Was Gandhi Justified In Breaking The Laws

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a response to clergymen defending his actions that placed him in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama. King did not respond to all the criticism that crossed his desk, but this time King felt he was compelled to respond. This obligation King felt was due in part to men with good will and intentions stating that his actions were “unwise and untimely” (Pg. 835). King’s purpose in writing “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was to defend the strategy of nonviolent direct action in Birmingham and to justify the process and characteristics needed to attain the goals of both nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience in a just manner.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a response to a public statement of caution that was issued by several religious leaders of the South. During the midst of the nonviolent demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham, Dr. King was arrested and felt compelled to respond to their statement as he saw these fellow religious men as sincere and of good nature. In this letter he defends the use of nonviolent resistance to the racism occurring. He states that there is a moral responsibility to break unjust laws when taking direct action, in order to further the cause for justice which does not occur on its own.

In order to understand both paragraphs I will first explain what both authors life was like during this time. King wrote “Letter in the Birmingham Jail” to address his audience. King started his movements for equal rights in the 1960s. He wrote over 450 speeches and spent years traveling the country. He did this to make a movement and get people to join his cause in a nonviolent way he wanted his audience to know that it was okay to be an extremist . Many people had crosses burned in their yard and objects thrown at them on the streets. In April 1968 King was arrested for parading without a permit. African Americans did not have the same rights as white citizens did. King wanted to convince people that African Americans were the same but kings showed his action through nonviolent actions always. At a motel in Georgia King was assassinated in 1968 and left behind his wife and four children. Years later Kings movements made a difference allowing all people to be treated equally .

In, “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King writes about the criticisms placed on him by the Clergy and to all the white Americans who believe they are superior and do not wrong. For example when King writes, “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 3), King is speaking to the clergy who dislike his motives and actions. King is stating his innocence and that he is doing nothing wrong and that action needs to be taken in order to initiate a change. The purpose of King’s letter is not all to inspire a change in America and just address the criticism towards him and his actions but it is also a call to action. King takes on the time of a courageous, righteous, and disciplined man who

In his letter, King's purpose is to educate all of the racial inequality. He does this through many calm and collected tones that demonstrate who he really is. His letter provides specific examples of unjust laws and how they relate with moral values, which is directed towards the men who wrote to all blacks to stand against King. He carries himself in such a calm manner that most likely would outrage people that were against African Americans at the time. In his letter he also states at the beginning why he is locked up in a very shady way. He brings up how in any "non-violent" protest there are steps, which he then lists them. King knew exactly what he was doing before he got put into jail for doing such a harmless thing. His target on Birmingham was one that was planned in a non-violent way, as he brings up how it is the worse segregated place at the time, and also has a very horrible police brutality record. King uses "morals" in his letter as a guideline to non-violently fight back, and encourage people to do the right thing with God and the US Constitution for everyone in the United States.

During the time of the Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Civil Rights Movement was taking place. Many people protested for equality amongst people of all color. These people faced injustice, inequality, and police brutality. In Gandhi’s quote, I feel it relates to the people who went through these hardships. Throughout the Letter From Birmingham Jail, written by Martin Luther King Jr. he uses numerous amounts rhetorical devices like imagery and allusion to build his argument towards the intended audience.

Dr. King had to serve his time in Birmingham jail because he was involved in protest activities to end racial segregation, an act that was said to be violating the laws and orders of his society. During the time that he served, he read an open letter from eight clergymen who mentioned that the objections were “‘unwise and untimely… [and advised the] Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham’” (King 425). Dr. King was disappointed by what he read, and in response to the clergymen—and indirectly to the general public—he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to explain that his nonviolent protest was necessary. With

Gandhi, King and Chavez all shared one similar goal. That goal was to bring society back from a culture of violence and hate, to a culture of peace and harmony. The method employed in their human rights struggles to achieve social justice was through the supreme importance of non-violent civil resistance/non-violence. A way civil resisters show their civil disobedience is by “noiselessly going to prison” to “ensure a calm atmosphere“ that will then “justify mass disobedience as civil, which means gentle, truthful, humble, knowing, loving, never criminal and hateful,“ (Gandhi, 358). Gandhi, King, and Chavez were all devoutly religious, but their tactics differed in the ways they approached non-violence. Gandhi approached non-violence ideological

Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi was a spiritual leader from India. Dr. King was inspired by Gandhi after hearing a delivery by Dr. Mordecai Johnson president of Howard University. His words about Gandhi inspired King to want to learn more about him. He purchased all the books he could find and grew more passionately about Gandhi’s beliefs. Gandhi believed in non-violence. Gandhi tested various methods of non-violence. He felt that having high standards and morals did not make one weak. Gandhi felt that good should prevail over evil.

King’s Letter from Birmingham allowed him to reflect on society’s wrongs and inhumanity to the the nation. The reflection and his thought process shown in the letter indicate that action must be initiated for justice. His actions of challenging injustice had led him into a jail cell Birmingham. King states, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action,”. The steps listed give reasonable procedure as to how to commence a nonviolent campaign to fight for justice. King’s steps in Birmingham followed the list and was all done nonviolently, however he was still apprehended by the

King was arrested on several occasions for being civilly disobedient in order to reform racial segregation. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King faces the consequences of breaking the law in order to nonviolently repeal an unjust law that is out of harmony with his moral truth.

Martin Luther King Jr. was in jail because he took direct action to show all the unjust laws’ that were taking place. He showed civil disobedience by exercising rights that everyone had but, because him and his people were “black” they were treated differently under the same laws. For example, when he said “I have been arrested on a charge for parading without a permit… such ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest” (King, 4). By stating

Gandhi, King, and Mandela each fought for their causes with a method that was very rarely used but even less rarely successful. Their efforts at peaceful protest without retaliation to attacks were successful in overthrowing trans-continental rule and ending segregation of races. Gandhi transformed the idea of non-violence into a way to fight for freedom and justice which would ultimately end in success and

As a well respected preacher and advocate for nonviolence, Dr. King focused on freedom signifying being seen as an equal, but he was patient and forgiving in achieving this, which ultimately hurt his cause as he continually faced the same challenges after seeing no results followed by no change in his course of action. The overall tone of his letter from the Birmingham Jail is apologetic as if he needs to explain his actions because their purpose is unclear and he is at fault. He relates and reasons with the clergymen whom he addressed his letter to, “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms”(p. 24). Within the first paragraph he has submitted to their

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.