“You must do something”: The Violence of Silence

On the day of his funeral, The New York Times and the Atlanta Journal Constitution published John Lewis’ final message. In it, Lewis spoke about his life, his work during the Civil Rights Movement, the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others, and about the hope for the future, the hope had in the generation today speaking up and marching for equity. He wrote about hearing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the radio and King’s “philosophy and discipline of nonviolence.” Continuing, Lewis wrote, King “said we are all complicit if we tolerate injustice. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.”

In a 1965 speech, King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” This is summed up in the phrase “silence is violence.” When one does not speak up and speak out against injustice, no matter what the form, then the person tacitly endorses it, no matter how much one may disagree with it. This occurs because the injustice continues, unchecked and unfettered, spreading and multiplying. While it may still continue when one speaks out, the act of speaking tells others that the injustice must end.