Nonviolence Action Research Paper

In this life, many hope for peace, but not many try to achieve it. According to Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, there are many ways to achieve this, but the best possible course of action would be through nonviolent direct action, which includes but is not limited to: peaceful protest, sit-ins and civil disobedience. In King’s letter, he proclaims his reasoning behind nonviolent direct action, including: the concept that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (par. 4), extremism can be used positively (par. 22), and the fact that “oppressed people will not stay oppressed forever” (par. 24). King uses literary devices including ethos, logos, and pathos to prove and reaffirm that which he is trying to convey.

Throughout history, there have been many unfair rules all over the world. There are people who like the rules and people who dislike the rules. Sometimes everybody dislikes the rule and wants change in them. Whenever there is a request of change of the government, the people find many solutions/methods to make the change. One of the solutions is protesting and this method is commonly used for a change. There are two types of protests, violence, and nonviolence. One example of a violent protest is the Birmingham Civil Rights Protest in 1963 and an example of a nonviolent protest is Gandhi’s nonviolent protest for independence. It is believable that nonviolent protest if the most effective way to protest for society because it leaves a great

Non-violence is a peaceful strategy people used in the 1900’s to revolt against the government. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mohandas Gandhi had the most success in changing the way we live today. How did they get nonviolence to work? Well they were very disobedient, disciplined, and determined to make a change in society.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s response letter to the aftermath of the events in Birmingham, entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” begs the question: why does non-violent direct action work? The letter is addressed to eight white clergymen who strongly disagreed with King’s untimely decision to exhibit nonviolent direct action during his protests in Birmingham. In his letter he justifies the need for protests and negotiations against the numerous counts of racial injustice. He addresses the criticism over his untimely choice to protest by countering, “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’…We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights” (King 98-99). He goes on to defend his willingness to break the law. Explaining the difference between just and unjust laws, he justifies his morally and ethically correct decision to pursue non-violent direct action. Reflecting upon biblical and historical illustrations, he cites the unjust laws of Nebuchadnezzar and Hitler as examples that do not coincide with the laws of God and are thus meant to be broken; similar to how he feels about segregation laws. Midway through the letter he begins to shift his focus to expressing his disappointment in certain groups of non-supporters; such as the Christian church and the “white moderate,” someone who demands peace, but neglects justice. He closes the letter by apologizing for its excessive length and overstatement of the truth, but hopes it will promote an

Many decisions had to be made when approaching discrimination and segregation; many wanted this to end. The debate on what was best to approach the dangers of fighting for what you believed was weighed down to two options; violent protests or nonviolent protests. In the graphic novel titled “March” written and experienced by John Lewis himself with designs by Nate Powell, depicts the struggles of civil rights and the fight to earn it. The novel goes off to show mostly nonviolent protests, but outside of the novel during the 1960’s depicts and describes a different approach; Violent and free Protests. Two of the most impactful civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael despised the clean and peaceful protests as they thought it was

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

On April 19, 1989, 29 year old Trisha Meili was brutally attacked and raped in Central Park. The attack was a high profile case for a few reasons: the victim was a white woman in an affluent part of Manhattan, and the perpetrators were thought to be a group of young, low class Black and Latino teens from Harlem. Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise were interrogated and manipulated, leading to their arrests and imprisonment for a brutal rape that they did not commit, or even know of initially. With the only incriminating evidence being the confessions of the teens, which were coerced and pressured by detectives and police officers, the Central Park jogger case is a prime example of the scapegoating

African-Americans have been oppressed since their arrival in America in 1619. Due to their differences in physical characteristics, Whites considered them an inferior race and therefore treated them as property, disregarding their human rights. After many years of exploitation and abuse, in 1791, slaves on the small island of Hispaniola revolted against French rule and successfully gained their freedom in 1804. It gave hope to African American slaves who, in turn, decided to stand against their masters and gain their freedom. Every one of those rebellions was extremely violent. They were so passionate about the cause and have been oppressed for so long that they targeted

Civil resistance, is a debatable topic that has been analyzed by numerous scholars, but the data gathered is not conclusive since there are multiple variables that come into play. Since the beginning creation of the United States, the colonies fought against King George III due to not wanting to pay taxes to a monarch that did not represent the colonies. Eventually that nonviolent resistance evolved into a violent entity that won the colonies their independence. In this specific case, through violent means liberty was achieved but not all violent insurrections are successful. For instance, the 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia, became a destructive confrontation between the Albanian Military and Macedonia. In this example, Albania

Furthermore, what makes it more effective and powerful than violence is the people’s ambition. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his article “Nonviolence and Racial Justice” that “this method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically, but dynamically aggressive spiritually.” By this he means that the reason why nonviolent resister is stronger than a violent resister, is because their hearts and minds are strongly involved. By doing so, they build a strong character and determination in them. Not only that but their mindset is not in winning or humiliating their rival, but to get them to understand their perspective. You know like that saying, “put yourself in other people’s shoes”. Overall, nonviolence is a strategy that one can use and have the same effectiveness or better than violence.

They tell what is going on at the time, like our news on the television today; They say what is happening that is really important news.

Non-violent protests have been used as a means to promote change in situations of inequalities. Examples of non-violent protests that have been used during the civil rights movement include boycotts, sit-ins and marches. Some methods proved to be effective encouraging a negotiation and quick resolution. A good example would be the 13-month long boycott of the Montgomery bus that ended when the federal district court ruled in 1956 that bus segregation was unconstitutional. Other times protestors were treated with hostility and brutality such as on Bloody Sunday. When protestors are met with violence should they in turn become violent causing riots, vandalism, arson and looting?

Martin Luther King once said, "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Civil disobedience is a ritualistic violation of the law; it does not go against laws or the government as a whole. We, as Americans, have a constitutional right to peaceful protesting when it comes to things that we think are unjust. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it allows an opportunity for change in unjust laws, sets a positive example for the future, and unifies people to act for a common cause.

Recently a term “radical” has been introduced often in Korean churches. I know the term “radical Christian” has been used a lot by John Stott who is a great evangelical pastor and preacher of England in 20 century. He said “Radical disciples are neither to seek to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world nor to sacrifice our holiness by comforting to the world. I attempt to redefine the word “radical disciple” in my own understanding of becoming a public activist in the modern society.

The Civil Rights Movement brought many accomplishments to African Americans such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The key issues that African Americans fought for were voting rights, integration and racial equality. They were tired of the discrimination and humiliation they received as a result of the segregation laws imposed on them. “State laws mandated racial separation in schools, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, theaters, restrooms and so on” (Blumberg 40). Lawsuits had been tried to gain rights such as the unsuccessful Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 and the successful Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although, the Brown v. Board of Education of