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Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Antigone

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Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws in a peaceful, non-aggressive protest. You are seeking justice for a cause without having to become physically violent with the opposing party. Civil disobedience not only requires strength but one must be willing to make self-less sacrifices. Martin Luther King Jr is a well renown civil rights activist who is was known for his approach in nonviolent confrontations. Antigone was also some who stood up for injustice despite the repercussions of her actions. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone are fighting inequality and injustice. Antigone is fighting bias laws regarding her brother’s burial against King Creon . Martin Luther King Jr is fighting the racial intolerance that …show more content…

In the letter, Martin Luther King Jr explains why he broke an injustice law. He says, "One may well ask, 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and upholding others?'" I believe he asks questions like this, to show although it is a current law, it’s an injustice law. Dr. . King was fighting on behave of thousands of African Americans who were being oppressed and segregated against. He wanted to change the laws on segregation and stop the oppression of African Americans. He wanted people of color to have equal rights and …show more content…

King was also a religious man and so were the oppressors in the land. He was a graduate of Morehouse University and served as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also used his Christianity to try to reason with the oppressors that this is not the way of the Lord and God that they served. Not only did he mention God more than twelve times in his letter, he asks for their forgiveness , if he was in any way not telling the truth. He ends his letter saying, “If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.” A lot of the segregation and injustice against colored people of that time was due to religious views. Therefore, using his knowledge of the bible and Christian-Judeo interpretation, was yet another nonviolent method used by Dr. King

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King was in the midst of extreme injustice placed upon black citizens of America, coming not only from white citizens but from the government itself. When his letter was written, it was impossible for King to respond to the laws of the nation in a just and responsible manner, as the very nation he lived in was poisoned with corruption, racism, and violence towards

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Through the use of his letter, he is able to tell the general public of why the stakes justify the actions he takes, and why it is important for the acceptance of his plan as more turmoil could be caused otherwise. Dr. King’s letter is an example of him taking action while knowing the stakes that if he fails, the whole Civil Rights movement could fail. It gives a clear understanding of the need to fight unjust laws through his statement that, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King). He continues by saying that everyone has a “legal…moral responsibility” to uphold just laws but that people also have the right to “disobey unjust laws” (King). This statement immediately gives pretense to his actions of fighting for freedom through protest.

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He also says in the text, "Where were their voices of support... to the bright hills of creative protest?" What King meant by this was, where are the people who love the church and claim to love people, when everything was happening and why did they not come and help the people in need? His purpose was to ask the question of the people in church, why did they not help and support the people who needed it the most? King also goes on to say, "there can be no deep disappointment where there is no deep love." This highlights that yes, he was disappointed that no one said or did anything, but yet he still had love in his

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At the beginning of the letter, it was written that he was there to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if it were deemed to be necessary. He later goes on to state that if a single injustice can lead to a multitude of more if not fixed or at least addressed. Martin Luther King will many times reference the Bible with what he is trying to accomplish and to get his message across. He compares what he is doing to that of the great prophets like Paul, with what he is doing he is not wrong to do

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Both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. engage in civil disobedience. Despite the similarities, they carry out civil disobedience in very different ways. Explain the differences between Antigone and King’s views on civil disobedience, the reasoning and purposes behind their disobedience, and different means they use to achieve their ends. Pick one version and argue it’s merits versus the other, using specific examples from both readings. Renowned for their defiance against the laws mandated within their society, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone stood out as revolutionaries.

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Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. are both very important figures when it comes to discussing the topic of civil disobedience; both fought for what they believed to be right and against the injustice of the state. Antigone went against the edict of the king and buried her brother and Martin Luther King Jr. broke the law to try to end segregation and racism in America. Even though some similarities can be found between the two, ultimately they went about civil disobedience in very different ways. Antigone’s method was personal and selfish and she took an extremely defiant and rash stance while martin Luther King’s approach was more analytical and thought out. It is for these reasons that I believe King’s method was more successful and is the

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He carries out civil disobedience to fight for civil rights in America, for all Americans, while Antigone is simply fighting for the burial of her brother. In Letter from Birmingham Jail,

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Civil Disobedience In the dictionary civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest, but Thoreau and Martin Luther King have their own beliefs to civil disobedience. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he writes about the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. Martin Luther King uses civil disobedience as something that effectuates change in the government. Both Thoreau and Martin Luther King has similar yet different perspectives on civil disobedience.

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King uses biblical allusions to appeal to the eight white clergymen and their religious affiliation when he states his duty to carry the “gospel of freedom beyond his home town... Like Paul.” His final point of this section is the clergymen’s failure to recognize the underlying causes of the demonstrations they so harshly condemn, a failure causing further ignorance and confusion on racial

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He is speaking through experience as he has been fighting for the rights of himself as well as the other oppressed minorities. He feels betrayed to know that the clergymen are not giving him his constitutional rights. King says, “At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist” (King 4). The other clergymen are supposed to be an ally to King, but instead they are discriminatory just like everyone else in Birmingham. His letter from Birmingham jail called out the oppressors for their wrongdoings in hopes to get his basic human rights.

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Although both Antigone, from “Antigone” by Sophocles, and Martin Luther King Jr. from “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” engage in acts of civil disobedience and fight for what they believe to be right, the way they go about these acts is quite different. Each of their reasons, actions, and consequences can be seen as opposites. Antigone refuses the help or involvement of others, which can be seen as a selfish act directly against the king while Martin Luther King Jr. involves the entire community to help the greater good. Antigone is a character who stands up for what she believes in to a point of direct civil disobedience toward the king, Creon. She puts the laws of the gods over the laws of her authority.

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866 Words | 4 Pages

Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at it’s peak in the South. When King was making his mark in American history, the United States was experiencing great social unrest due to the injustice towards their colored citizens, which would lead to social rights rallies and unnecessary violence. In response to King’s peaceful protesting, the white community viewed “[his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist,” and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). King specifically wrote to the white clergymen who had earlier addressed a letter to him as to why he was apprehended, in which they argued that his actions were untimely and unconstitutional. In response, King emphasized that justice is never timely, and the refusal to acknowledge equal rights was inhumane and regressive.

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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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King was a Christian in the black Baptist tradition but he also had a long experience among black Protestant liberals. He believed America was a Christian nation and had failed to live up to its destiny. His faith was derived primarily from people’s suffering and struggling in a society where whites talked of freedom and justice, while blacks experienced slavery and segregation. Black Christians, on the other hand, believed that God did not condone whites mistreating blacks.

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Civil Disobedience is known as breaking the law because you don 't agree with a certain law or have a peaceful protest about that law or what you believe in. An example would be when Mahatma Gandhi walked miles to the Indian ocean as the citizens gathered more and more to fight for there Indian Independence. This occasion was called the Salt March. The reason for The Salt March was a March were all the citizens from India walked with gandhi to fight back for their Independence from the British, since it was taken away from the British.

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