The scene where they were protesting by asking for tickets to see the movie, The Ten Commandments was a really ironic scene in March: Book 2. It was ironic because the movie was based around Moses and his mission to return to Egypt with God’s Ten Commandments to free his enslaved people. The protestors were trying to get their point across by using this specific movie. They were trying to prove that their intentions were to finally free themselves and other African Americans. In the process of thinking about this scene, I realized they were also proving that people who follow the Ten Commandments and oppress African Americans are hypocrites because they are defying a few commandments.                                                                                                                     The protestors had to deal with a lot of violence in this scene like being insulted, having things thrown at them, being spit on, as well as police brutality. This scene reminded me of what goes on today with the BLM movement and how their voices are still being muffled out till this day. The BLM movement has faced lots of violence and backlash even in today’s time. The scene in the book reminded me a lot of the George Floyd  incident. The way the police officer in the book handled an unprovoked situation and turned it violent was very similar to how the police officer treated George Floyd.                                                                                                                                                                    I understand why they were protesting back then and why they still do today. The BLM movement is a movement to bring about awareness to the unfairness and to the violence African Americans still face in today’s time. It seems like everything that was going on back then is still going on now. The oppression may not be as prevalent as it was back then, but it still happens and that’s something that belongs in the past. It was a mistake and it just seems that some aren’t willing to learn from their mistakes. 

I would define social gospel as the way of incorporating christian ethics into fighting social injustices. In March, we read about the use of non-violent protests preached about by Martin Luther King Jr. and the sit-in’s that many African American groups would participate in by entering an establishment such as restaurants for example, and peacefully sit, asking if they can be serviced. The intention of these protests were not to strike up violence, but to peacefully take a stand and put an end to the segregation of colored and non-colored establishments. So while these African American Christians didn’t go into these protests to fight, they had to mentally prepare themselves to be degraded, beaten, and humiliated by the management and white customers around them. During these horrifically violent protests, police often sat back and let patrons beat and throw about protestors. Sometimes even arresting protestors, like on February 27th 1960, in Washington D.C. when 82 protestors were taken into custody.
I believe as a society, we’ve made greater changes in social justice using various forms of protesting that incorporate aspects of social gospel. To protest is our human right given to us by the constitution via our first amendment, so why do protestors still face police brutality and physical harm from our neighbors? Going to protest what you believe in and to push for change in our “progressive” society shouldn’t make one question their safety.

Before I really dive into the comparison we need to talk about what social gospel is. First, what is the social gospel? To answer that I think we should look at the definition of a regular gospel. Gospel is the teaching or revelation of Christ. Knowing that and reading March I would define it as applying the teachings of Christianity to social issues. I came to this conclusion because many if not all the leaders of the civil rights movements were active churchgoers. Also, they protested in a way that made me think of the famous quote “love thy neighbor” even though they were treated horribly.
How was social gospel used? The leaders of the civil rights movement would train their participants to remain nonviolent by getting the class the try and break them. According to the book, there were people who couldn’t handle the training. Even though it seems very extreme it was the right precaution to make sure nothing went wrong during the protests.
Is social gospel still used? In my eyes, I would say it isn’t I don’t think many protests nowadays follow the same guidelines that the civil rights movement used. Do I think that makes the protests less valid? Not really, I mean the things people protest today aren’t really easy to protest like that. Also, I’m not saying they aren’t peaceful I believe that they are it’s j not in the same way the older ones were. However, there are individuals who have followed that same social gospel. Daryl Davis for example, from about 1985 to 2015, and possibly after that, he would attend KKK meetings and convince members to leave it. He even has a TED talk about it. In that talk, he explains that many Klansmen were raised to believe in that hate, but when they have a one-on-one with an African American they realize that we are all just people.
So to wrap it up I would say nowadays we don’t use this social gospel in protest as much. however, the protests themselves are still peaceful and still make an impact on society.