This week marks the 40th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In honor of this, Diane Nash spoke at the Memorial Union about her involvement with the Civil Rights Movement.
Nash began by referencing Mahatma Gandhi and his ideas about using nonviolent tactics to bring about change. She believed Gandhi created the idea to use love energy in place of violent energy. From this, Nash created her own term, agapic energy. She described this in a few simple words:
\The energy of love of human kind.""
This love was the foundation of Nash's involvement with the Civil Rights Movement.
She believed violence was not the way to change the problems in society, but love was since it generated its own type of energy, agapic energy.
UW-Madison senior Jordan Wenner commented on how powerful agapic energy has been.
""Just the fact alone of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 getting passed and the success of the Montgomery boycott. So I'd say it's very powerful alone just by the acts that have happened,"" he said.
This energy was based on the principle that people are never the enemy. Nash's experience with a lunch counter sit-in opened up her eyes and made her realize how important these principles were.
The lunch counter sit-in persuaded the manager to encourage other restaurants to desegregate their counters also. Nash contemplated the loss that would have occurred if violent action had been used.
""What a shame it would be to injure and kill him when, in fact, he was not the enemy-his racism was,"" she said.
Along with these two principles, Nash learned the primary result from trying to bring about change is making sure the problem does not occur again and that one cannot just sit back and watch it happen.
""We need to realize that there's really no one else to solve the problems but you and me,"" she said.
UW-Madison senior Emily Sauter said she also believed that equality has not been completely achieved yet.
""I think there's been great strides, but I think there is still a long way to go,"" she said. ""There's still a huge problem with poverty and if you just look at our representation in government they're obviously not represented in all levels.""
Nash ended by trying to make others realize that to change something, one cannot wish for a great leader to be born, but ask oneself what one can do.
