Non Violent Protest Research Paper

Dr. King in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” makes many of his points against holding off on protests by appealing to the reader's emotions. This is most pronounced in paragraph twelve of the paper when he recounts many terrible effects that racism has had on the

Many fantasize about invoking change in this world and to touch the hearts of it’s civilians, but few revolutionaries materialize these ambitions. Martin Luther King Jr. is a prolific figure of the civil rights movement whose non-violent words and protests became long-lasting staples of academia and elicited necessary conversations of the institutionalized racism that African Americans suffered through that conservative, white America feigned ignorance for a false sense of comfortability. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King illustrates a rich vision for audiences detailing the mistreatment of African Americans in America’s segregation and the importance of non-violent protest to invoke change in a system that cared very little for the sentiments of the

As more people are exposed to the arguments of these protesters, pressure mounds onto the government to see the problem and respond to it. In fact, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “not … a single gain in civil rights [was made] without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” Additionally, these individuals are not negatively affecting society because they express the utmost respect for the law and advocate for change peacefully while fully accepting the consequences of their actions. They risk enduring denunciation by the media and being labeled as radicals by others. King describes the process of a nonviolent campaign in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” The self-purification aspect of the nonviolent campaign emphasized an acceptance of the consequences that come with breaking the law such as “[accepting] blows without retaliating” and “[enduring] the ordeals of jail.” The right to peaceful protest respectfully allows these individuals to express their concerns and influence other people with their ideas.

Imagine yourself as an African-American is the 1960’s. You were not allowed in restaurants, movie theatres, schools, and even bathrooms. Police beat you and you were seen as less than human by a large percentage of white people. The only people who would stand up for you are the other African-Americans and a few white’s. Then Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders tried to find nonviolent ways to end the injustice that is your life. Even if you do decide to take the nonviolent path there is no guarantee that you won’t end up in jail or severely beaten. Dr. King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”paints a vivid picture of the injustice of the 1960’s in the United States and how he planned to fight back peacefully.

For decades racial discrimination has been a reoccurring issue that has shaped the relationships across the country. Riots, in the case of the L.A. riots, are a form of venting and a negative form of freedom of expression. Almost immediately after the jury`s decision to seize the officers of charges that included assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force towards King, riots broke out across Los

Recently Freddie Gray, a black man, became injured while in police custody and eventually died seven days later in Baltimore; so in response, thousands of citizens rioted as tensions heightened. Agitators attacked police officers and vandalized buildings, which caused officers to utilize tear gas and pepper balls to stifle the stress (“Civil Unrest”).The protests began peacefully with a march on the streets to City Hall, and then turned into barbaric riots against all forms of the law. The sudden bursts of violence appalled

"One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition." (American Rhetoric on Martin Luther King Jr.) Individuals like Martin Luther King Jr., and other activist such as Mahatma Gandhi, each took a stand, which falls under the category of the act of Civil Disobedience. Because of their domestic actions, there has been an diversely amount of people

In April of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. found himself in a small cell in Birmingham Alabama, arrested for his participation in the peaceful protest of discrimination against African-Americans. King firmly believed that non-violent protest, in the form of sit-ins, boycotts, and picketing, would raise awareness of the prejudices African-Americans suffered and, in turn, lead to progress in gaining equal rights between the races. His “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which he wrote during his incarceration in response to the idea that the battle for civil rights should be fought in court, not via protests, states that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In other words, injustice in all forms should be addressed and

An ultimate conflict of Americans throughout time has been how to fight injustices in an appropriate way with lasting long term affects. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”(1963), explained that after disappointment from failed negotiations, direct action now had to be taken. Dr King stated in the letter, “But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” It can be understood that when political aspects fail, whether between countries, states, or government offices, there is always the social relationship to fall back. During the civil rights movement Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used this to his advantage. The personal connection between

Through humiliation and mistreatment, most protesters had to tolerate such actions without engaging within the violence. But why nonviolent actions if violence is surrounding it, and it is the reasoning behind oppression? In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King responds to the criticism of his method on his tactics to fixing the situation African Americans were living. He states, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to

In the quest for equal rights for Black Americans, there would not have been sweeping change in the United States of America, had there not been peaceful resistance to laws. The rights that are now experienced by all racial groups were hard fought by primarily Blacks and their supporters in the 1950's and 1960's. In Dr. Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. King outlines the need for civil disobedience.

August 9th 2014, Ferguson Missouri, an unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot, and fatally wounded by a white police officer by the name of Darren Wilson. As a direct result of deciding not to indict Officer Wilson, the black community was out raged! Riots, looting, and damage to businesses soon followed the judge’s ruling. The trial was unlike normal trials which were treated with more expedience in the process, the grand jury in Officer Wilson case met for three months and 25 days. (Buchanan, et. al. 2014)

During his confinement in Birmingham city jail, Martin Luther King Jr., a man of patience and virtue, wrote, “…we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive” (Ali-Dinar). Throughout his life, King led peaceful protests to further equality and justice in the African American community; many were opposed with police brutality and fierce discrimination. Had it not been for the media, which broadcasted to Americans nationwide, the eyes of the public and the President would have remained shut to the continuing unequal treatment of the law and violent oppression that many African Americans faced. Despite attempts to halt their movement, the protesters

In the letter from the eight Alabama clergymen, they felt as though those protesting should refrain from nonviolent protesting until the court system decides on their matter. The undersigned clergymen issued an "appeal for law and order and common sense," directing it towards the racial problems in Alabama. The clergymen made it clear that they felt, extreme measures in Birmingham will not be the resolution to the Negro community's problem, despite how peaceful they might be. The letter was meant to sound as considerate as possible, despite attempting to strip the Negro community of their first amendment god-given right. The clergymen feel as though it would be better to have have local leaders act on the matter, instead of gatherings

In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham jail”, King talks about his imprisonment for his involvement in a nonviolent protest and defends his rights and moral grounds for organizing nonviolent protest activities. In this essay, I will look at his views on nonviolent protest and how they differ from todays violent protests.