The Applications of Utilitarian Theory to 4 Little Girls

In his documentary 4 Little Girls, Spike Lee personalizes the bombing of a 1964 Birmingham church that led to the death of four young girls. By interviewing family and friends of the victims, Lee demonstrates the horrendous violence that African Americans were exposed to during the era of segregation. Yet, as the film explores, Birmingham was the site of an active civil rights movement that was founded on the principle of nonviolence. From a utilitarian perspective, Lee’s film provides the opportunity to analyze the ethics of nonviolence protest against violent forces. Through a utilitarian evaluation of the film, it can be seen that the decision to remain nonviolent was ethically validated because it enabled activists to gain maximum utility from their actions. By refraining from being provoked into violent action, the civil rights movement was able to gain the sympathies of the nation and push for political change following the tragic church bombing.

In his film 4 Little Girls, Spike Lee documents the activism that led up to the widely publicized church bombings that took the lives of four African American girls. As the documentary notes, Birmingham was renowned for its stringent policies of segregation and thus was a major site for civil rights protests from outside activist groups. Among the protestors was Martin Luther King Jr., who was affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC was founded in 1957 and held the objective of focusing on nonviolence as a means for political protest. While it is retrospectively asserted that nonviolence is the most desirable method of enacting social change, the documentary causes the viewer to question this assumption.

Through an emotional appeal, Lee demonstrates the horrific nature of the degradation experienced by African Americans in the South. While it was tragic that the four girls who were victims of the bombing died, it also tragic that they were still innocent and aware of the prejudiced world that would await them as they reached adulthood. Further, the documentary showed that African American protesters were met with hostility and violence from white Southerners when they attempted to assert their rights. Thus, one could critically argue that activists had the moral right, and possibly even the moral obligation, to utilize violent means of protesting and protecting their communities.

Utilitarianism offers a beneficial ethical theory for evaluating the condition of civil rights activists because it considers the degree of pain that racism caused to the African American community. As utilitarianism asserts, actions are moral when they result in the maximization of pleasure over pain (Solomon et al. 324). Because the acts of society were inflicting a great degree of pain to African Americans and eroding their ability to obtain pleasure from life, it could be argued that they would be moral in taking violent actions in pushing for their rights. However, by analyzing the facts of the film, it can be demonstrated that the activists actually increased their utility through their commitment to non-violence. First, while the church bombings and violent acts leading up to the bombings did inflict pain upon the African American community, retaliating with further violence would increase the pain inflicted upon innocent members of society. Second, as the film demonstrated, individuals across the country were outraged after the church bombings, which led to a significant push for civil rights reforms at the federal level. If the activists who came to Birmingham had used violent activities, the impact of the church bombings might not have been as profound. Thus, from a utilitarian standpoint, it can be assessed in this case that the utility of refraining from violent protest outweighed the temporary pains that were brought about by violence brought about by pro-segregationists.

Spike Lee creates a wealth of films dealing with racial injustice (Do the Right Thing). His documentary 4 Little Girls demonstrates, the decision to utilize nonviolent activism was a significant action made by civil rights activists. Considering the heinous acts of violence that protestors and the community were exposed to, many could argue that protestors would be justified in adopting violent tactics for protest and self-defense. However, a utilitarian analysis reveals that the long-term benefits of the nonviolent actions were ethically justified because they led to widespread legal and social changes that ultimately outweighed the acts of violence endured by the African-American community during the civil rights protests.

Works Cited

4 Little Girls. Dir. Spike Lee. Perf. Maxine McNair, Walter Cronkite, and Chris McNair. 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, 1997.

Solomon, Robert, et al. Morality and the Good Life: An Introduction to Ethics through Classical Sources. 5th edition. McGraw-Hill.