American Negro and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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American Negro and Mahatma Gandhi  

 

GANDHIJI: Is the prejudice against colour growing or dying out?

DR. THURMAN: It is difficult to say because in one place things look much improved, whilst in another the outlook is still dark. Among many of the Southern white students there is a disposition to improve upon the attitude of their forbears, and the migration occasioned by the World War did contribute appreciably to break down the barriers. But the economic question is acute everywhere, and in many of the industrial centres in Middle West the prejudice against the Negro shows itself in its ugliest form. Among the masses of workers there is a great amount of tension, which is quite natural when the white thinks that the Negro’s very existence is a threat to his own.

GANDHIJI: Is the union between Negroes and the whites recognized by law? Twenty-five States have laws definitely against these unions, and I have had to sign a bond of 500 dollars to promise that I would not register any such union.

DR. THURMAN: But there has been a lot of intermixture of races as for 300 years or more the Negro woman had no control over her body. Did the South African Negro take any part in your movement?

GANDHIJI: No, I purposely did not invite them. It would have endangered their cause. They would not have understood the technique of our struggle nor could they have seen the purpose or utility non-violence. This led to a very interesting discussion of the state of Christianity among the South African Negroes and Gandhiji explained at great length why Islam scored against Christianity there.

DR. THURMAN: that but for the Arabs there would have been no slavery. I do not believe it.”

GANDHIJI: No, it is not true at all. For, the moment a slave accepts Islam he obtains equality with his master, and there are several instances of this in history. The whole discussion led to many a question and cross-question during which the guests had an occasion to see that Gandhiji’s principle of equal respect for all religions was no theoretical formula but a practical creed.

DR. THURMAN:  Is non-violence from your point of view a form of direct action?

GANDHIJI: It is not one form, it is the only form. I do not of course confine the words ‘direct action’ to their technical meaning. But without a direct active expression of it, non-violence to my mind is meaningless. It is the greatest and the activist force in the world. One cannot be passively non-violent. In fact ‘on-violence’ is a term I had to coin in order to bring out the root meaning of ahimsa. In spite of the negative particle ‘none’, it is no negative force. Superficially we are surrounded in life by strife and bloodshed, life living upon life. But some great seer, who ages ago penetrated the centre of truth, said: It is not through strife and violence, but through non-violence that man can fulfil his destiny and his duty to his fellow creatures. It is a force which is more positive than electricity and more powerful than even ether. At the centre of non-violence is a force which is self-acting. Ahimsa means ‘love’ in the Pauline sense, and yet something more than the ‘love’ defined by St. Paul, although I know St. Paul’s beautiful definition is good enough for all practical purposes. Ahimsa includes the whole creation, and not only human. Besides, love in the English language has other connotations too, and so I was compelled to use the negative word. But it does not, as I have told you, express a negative force, but a force superior to all the forces put together. One person who can express ahimsa in life exercises a force superior to all the forces of brutality.

DR. THURMAN: And is it possible for any individual to achieve this?

GANDHIJI: Certainly. If there was any exclusiveness about it, I should reject it at once.

DR. THURMAN: Any idea of possession is foreign to it?

GANDHIJI: Yes. It possesses nothing, therefore it possesses everything.

DR. THURMAN: Is it possible for a single human being to resist the persistent invasion of the quality successfully?

GANDHIJI: It is possible. Perhaps your question is more universal than you mean. Isn’t it possible, you mean to ask, for one single Indian for instance to resist the exploitation of 300 million Indians? Or do you mean the onslaught of the whole world against a single individual personality?

DR. THURMAN: Yes, that is one half of the question. I wanted to know if one man can hold the whole violence at bay.

GANDHIJI: If he cannot, you must take it that he is not a true representative of ahimsa. Supposing I cannot produce a single instance in life of a man who truly converted his adversary, I would then say that is because no one had yet been found to express ahimsa in its fullness.

DR. THURMAN: Then it overrides all other forces?

GANDHIJI: Yes, it is the only true force in life.

DR. THURMAN: Forgive the weakness, but May I ask how is we to train individuals or communities in this difficult art?

GANDHIJI: There is no royal road, except through living the creed in your life which must be a living sermon. Of course the expression in one’s own life presupposes great study, tremendous perseverance, and thorough cleansing of one’s self of all the impurities. If for mastering of the physical sciences you have to devote a whole lifetime, how many lifetimes may be needed for mastering the greatest spiritual force that mankind has known? But why worry even if it means several lifetimes? For if this is the only permanent thing in life, if this is the only thing that counts, then whatever effort you bestow on mastering it is well spent. Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and everything else shall be added unto you. The Kingdom of Heaven is ahimsa.

MRS. THURMAN: How am I to act, supposing my own brother was lynched before my very eyes?

GANDHIJI: There is such a thing as self-immolation. Supposing I was a Negro and my sister was ravished by a white or lynched by a whole community, what would be my duty? I ask myself. And the answer comes to me: I must not wish ill to these, but neither must I co-operate with them. It may be that ordinarily I depend on the lynching community for my livelihood. I refuse to co-operate with them, refuse even to touch the food that comes from them, and I refuse to cooperate with even my brother Negroes who tolerate the wrong. That is the self-immolation I mean. I have often in my life resorted to the plan. Of course a mechanical act of starvation will mean nothing. One’s faith must remain undimmed whilst life ebbs out minute by minute. But I am a very poor specimen of the practice of nonviolence, and my answer may not convince you. But I am striving very hard, and even if I do not succeed fully in this life, my faith will not diminish. “We want you to come to America”, said the guests.

MRS. THURMAN: We want you not for white America, but for the Negroes; we have many a problem that cries for solution, and we need you badly.

GANDHIJI: How I wish I could, but I would have nothing to give you unless I had given an ocular demonstration here of all that I have been saying. I must make good the message here before I bring it to you. I do not say that I am defeated, but I have still to perfect myself. You may be sure that the moment I feel the call within me I shall not hesitate.

DR. THURMAN: Much of the peculiar background of our own life in America is our own interpretation of the Christian religion. When one goes through the pages of the hundreds of Negro spirituals, striking things are brought to my mind which reminds me of all that you have told us today.

GANDHIJI: Well, if it comes true it may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of non-violence will be delivered to the world.

Reference:

Harijan, 14-3-1936