>I think a more apt parallel could be Jackie
>Robinson -- the first Black baseball player in the Major Leagues,
>famous for his dignified serenity in the face of racial abuse.
>Although I defend the right of Blacks to rebel against oppression *by
>any means necessary*, I also respect the individual compromises and
>tactical choices that people like Jackie Robinson may feel they have
>to make to advance.
That dignified serenity was imposed though. As a condition of his signing Robinson had to pledge to Dodgers' president Branch Rickey that he would not respond to taunts for the first two years he played with the Dodgers. After the restraints were removed he fought back and hard.