During the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and the wave of campus protests since, I have been struck by how far modern activism seems to have drifted from the strategies and philosophies of the civil rights era–which, in my opinion, should have remained the model. In the 1950s and ’60s, political change was pursued with discipline, preparation, and moral clarity. It was a strategy that produced what is arguably one of the most successful movements for social change in history. To explore what changed, and why, I hosted a live event at the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta with two people uniquely positioned to reflect on that question. Ambassador Andrew Young, now 94, was a central figure in the civil rights movement, a close aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a former congressman, and a former United Nations ambassador. He spoke about the months and months of rigorous training, planning, and restraint that underpinned the successful nonviolent campaigns he helped lead. Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Dr. King, added context of King’s evolution, his personal struggles, and his enduring commitment to moral persuasion over destruction. Together, before an audience that included Dr. King’s nephew, Isaac Newton Farris Jr., we wrestled with a set of difficult questions: Can nonviolence still succeed in a polarized, digital age? Does modern activism lack the structure and seriousness of earlier movements? And what has been lost as faith and shared moral frameworks have eroded?