Avoiding the ‘Backfire Problem’: How Martin Luther King Jr. came to Ground his Nonviolent Activism in Personalism

Abstract

Abstract Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appears to have preferred nonviolent tactics for social justice that sidestepped the backfire problem. Given that he deployed approximately twenty-five nonviolent tactics, the number of options he chose not to deploy greatly outnumbers those he did deploy. Why? Both his circumstances and his philosophy shaped his preferences for nonviolent tactics. First, I explore how his preferred tactics embodied the praxis of his nonviolent personalism. Second, I explore the early introduction of King to pacifism and how this evolved during his graduate studies at Boston University. Third, I suggest that King drew upon his commitment to personalism to develop pragmatically his own approach to nonviolent activism, and that when King visited India, he was seeking practical support for his praxis of nonviolent activism. Finally, I reflect on how King’s praxis of nonviolent activism aimed to avoid the backfire problem.