During the early 1960s, the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) in Maryland, led by Gloria Richardson, organized campaigns against racial segregation. Reflecting on their strategy, Richardson noted:
"We in the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee never believed in nonviolence as a philosophy or a way of life; we accepted it only as a useful tactic for demonstrations. We always maintained that if someone attacks you or your home, you have every right—legal and moral—to defend yourself. Indeed, our willingness to defend our community did not hinder our struggle; it prevented the local segregationists from running over us."
Based on the excerpt, which of the following statements best describes CNAC's approach to the civil rights struggle?
- ACNAC committed to nonviolence as an absolute philosophical way of life, requiring members to remain passive when facing physical violence.
- CNAC utilized nonviolent direct action pragmatically while affirming armed self-defense as a legitimate means of community protection.Answer
- CCNAC rejected nonviolent demonstrations entirely, arguing that civil disobedience was equivalent to passive submission to white supremacy.
- DCNAC believed that any form of self-defense was mutually exclusive with civil rights advocacy and would undermine their political goals.