Stereotypes Of Protest In The Civil Rights Movement

A Prototype of Protest

In addition to such beloved terms as The Land of Opportunity and The Melting Pot, the United States can aptly be nicknamed The Prototype of Protest. From the original signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 up until the present moment, this country has been defined and redefined by those who have boldly chosen to step out in protest. Some of these protests have ended in violence, while others have ended in justice, but all of them have contributed to forming the identity of the United States as it is seen today. Most recently, with the success of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, protest in the form of civil disobedience has become popular, with results that range from admirable to frightening. Indeed, amidst

Admittedly, this type of protest can be argued to show the utmost respect for the law. As Carl Cohen wrote in 1971, “Realizing that the law he breaks applies to him, the civil disobedient violates it knowingly in an effort to correct what he believes to be a wrong infinitely worse than the one he commits, and thereby to improve the system of laws” (Cohen). Such was certainly the case a few years earlier with the Civil Rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr., who held law and democracy in high regard. They chose to break the law not to subvert it, but to gain equality in the law and in the democratic process

In a more recent example of civil disobedience, attorney general Sally Yates “took the extraordinarily rare step of defying the White House and refused to defend new travel restrictions” (Rampton) imposed by Donald Trump. Naturally, she was promptly fired, a risk she had been willing to take in order to “. . . seek justice and stand for what is right” (Rampton). Yet, although the motives of seeking justice and standing up for others deserve admiration, Yates’ actions easily register as an endorsement of the blatant contempt for the law and the presidency itself that has been sweeping across this