The Influence Of Direct Action

Have you ever wondered how some people enact change? Mother Jones protested for child labor laws. Melba integrated a white high school in order to get rid of racism. Nelson Mandela joined South Africa’s congress to help racism. They all persevered to enact change, but they took different approaches for their problems.

“If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else” (Malcolm X) is a contestable ideal. Do we Americans allow our law enforcement to continue killing innocent African Americans whose own ancestors contribute to the success of this nation? No! We cannot sit on the sidelines and watch innocent lives ruined over and over again. We must auscultate to the cries of our four fathers. In order to halt the self-destruction of this nation we should fight for change in the police force, attempt to cease the embodiment of racial profiling, and support the efforts of those striving to bring about change.

Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans

Envision if everyone in the world decided to go around breaking laws because they did not agree with them. There would be a bunch of unnecessary arrests, great amount of violence, and the world would be a terrible place to live. As citizens of this country we have the commitment to adhere to the rules, laws, and submit to any consequences we may receive. In the great words of Socrates, “One should never do wrong in return, nor do any man harm, no matter what he may have done to you.” Breaking laws is never morally justifiable.

Breaking the law is morally justifiable and acceptable when the law in itself is iniquitous and if that law violates human rights and conscience; Certainly, rules are established for us to follow but we as human beings should be able to differentiate the right and the wrong and incase laws need to be violated for the right cause even with hard consequences, breaking the law can be justified; considering the situations and the purposes.

The effects of the police actions have brought on fear for me and every African American in the city of Dallas. When being pulled over by a police the fear of being killed or antagonized by the police weighs heavy on the hearts of thousands in the city. Being pulled over and feeling guilty of a crime not committed by yourself is the worst feeling because you know in the eyes of Dallas police department officers your guilty just because of the color of your skin. Things should change because living in fear isn’t living at

King knew that many would criticize his actions, but it wasn't until his fellow clergymen deemed his activities to be "unwise and untimely" that King felt compelled to provide his point of view (1). In response to the comment about his protests being untimely, King passionately responded, "We have waited more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights" (2). How long is long enough? For the oppressors, there will never be a suitable time for negotiation. People will always stand idly by while their negro brothers and sisters are mistreated because they merely desire to maintain the status quo. Change is frightening. In Dr. King's words, "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue" (2). Discussions that would have never been considered in the past were at last coming to fruition due to King's tension generating protests. The African American population will be denied their constitutional rights no

Police brutality against African Americans has become a hot topic in the media. Police brutality is when excessive force is used when it is unnecessary. During the civil rights movement, African American men and women fought for and gained their rights. They may have believed that their suffering had ended there but there is still a long way to go. In Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he writes about how African Americans are being treated by police and the court system. He describes it as “ grossly unjust treatment” (paragraph 6). Today it is three times more likely for a black person to be killed than a white person. One out of three of the black people killed by police were armed and suspected to have committed an actual crime

African-Americans have been victims of crime since the 1600s: the beginning of slavery in the U.S. During slavery, African-Americans’ were treated unfairly because they were thought to be inferior. Although slavery ended some time ago, African- Americans are still being treated poorly, because some people still believe blacks are inferior. Unfortunately many of these people work for law enforcement. This causes fear among the African-American community, especially African American males. The long history of police violence against African-Americans proves that everyone is still not treated equally, which is causing African- Americans to dislike law enforcement, and fear their lives, and start movements to bring about

Throughout history, and even to this day, there has been racism roaming the streets of America. Back in 1966, the Black Panther Party was created to protect the black citizens from police brutality. The group evolved over time from nationalism, to a broader socialist movement. Throughout the party’s life, the blacks suffered a lot of hate and violence from many. Unlawful violence is never right and the blacks did not deserve to be treated the way they did. The brutality and unfair treatment the black citizens endured back in the twentieth century is absolutely absurd.

Even it’s against the law, but if you just not going to do anything, then there won’t be any change at all. When Rosa Parks got arrested because of refused to give up her seat to a white passenger man on a Montgomery bus. She knew it’s time to make changes, to help not just herself but for all black people have the right of movement.

She feels as if the organization original agenda should be changed to lowering the number of “Black on Black Crime” (Donald par 6). Her argument also includes that more violent crimes happen with blacks by blacks, and police brutality only happens when a person disobeys authority. On the other hand, we have the founders of the BLM movement, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Tometi Opal, arguing that African Americans typically have no power in either situation whether they are obeying authority or disobeying authority, which in most recent police brutality cases has not been the reason to why the police brutality occurred (par. 4).

The main reason the black help and community are intolerant of change, in the beginning, is because they are

The movement continued its encounter beyond racial police violence to make sure change. “Because of social media we reach people in the smallest corners of America. We are plucking at a cord that has not been plucked forever. There is a network and a hashtag to gather around. It is powerful to be in alignment with our own people.” (De Choudhury et al., 2015) ‘Reformist and Revolutionary’ is a social action that fits in with the Black Lives Matter movement. Reformist regularly pursue to help bring about change without challenging the limitations of legal systems however it is often that the motivation is the legal change. Revolutionary disputes that change can’t happen unless there is a change within the legal system for instance; social, political and economic. This backs up the movement as the Black Lives matter movement aims to make sure that change occurs within the judicial system. There aiming for a new social direction. The main focus is to change the political system and the American Districts perspective on viewing police officers who use excessive force, which is leading to the deaths of black

What moral obligation do I have to obey the law? Aside from wanting to avoid punishment for breaking the law, is there a reason why I should follow laws that are put in place? Agreement, gratitude, and fair play are the three main arguments that can be used for obeying the laws of one 's own country. Though it’s more difficult to apply these certain arguments in relation to a foreigner just visiting a new country, they’re still relevant. Just because they are applicable, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t also arguments that can make them invalid.