democratic electoral process many martyrs died to defend since Dr. King’s campaigns for voting rights.
But we cannot rest.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
We must heed Ms. Gorman’s words.
This effort very nearly succeeded.
Next time the efforts will be more sophisticated, better planned and organized, and more brutal.
A September 11, 2020 New York Times article summarizes the analysis of a dozen experts on law enforcement, domestic terrorism and extremist groups. These analysts highlight the increased role of veterans in racist and anti-government militia groups. The experts estimate that “veterans and active-duty members of the military may now make up at least 25 percent of militia rosters,” and that “there are some 15,000 to 20,000 active militia members in around 300 groups.”
According to a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin issued on January 27, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), intelligence suggest that the January 6 attempted coup might be the beginning and not the end of domestic terrorist violence inspired by anger against Covid-19 restrictions, the results of the 2020 election, immigration, and other motivating causes. The DHS bulletin warns Americans to be alert to the threat of violent attacks during the coming weeks and months by individuals or groups, government buildings and critical infrastructure by “ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives.”
The horrifying spectacle of mass vigilantism in our Capitol, and the increasing threat of violence by anti-government extremists and white supremacist militias, underscores the prescience of Martin Luther King’s insistence that our nation cannot survive unless we overcome racial injustice, poverty and militarism by the rigorous application of disciplined nonviolence and radical love.
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,”
“The choice today is between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
“It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world,” Dr. King warned, on the last night of his life.
“It’s nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.”
Together we must rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s vision of nonviolence and social justice, defend and exercise our fundamental rights to protest peacefully for justice and equality, and remain extremely vigilant to protect our democracy, social fabric and our very lives.
In this truth, in this faith, we trust,
for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
Amanda Gorman, the shining star of our nation, concluded her poetry reading with a call to action, to realize in our time “the era of just redemption.”
With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the west.
We will rise from the wind-swept north-east where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful.
As Gorman spoke, she looked over to the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King shared his dream with us nearly sixty years ago. And her words echoed Dr. King’s vision that America will indeed develop and mature enough to initiate an era of just redemption:
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
Jonathan D. Greenberg
