Martin Luther King's Civil Disobedience Still Relevant?

Civil disobedience is present in our day to day lives. During the civil rights protests occurring in Birmingham, AL, Eugene Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety who publicly attacked African Americans with fire hoses and dogs. The Boston Tea Party was a rebellion which led to major tax reformation. Another moment in history of disobedience would be the Civil Rights movement. Oscar Wilde claims social progress is promoted through disobedience and rebellion which is valid.

From Cherokee Indians refusing to abandon their homes in 1838 to the Sit-ins of the civil rIghts movement in the early 1960s, people have been using acts of civil disobedience to stand against injustice they saw in their communities. Although there are many examples of people abusing this benefit and causing more grief and shame than progress, many have used it to their advantage to bring about positive change for the greater good of society, therefore acts of civil disobedience can positively impact a free society if they remain peaceful, respectful, and justified.

It is imperative to understand that the United States of America was born through acts of civil disobedience. And because American freedoms are constantly in danger of being encroached on, it is also important that citizens are aware of the worth that civil disobedience can possess. Civil disobedience is when a person or people refuse to obey a demand or restriction by the state that conflicts with higher law and conscience. The act requires that the disobedient one accept whatever may be the consequence of refusing, whether it be imprisonment, moral condemnation, fines, even perhaps death. It should be done when one’s spiritual searching and sense of rightness permit no other response. (Day 65: Disobedient Friends – Quakers and Civil Disobedience) There have been many instances of civil disobedience throughout American history which have had a powerful influence on the legal system and society as a whole.

Similar to protests, rebellions evoke change in the system through peace. If words are not enough, often times citizens take matters into their own hands. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington are both famous examples. Without violence, the famous bus boycott drew the attention of the Supreme Court. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws segregating African Americans on Montgomery buses were unconstitutional; consequently, this was a large victory for the African Americans, and propelled their case for equal rights. In 1963, the world was no so peaceful for African Americans. Violent attacks on peaceful demonstrators were consuming the deep south, and this called for a mass protest march into Washington D.C. This peaceful demonstration drew the attention of John F. Kennedy, and provoked him to pass a federal civil rights bill later that year. The success of peaceful rebellions is explicitly shown through these two examples, which both brought on major changes. Civil disobedience is like a construction site. It is long and occasionally messy, but the outcome that results is without a doubt worth the initial troubles. The refusal to comply with unjust laws is what drives the United

“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

“A very few—as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men—serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it,” Henry Thoreau claimed in his essay, “Civil Disobedience.” Martin Luther King Jr. indisputably served the people of the state by his own conscience and was definitely treated as an enemy. “We want to be free!” King cried out during his “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It didn't matter that it was seen as an evil act against the men in charge to him. “Civil disobedience” immensely impacted Martin Luther King and supported his views and drive that lead to the Civil Rights Movement.

Throughout history, we have seen many examples of civil disobedience that has positively affected our society. Of these examples, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was one of the most impactful cases known to the American people. While in the Birmingham Jail, he wrote a letter to the clergymen justifying his then recent endeavors. Words like peaceful, genuine good, and nonviolent all can be quoted from this letter. He stood for the African American people and their equality. He was ready to take the consequences for his actions and gracefully promoted his cause: segregation! We all know that through this, he got what he wanted accomplished. Now, every American citizen can live in equality and equilibrium.

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.

A person who is known for committing a act of civil disobedience is Martin Luther King Jr. In the piece of text Letter from Birmingham Jail, King states,”You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate reason. Since we diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court Decision of 1954....”(King 7). Martin Luther King encouraging the black community in disobeying the Supreme Court’s decision is committing the act of civil disobedience. This action that King has took upon supports my position because shows what civil disobedience is and therefore how it is happening.

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

     With his constant pursuit for civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped bridge the gap between races during the 1960Õs. (It was) His unique approach of using nonviolent protests (to) helped create an awareness of the inequalities the African Americans had to endure during this time period. In 1963, King went to Birmingham, Alabama to engage in a nonviolent protest (there), yet before he could perform the (protest Ð use synonym such as rally or something) he was arrested. While King was in the prison he wrote Letter from a Birmingham Prison. By reading this letter one can easily see that aside from being ahehe civil rights crusader, King was also an incredibly

Civil disobedience is woven in our history, women petitioning to congress lead to the 13th and 19th amendments. Walk-outs and sit-ins of the civil rights movement, resisting the Jim Crow laws, lead to the 24th amendment. America’s disobedience and unwillingness to stay silent through unjust laws, this country has progressed. If we would have obeyed, America would not be the world leader it is

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior is perhaps the most famous proponent of civil disobedience, matched only by Mahatma Gandhi. Doctor King, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, explains simply that “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” Where there is injustice, there must be progress for a society to remain free. And for there to be progress, there must be change within that society. Because violence almost never fails to set back the progress and freedom of a society, peacefully resisting laws that oppress citizens catches the eyes of the nation and can be one of the only ways to inspire true

Civil disobedience isn’t uncommon in America, but the modern idea of civil disobedience has become flawed and distorted from its original intent. Currently, there are thousands of causes and ideals that are spastically flung around and just as soon forgotten. This is because the guise of civil disobedience is often abused by people simply to attract publicity. These methods of claimed civil disobedience often do little to nothing in working towards the goal that they claim to stand for, or their intensions are vague and unclear. For example, in the news, the most popular recent controversial example of civil disobedience is the kneeling during the national anthem before a football game. At its manifestation, this movement was intended to protest the inequalities in the treatment of races by the police especially in Chicago. This effectively accomplished nothing. It raised awareness but the majority of intelligent civilians were already aware of the inequalities. The flaw of this example is that the form of disobedience

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.