Resistance at the face of oppression has been a continual theme in human history. Civil Disobedience has been a part of the American identity since the republic’s inception. From the colonialists who bypassed the oppressive laws of the English monarchy, to the abolitionists who resisted and violated the Fugitive Slave Laws, the act of civil disobedience is a valid response to oppression from governments of all forms, including democratic ones. Notably, it can be argued that civil disobedience breeds contempt and destruction of a democratic government. However, through precedents seen in the successes of the Dandi March, Civil Rights Movement, and the Women’s Rights Movement, civil disobedience has been a strengthening force for free societies. …show more content…
Commonly, the formation of disparities in societies results from the enactment of unjust laws. In a modern free society- one that part takes in the democratic processes- when there exists peaceful resistance against the perpetrators of disparities, the unaffected majority refrain from using violence as a means of opposition. The aforementioned statement takes into account the strategies of modern democratic governments in which now oppressive majorities rather mute the voice of minorities than use violence against them. This shift in the means of opposition employed by majorities came about in America after “Bloody Sunday” of the Civil Rights Movement. The images of mothers, fathers, and young children being beaten on the streets depicted the centuries long struggle towards civil rights in which the oppressor continually whipped the nonviolent minority towards subordination and tried to convince everybody else that the minorities were the roots of evil and crime. Peaceful resistance against segregation on “Bloody Sunday” illuminated the disparities created by the unjust laws along with the hypocrisy of the majority; it brought to light the need to reform civil rights in America which, in turn, led to the Civil Rights Act of