Was Martin Luther King Justified In Civil Disobedience

Civil disobedience makes a statement. It is a tool that can be used to make a difference. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws helps a free society by allowing people to be heard without violence. Anyone can attack brutally, either verbally or physically, to get attention. But the best way to be noticed is to, “create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension...that it can no longer be ignored,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail. In many instances, civil disobedience has proved successful. In the mid-1800s, Henry David Thoreau, in response to taxes supporting slavery during that time, decided to become a “tax rebel” and not pay his capital tax. Thoreau was then jailed for a night and inspired

We obey laws because we fear the consequences, or we believe they are just. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made a keen observation when saying, “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority…” referring to segregation in Alabama during the 1960s. He also argued that, “One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.” Dr. King, like Gandhi before him, paid the ultimate penalty for his willingness to fight unjust laws. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a perceptive view on civil disobedience concerning the South in the 1960s. He realized that because of the false, racist belief that African-Americans were naturally violent, any violent acts would solidify the southern white view of African-American communities. So, instead Dr. King organized peaceful sit-ins, and marches to help end the racist practice of segregation. It was the peaceful actions by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that resonate through

If we didn’t allow civil disobedience, than many of the things Americans take for granted wouldn’t be laws or rights. Slavery was abolished because of people like Henry David Thoreau and the lasting legacy of “Civil Disobedience”. Religious and racial intolerance were combated in India and South Africa because of the actions of people like Gandhi. In the United States, we no longer have discriminatory Jim Crow laws and government sanctioned racism because of people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the sacrifices he made through non-violent