In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual Social Activists

By Catherine Ingram

The spring of 2003 witnessed some of the largest worldwide demonstrations for peace in history. At a time when growing numbers of people are studying the works of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other nonviolent leaders, these eloquent and inspiring voices for peace are more relevant than ever. In the Footsteps of Gandhi provides original and soul-searching interviews with contemporary leaders whose positive work has been part of international news for decades. Whether discussing AIDS, apartheid, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they each embody the understanding that violence is not stopped by violence. Violence is only ended by love.

This revised edition of Catherine Ingram's book features a new introduction by the author and interviews with Mubarak Awad, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Cesar Chavez, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Joan Baez, and others.

265 pages, Paperback

SAMPLE CHAPTER
Diane Nash

"There's Diane Nash. She's the one to get."

The crowd of mostly young white men had surrounded the department store entrance in Nashville, Tennessee, where the lunch counter sit-in was occurring. The year was 1960. Diane Nash, the coordinator of the Nashville sit-ins, made her way through the shouting, angry mob. She had been trained in nonviolent strategy and had emerged as one of the top student leaders of the movement. Her picture had appeared in the local papers several times; she therefore understood the danger of her position. Despite this knowledge, she became paralyzed with fear upon hearing the young men's remarks. As she explained, "In that crowd, someone could slip out a knife, stab me, quickly move away, and no one would know who did it."

She pressed on and managed to reach the lunch counter where her colleagues, also trained in nonviolent civil disobedience, were enduring the swarming crowd of whites around them. She sat down at the counter, thinking that if this gripping fear did not leave her she would have to call off the sit-in and return to the church from which the group had started out. "I gave myself a short period, ten or fifteen minutes, to make a decision. Either I would resign as chairperson, because I could not be effectiveif I was paralyzed with fear, or I would overcome the fear and get my mind back on my work." At the end of the allotted period, Diane Nash, twenty-one years old at the time, had found calm. Although fear still danced on her mind's periphery, it no longer overwhelmed her. She resolved to be careful and observant, but to continue the sit-ins. All the while, the crowd raged on around her.

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