Why Is Civil Disobedience Effective

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “in a gentle way, you can shake the world.” Gandhi was a big believer in civil disobedience and how it is an effective way to change unjust laws and make social change. Civil disobedience is the public refusal to obey a law and it’s usually done in a peaceful manner. Some examples of civil disobedience are boycotting, marching, nonpayment of taxes, etc. The debate of civil disobedience has been a tactic used by powerful leaders such as Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and many more. Many people believe that civil disobedience is a good way to solve world problems because it makes the opponent look bad, it gets results, and it uses nonviolence. Others think that it is an ineffective way because it takes

One way it gets results is the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott with Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was what caused this boycott when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. At the time, segregation was going on and blacks were not treated as equally as whites were. The law at that time was if a black male or female was sitting in a seat and a white male or female wanted that seat, the black man or female would have to give up their seat. So because Rosa Parks did not give up her seat to a white man she was arrested. When Rosa Parks got arrested for not giving up her seat, it triggered other black leaders to start a boycott of city buses. This boycott lasted from December fifth, 1955 to December twentieth, 1956. The boycott came to a halt “when the Supreme Court of the United States declared segregated seating on the city’s buses unconstitutional.” This shows that the Supreme Court ended this law. This act of civil disobedience shows that it gets results because this boycott lasted for over a year and finally the Supreme Court put an end to it. This is another way civil disobedience is effective and how it gets results (Garrow

One way civil disobedience uses nonviolence is Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech explains how everyone should be treated equally no matter what their skin color is and how they look. The speech also explained how everyone should be free and be able to do the same thing as everybody else. This speech led many people to protest the government. Finally, when Lyndon B. Johnson became the president in 1963, he persuaded the Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. This meant that everyone was finally able to be treated equally. This shows the act of nonviolence for civil disobedience because, this speech given by Martin Luther King Jr, led to a protest by many people that forced the government to pass this law that everyone should be treated equally. This is another act of civil disobedience and how it uses nonviolence (Garrow