The Influence Of Peaceful Resistance

Civil Disobedience is defined as refusal to obey civil laws or decrees, which usually takes the form of direct action (Grolier’s Encyclopedia Online 2). Thoreau wrote that people practicing civil disobedience, break a law because they consider the law unjust. People want to call attention to its injustice. Thoreau voiced civil disobedience as, “An expression of the individual’s liberty to create change” (Thoreau 530). Years later Martin Luther King Jr. took the same idea of direct action to protest the injustices brought upon black Americans in the United States. One major example was the Birmingham bus boycott. Blacks where treated unjust and often had to give up their seats to whites, and had to listen to racial slurs made by the bus driver. King like Thoreau, did not take a violent approach, he often used sit-ins and rallies to unite the black community (Encarta

Civil disobedience is a peaceful form of political protest for the refusal of certain laws or acts. In “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., segregation is explained when, “Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts…

In Martin Luther King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he uses pathos, and rhetorical questions to convince readers of the value of civil disobedience. “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality…” (7). In this quote you get a feel for how civil disobedience makes people feel by making us think with our heart more rather than our brain. MLK explains how segregation hurts the victims in a deeper way than what we understand. If anything he kind of brakes it down, educating us if even. “Are you able to endure the ordeals of jails?” (7). This rhetorical question is used to set the message across without bluntly saying it. The message being,

Martin Luther King, Jr. defines “civil disobedience” as a way to show others what to do when a law is unjust and unreasonable. As King stated in the letter from Birmingham, “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” When Negros were being treated unfairly, Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in to show people how to peacefully protest and not be violent. The dictionary definition of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest (Webster Dictionary). That is what Martin Luther King, Jr. did when nothing was changing in the town after the law for public school to be non-segregated. In

We must be careful not to mistake for civil disobedience what is actually all too often these days, rather uncivil disobedience, in the forms of riots and looting and other forms of criminal conduct that sometimes takes place in the course of large-scale protests and demonstrations that get out of hand. The modern fathers of civil disobedience as a method of political expression and change are, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King, in the 1950s and 1960s, convinced hundreds and thousands of black Americans to peacefully agitate towards full legal and political equality in the United States. Both men -- and their followers -- faced police and military might and ruthlessness, and both suffered imprisonment, and worse, for their efforts. His followers and supporters, endured tremendous brutality and degradation, but instead of responding in the way they were being treated, they reacted peacefully, offering themselves as living sacrifices for the causes in which they believed.

All through our country’s history, it has been evident that copious amounts of individuals have been at odds against society regarding our justice system. One of the most acclaimed cases of this is in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter To Birmingham. In his letter to the clergymen, King states that Civil Disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence. This was his primary way of fighting back against unjust laws. The clergymen viewed King and his supporter’s movements as acts of extremism.

“Civil Disobedience” is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau in 1848. Thoreau protested many issues at the time such as slavery, the Mexican war, and taxes; he stood for peaceful protests or civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the act of publicly, peacefully, and conscientiously breaching any corrupt and or unequal law(s) in order to bring about a change in said law or policy. Almost one hundred years later, on April 16th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail;” a response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. King, in the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” conveys to his readers that the laws set against the African American are unjust and

The above narrative is just a mere glimpse of the hurt, anger, and pain in the black community after George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges of second degree murder against seventeen year old Trayvon Martin. These emotions were the stepping stones of a highly significant movement, the Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Lives Matter movement is a response as well as a stance against police brutality against African Americans, which uses the tragic deaths of teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown as a head for its cause. Many people on social media know the black lives matter movement or refer to it #blacklivesmatter, especially on twitter. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded by Patrisse Cullers, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. Which is defined as an “ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”

The very goal of civil disobedience is to simply disobey laws and accept the consequences, not fighting back in any way. The refusal of laws could potentially lead to negative changes if its purpose were to utilise violence in order to obtain the change that those involved desire. However, nonviolent disobedience plays by the rules of democracy. Those participating accept the fact that they will be imprisoned for their actions. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King also states that “one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

Meanwhile, a public act of resistance is upfront, openly opposing authority. By doing so, subordinates are likely to be punished or other undesired outcomes may

Not only were many laws changed and created, but even more were broken in an attempt to better our once unjust society. Martin Luther King Jr., arguably the most influential leader of this movement, was an avid supporter of civil disobedience during this era. He participated in countless sit-ins and protests, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, in which he and almost one hundred other activists were arrested for peacefully protesting discrimination in the Montgomery public transit system. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written in 1963 after he was arrested for partaking in a nonviolent protest, King offers explanation as to why he practices civil disobedience and what he hopes to achieve in doing so. In this letter, King admits, “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law…that would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty”. However, he also stated that in this fight, it is necessary to “[stand] up for what is best in the American…thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence”. In his words, civil disobedience is more than ignorance of law; it is just one of the necessary measures that must be taken to restore equality in a

Civil disobedience is the backbone of all free nations. The positive influences of this act are visible in every aspect of life. Civil disobedience is peacefully disobeying any law thought unjust while accepting all legal repercussions. Peaceful resistance instigates change, allows communication with the government, and gives nation’s citizens power.

Civil disobedience may be used by many civil rights activists to seek the freedoms they desire. It can be used as an effective tool for provoking a change in legislation. This tool needs to

The greatest argument against peaceful resistance is the idea that it creates lawlessness. As stated by Morris Leibman in an article on Foundation for Economic Education, “No society whether free or tyrannical can give its citizens the ‘right’ to break the law. There can be no law to which obedience is optional, no command to which the state attaches

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King discusses the importance of civil disobedience being performed. King is confined in the Birmingham city jail and decides to respond to the criticisms of his fellow clergymen although he often does not acknowledge such statements. King’s understanding of civil disobedience is clearly reflected in his use of rhetoric and includes violating the law in peaceful terms to protest unjust laws and circumstances.