Frantz Fanon grew up in a wealthy family in French colonial Martinique. He studied in France and became a psychiatrist. After volunteering for the Free French Army during World War II, Fanon spent several years in the French colony of Algeria before and during the revolution (Zaidi). Through his life and education, Fanon had a unique perspective to critique and deconstruct colonialism and decolonization. Using a Marxist lens, he theorized that because colonies were created and maintained through violence, a colony could only decolonize through violence. He saw violence as the best means of ridding oneself of the false consciousness of colonialism and imagined a brotherhood or camaraderie of free and equal people. What is most interesting is Fanon's resemblance to Martin Luther King Jr.. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King makes many of the same arguments as Fanon, but proposes a better solution centered on justice. Fanon's obsession with violence is at the heart of his argument, yet nonviolent direct action, according to King, would be a better way to achieve freedom and equality because, ultimately, unjust action does not lead to justice. Fanon begins his argument by describing how colonialism and decolonization are violent affairs. It depicts the colonized and the colonizer as old adversaries whose first meeting was rooted in violence and the continued relationship was sustained at gunpoint (Fanon, p. 2). He goes on to state that the colonized person is a person manufactured by the colonizer and that the colonizer validates himself, through wealth, through the colonial relationship. Decolonization, then, is the destruction of these inventions and the liberation of… middle of paper… only by bringing these issues of injustice to the foreground and creating a tension around them can space be reorganized. created for understanding and change (King, p. 172). The role of violence in fighting injustice is complicated. If an oppressor is willing to use violence to maintain control, shouldn't the oppressed use violence to achieve liberation? Franz Fanon would argue that pent-up anger and frustration must be released through violent action to overthrow the oppressor's regime. However, there is a better way and it is through non-violence and understanding that Martin Luther King Jr. advocates for. Only by creating tension about injustice through nonviolent direct action can a dialogue about mutual understanding and justice be initiated. It is this justice achieved through non-violent means that will endure as violent action is ultimately unjust in nature.