- After having studied the work of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Dr. King came to see himself a Hegelian thinker. Hegel was one of the most influential thinkers in the field of dialectics: the study of conflicts and contradictions to arrive at truth by synthesizing seemingly opposing perspectives. The fact that Dr. King considered Hegel one of his biggest influences is itself a great example of Hegelian thinking, because Hegel held, among other things, incredibly racist views. That didn’t stop Dr. King from learning what he could from Hegel’s work. He studied his philosophy with a critical lens, took the things that benefitted him, and left the other stuff behind. He synthesized what resonated from Hegel’s work and left the rest behind. ([Location 464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=464)) - Desire and will alone cannot bring about the changes that we need. We need training and skill. ([Location 619](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=619)) - nonviolence is not only about refusing to shoot somebody. A commitment to nonviolence means a commitment to heal the open wounds in our hearts, our families, our communities, and our world. ([Location 632](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=632)) - Mark Twain quote, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.” ([Location 666](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=666)) - While I have learned—and continue to learn—a great deal about social change and conflict reconciliation, Kingian Nonviolence still remains the foundation, the lens through which I view the world. If such things as civil disobedience, nonviolent communication, restorative justice, community organizing, and various healing modalities are tools for the tool belt, then Kingian Nonviolence is the belt itself. ([Location 741](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=741)) - So, the work of East Point is not just about the what, but equally about the how. As an organization committed to building a new way of being in the world, we are experimenting with a 250-year work plan: not having job titles or job descriptions; practicing full financial transparency; counting vacations, family time, meditation retreats, and self-care as work hours; committing to offering all of our programs on a gift economy basis and never charging a dime; not accepting funds from most traditional sources of nonprofit funding (including most foundations); and, most important, placing relationships above all else. ([Location 906](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=906)) - If we carry intergenerational trauma, then we also carry intergenerational wisdom. ([Location 946](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=946)) - The ancient Greek soldier Archilochus once said, “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.” ([Location 1097](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1097)) - Violence and division have been institutionalized throughout society. This means that our work is to institutionalize its antidote. ([Location 1115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1115)) - The word “kung fu” does not actually refer to the Chinese martial art. Derived from the Chinese word gongfu, it refers to any skill that can be gained through consistent practice and dedication. ([Location 1139](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1139)) - You and I are never going to become nonviolent, for the same reason that if you are a practitioner of karate, you never become karate. Meditators don’t become meditation. Going to yoga classes doesn’t make you yoga. These are not things to become, but practices and lenses through which to view the world and skill sets that we utilize throughout our lives. It is a worldview and a practice, not a destination. Nonviolence should be viewed similarly. Not as something to become, but a worldview and a skill set in which we are trying to improve in. It is through the consistent practice of the art of nonviolence that we are able to build up our nonviolent muscles so that they may become useful in our daily lives. That is why nonviolence is the martial art of transforming conflict. ([Location 1154](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1154)) - There is a common saying in the world of nonviolence and restorative justice that “hurt people hurt people.” Meaning that when people are hurt, when we are carrying around some pain or trauma that we have not found healthy releases for, we lash out and hurt others. I believe that all violence is ultimately rooted in this. ([Location 1241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1241)) - Another crucial reason to expand the definition of violence is that nonphysical forms of violence impact society at a much greater level than physical violence. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are almost three times as many suicides as there are homicides every year in the United States. If we think violence is just a physical act from one person to another, we’re missing the point. ([Location 1247](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1247)) - When I was being trained to teach Kingian Nonviolence, I heard a statement that has significantly influenced my presentation style. “If you cannot explain a concept to an eight-year-old child, then you don’t understand it well enough.” I am a fan of Taoist philosophy. One of the central tenets of Taoism is that everything is. Period. The more we try to define what that “is” is, the further we are getting from the central truth: that all of reality simply just is. ([Location 1279](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1279)) - Nonviolence is not about what not to do. It is about what you are going to do about the violence and injustice we see in our own hearts, our homes, our neighborhoods, and society at large. It is about taking a proactive stand against violence and injustice. Nonviolence is about action, not inaction. ([Location 1385](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1385)) - When Dr. King spoke of a “peace boiled down to stagnant complacency” and “deadening passivity,” he was talking about what peace educator Johan Galtung calls “negative peace,” a peace that describes the absence of tension that comes at the expense of justice. Dr. King went on to say that, “peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice.” ([Location 1404](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1404)) - Dr. King once said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Riots are ultimately a cry for peace from communities who have never had it. To condemn oppressed people for lashing out against centuries of violence is to ignore the larger context of violence they are lashing out against. It is the inevitable response from a community whose pain had gone unacknowledged and unheard for centuries. ([Location 1458](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1458)) - Calls for Black Lives Matter protesters to be peaceful following the latest police killing can be a form of repression and therefore a form of violence. It is a call for peace that acts as a euphemism for “stop complaining,” “stop being so mad,” or “stay in your place.” The work of creating peace is a messy process filled with conflict and tension. Peace is messy. Justice is loud. If we expect that creating peace in a society as violent as the United States will be a neat, calm, and quiet process, we will be in for a rude awakening. ([Location 1461](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1461)) - Peace-building by definition acknowledges the presence of harm in the first place. Otherwise there is no need to build peace. Taking on violence is not easy, and it will not be a clean process. It is about undoing harm, performing an operation so that we can heal the wound. There is no such thing as a clean operating room. The bigger the harm, the messier the operation will be. ([Location 1465](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1465)) - When we use nonviolence to confront violence and injustice, we are not disturbing the peace, we are disturbing complacency. We are disturbing the normalization of violence. We are disturbing negative peace. ([Location 1474](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1474)) - From the perspective of nonviolence, we believe that all conflicts are neutral, and it is how we respond to those conflicts that results in a good or bad outcome. We believe that things like yelling and fighting are not conflict. Rather, these are things that happen when a conflict is mismanaged. You can respond to a conflict in your life in a way that leads to an argument or physical altercation, or you can respond to it in a way that ends up in a lesson learned, a strengthened relationship, or reconciliation. Those things are just as likely an outcome to conflict if we know how to manage conflict well. ([Location 1509](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1509)) - In the heat of an overt conflict, “an unusual yet genuine act” can shake someone up enough to open up a brief moment of vulnerability. And it is in that moment that we can reach their humanity. It’s in that moment that they may show a crack in their armor, and we can reach the conscience of an assailant. ([Location 1758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1758)) - I once heard someone say, “Conflict is the spirit of the relationship asking itself to deepen.” ([Location 1761](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1761)) - Edmundo Norte, the dean of Intercultural and International Studies at De Anza College in California, once said, “The black/white, right/wrong, one-way or the other worldview is the most pervasive way that our minds have been colonized by the state.” If we look back to any of our Indigenous worldviews, we understood that things are rarely, if ever, black and white. Our world is nuanced, and most things exist on a spectrum. Yet in a society that is oftentimes dominated by an Abrahamic worldview that pits “good” against “evil,” we are unable to see the nuance. ([Location 1823](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1823)) - One practice I have adopted is to listen to conservative podcasts and read right-wing papers and books by authors I may have significant disagreements with. As I listen, my focus is on trying to find what I do agree with or to understand why they believe what they believe. This way, when I find myself in conversation with someone who has different views, I can help us to find common ground—the starting place for creative resolution. ([Location 1842](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1842)) - When incarcerated people realize they are not in prison because they are “bad” people, incapable of making good decisions, but rather “good” people who have been in bad circumstances, they can begin to imagine making new choices. On the other hand, I have found that when a person who has caused harm fully owns their role in it and holds themselves 100 percent accountable without making any excuses, they can begin to heal. A person’s ability to say, “I did that, I made that decision, it’s on me and nothing else,” is a critical component to their own healing journey. Both of those realities—the role of socioeconomic and historical factors in crime and the role of personal responsibility—are seemingly at odds, but both are 100 percent true and necessary to recognize for healing to take place. ([Location 1901](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=1901)) - Specifically, I have become a firm believer in sharing our vulnerability in community settings: circles, community mental health models, and communities working on self-transformation. We are harmed in relationships, so we need to heal in relationships. We are harmed in community, so we need to heal in community. ([Location 2083](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=2083)) - German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” That’s agape love. It’s about helping people fulfill their potential. Social activist Dorothy Day said, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” That’s agape. It’s about understanding that “God’s love” is about cultivating love for those who are the hardest to love. ([Location 2212](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=2212)) - “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” ([Location 2237](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=2237)) - Pauli Murray, a civil rights activist and a pioneer in gender equality, once said, “When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them.” ([Location 2384](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=2384)) - Hate the sin, love the sinner. Hard on problems, soft on people. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. ([Location 2423](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07NCNHWN1&location=2423))