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Martin Luther King Civil Disobedience Analysis

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Civil Disobedience and its Significance Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “Letter From Birmingham Jail” was addressing to several clergymen his reasoning behind civil disobedience. Dr. King discussed just and unjust laws, and explains his thesis- justice upholds the dignity of the human spirit, while injustice works against it. Dr. King does, in fact, make a convincing argument for civil disobedience because he gives significant criteria by which civil disobedience can and will defeat unjust laws. Dr. King first explains that nonviolent direct action, or civil disobedience, is required to create crisis and confront the main issue at hand. Throughout his preaching of the mistreatment of African Americans in the south, Dr. King drew attention to the …show more content…

King infers that some laws may look justified at a glance, but are really unjust when they’re put in context. He gives the example of his arresting for parading without a permit. King implied the issue isn’t how he broke the law of not having a permit to parade, the unjust happens when the law was used to maintain segregation and deny those citizens of their right of peaceful protest. The unjust happens when citizens are stripped of their natural- born, and constitutionally- written rights (King 928). King asserts that in no way is he advocating for defying laws, but he is for breaking unjust laws. He believes that if one will break unjust laws, they “must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty,” (King 928). King indicates that this type of civil disobedience should be familiar to his audience, the white clergymen. He expresses that these stories are in the Bible, and uses the writing elements, ethos, pathos, and logos, to grab the attention of his readers. He states that in our own nation, the Boston Tea Party took part in a huge act of civil disobedience, and it was in fact justified. He uses these examples to show that civil disobedience is not specifically used to cause tension and controversy, as these principles have been existent the whole time. He states that civil disobedience is to be used to achieve equality and dissolve majorities and minorities, creating

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Throughout time, people have always fought for freedom and the chance to express what they believe regardless of who or what stands in their way. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone symbolize key figures who stood up for what they believed in, fighting for the good life for both themselves and the community around them. Although both cause conflict, protest unjust laws to achieve change, and approach a comparable situation of fighting injustice in society similarly, they had different stakes had they failed. The magnitude of the stakes differ from one another but in both cases, their stakes and what they stand to lose justify the actions they take, as they are not only trying to prevent further conflict but also trying to teach future

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He describes some of the unjust laws that African Americans had faced and goes on to tell about why these unjust laws on minorities should be broken and challenged. For example, he tells about the unjust law of being put be hide bars for parading and being denied the right to vote. He tells how unjust laws can be degrading to human personality and that all segregation acts are unjust laws. King states that it is his moral responsibility to stand up against the unjust laws that rule African American’s lives. He agreed with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

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828 Words | 4 Pages

He then refers to his earlier statement about the apathy of the clergymen regarding the reason for the demonstrations, alluding to their anxiety over the protesters willingness to break the law. However, he brings up a dichotomy: the laxness and rigidity in which different laws are enforced. Namely, he sarcastically refers to the apprehensive enforcement of the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation. Well, why are only some laws enforced? King answers this question by stating that there are two kinds of laws: just and unjust.

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Throughout the American 1960’s there was a Civil Rights Movement. This movement gained a lot of traction within a short amount of time through many people. There were two leaders with opposing tactics but had the same goal reined in the movement. One leader was Martin Luther King with the tactic of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience and integration. The second leader was Malcolm X with the tactic to fight back and to have the communities better themselves by being separate.

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King values civil disobedience, which is the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands by nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes, but the violence created from that is not his fault. Logic is key in this situation because its obvious you shouldn't punish someone who isn't being violent. Another example is, "We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. . . ."

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Civil Disobedience Compare and Contrast Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King both wrote persuasive discussions that oppose many ideals and make a justification of their cause, being both central to their argument. While the similarity is obvious, the two essays, Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. do have some similarities. King tries persuading white, southern clergymen that segregation is an evil, unfair law that ought to defeat by use of agitation of direct protesting. Thoreau, on the other hand, writes to a broader, non-addressed audience, and focuses more on the state itself. He further accepts it at its current state, in regard to the battle with Mexico and the institution of slavery.

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King writes to the eight clergymen who were critical of his protests and to the indifferent people of the United States. In the essay, he claims that he has done nothing wrong by protesting peacefully. In paragraph 11, King says “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” He is saying that freedom is something they have to fight for because the authorities will not give it to them. He is directing this statement at the clergymen while reaching the apathetic people of the United States.

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Henry David Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience” and Martin Luther King, Jr. in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” agree that civil disobedience is necessary if unjust laws are in place. Thoreau and King both write at one point from a jail cell, and both essays are written during a time when they felt there was injustice in the government. Both men realize that there is social injustice taking place in their eras and wanted change to happen.

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In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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People's justification to engage in civil disobedience rests on the unresponsiveness that their engagement to oppose an unjust law receives. People who yearn for a change in a policy might sometimes find themselves in a dead end because their “attempts to have the laws repealed have been ignored and legal protests and demonstrations have had no success” (Rawls 373). What Rawls says is that civil disobedience is a last option to oppose an unjust law; therefore, providing civil disobedients with a justification for their cause. Civil disobedience is the spark of light that people encountered at the dead end and they hope that this spark of light will illuminate to show that an unjust law should not exist at all. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his “Letter from

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Bijan Safizadeh English III Mr Godburn 6-19-15 MLK’s Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King Jr and Henry David Thoreau both lived in a period of time were they believed their was a social injustice and set out to disobey the law. Thoreau obviously coming first, set out and made a policy known as “civil disobedience” and was soon the model for King’s crusade.. Thoreau observed the standards and responsibility of the american citizens to take it into their own hands to protest against the unjust and unconstitutional laws that the government enforces.wise, King preaches to the 8 holy men and the rest of his “audience” that its government was making intolerable and unjust laws and social standards against black people. King believed civil disobedience would be the blacks best attempt at freedom. First off, Both Thoreau and King had a very similar style of persuasive writing.

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As kids people get taught what is wrong and right from a parental figure or experiences of life teach us how to react to different situations. When we finally turn adults no one is there to remind us of what’s good and what's bad so we have to use our past experiences and our knowledge to help guide us. Each adult shapes their societies for their generation and many more generations to come. Mohandas k. Gandhi and Susan B Anthony’s speech along with the article Selma to Montgomery March on history show that civil disobedience is a moral responsibility.

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Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history. First and foremost, civil disobedience is

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Civil Disobedience is a controversial issue in the world; therefore, one turns to the Church for guidance. Viewpoint 1 Civil Disobedience allows for change. Civil Disobedience allows for changes to be made in cruel governments and harsh conditions. “Creating a new law would be set up in a way that would not affect the others because the law/laws would replace any laws

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Civil disobedience is the deliberate action against an unjust law to invoke a positive change in government and society. Civilians have the right to refute these types of unjust laws to eliminate inequality and government’s unjust nature by following conscience before laws for moral guidance. As demonstrated in Antigone, this is depicted by the daughter of Oedipus, who disobeys Creon’s law for the greater good because of the laws unjust nature. In Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, a naturalist, promotes this concept as well through his philosophical standpoint of the flaws of the government. Lastly, in Dr. King’s letter he qualifies the idea of civilians disobeying their government through non violent campaigns to stand up against

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