Diane Nash was a civil leader and a strategist for the student wing of the civil rights movement.
Nash never really witnessed extreme racism towards African Americans while living in Chicago during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It was when Nash attended grade school in Nashville, Tennessee that’s when she realized that injustice towards African Americans was greater than she had thought. The memories which she clearly recalled “Colored students, ate their lunches outside, and was only allowed to drink from water fountains that were labeled colored”. Seeing such treatment motivated her to become an activist, for minority rights, mostly African Americans.Something that Nash urged for everyone to do is to have Agapeic Energy. Which she soon explains that she got the word Agapeic from the Greek word Agape- meaning love and made up a word known as Agapeic energy-energy of love. The reason for this is that; Nash had noticed that energy has the power to change everything, and if people use this energy of love we could overcome anything. Most importantly, Nash used this Agapeic energy to define non-violent; she continued and explained the first steps taken by the Student Wing Group, which she had been a Co-founder of.
The six basic steps for each non-violent/Agapeic Campaign was what she called them. To begin with, Investigation which means we need to get to know our objective, gather information we might need during the investigation process and evidence such as demographic and pictures, also know how oppress is participating in their own oppression. Education-always recruit and share knowledge; more leaders less followers, Negotiation- Meet face to face with your opponent make them understand your objective this way you might achieve your objective. Demonstration-focus the attention of the community on the issue. Resistance- parallel construction when you don’t like how things are done so you began strikes and marches. You also make sure that the problem will not occur again. According to Nash these 6 basic steps will change the way people see themselves and will even change even those who commit the social injustice.She looked forward to a future where the government was all about the people, to her as she stated it “Stopping, meant accepting to tolerate segregation”.
As a strongminded and determined woman, Nash was not willing to accept and tolerate segregation. Therefore, she was willing to fight towards ending it. Within the midst of everyone clapping for her, as a token for her bravery, Nash suddenly said “It was not my movement, nor was its Martin L. King’s movement, the civil rights movement was the people’s movement”. Urging everyone to remember, to look for truthfulness which the outcome of it is accurate information. Particularly, with every story and explanation Nash gave, there was motivation for today’s generation to protect what she and many others had fought for.
Commitment and courage are what Nash says kept the people that she was working with going. Also, women who were domestic workers were a source of inspiration. In general, as she recalled, everyday life with segregation was a motive for her to keep going. Nash informed the audience that, what the new generation needs to know is what people in the past did for their better future. It’s now time for us, today’s generation to choose an issue that moves us and work towards it, because as Nash states “the present government is not about we the people, rather it’s about Corporations”.
Since, it’s not about the people, Nash urged everyone within the Yehl ballroom to look for inner personal power and truth to change the ways of today’s government. She never herself thought of running for an office, she thinks she can do more while she is outside the office. She doesn’t like politics. She also doesn’t respect most public officials. She believes they worry more about themselves, have self-interest, they don’t work in favor of their citizens.
She believes working outside the government gives you a wider view.I was honored to meet her because, and she was someone who I considered brave. Fear is what surrounds everyone almost every day but seeing someone who did not hesitate to fight for injustice makes me more confident about some choices that I currently hesitate on making. I am so inspired and motivated by her work and I feel like now I am ready to make a change in my community. Listening to Nash and all that she had contributed to making this country equal, gave me a sense of responsibility to maintain what she fought for. The words “the future of the country is going, is going to be decided by the people” as stated by Nash, brought silence to the ballroom putting light on how important voting is. In particular, just like how Nash fought for our rights, she wants us to do the same.
In conclusion, Nash gave her audience a sense of responsibility to find truth and love within themselves, to be able to maintain the rights she and many others fought for during the civil rights movement. While pointing directly at the audience, Nash explained clearly that truth and love is not hiding anywhere or lives anywhere far. Truth and love are within you, and to find it you just must begin by reflecting on yourself and looking at what is within your midst. Without crediting herself and/or the work that she did, Nash left the audience with one sentence “What I did, you can do it too for the future, all you need is agapeic energy.”
