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The civil rights movement and civil disobedience
The civil rights movement and civil disobedience
Three examples in which civil disobedience is acceptable
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Civil disobedience is an active resistance to an unjust law found in a society. This purposeful violation of a law has influenced many changes in societies throughout history and around the world. Some view civil disobedience as having a negative impact on a free society with resistances disturbing the normal order of their lives, but actually the protests are only making the world a better, more equal place for everyone living there. Civil disobedience also establishes the idea that change can take place and be effective with the absence of violence. Some of the most influential acts of civil disobedience in the United States occurred in response to segregation during the 1960’s. Led by Martin Luther King Jr. the civil rights movement of the 60’s opposed the Jim Crow laws in a non-violent a manner. Though violence wasn’t used the sit-ins and other forms of protest were illegal and led to the arrest of Martin Luther King Jr. and other protesters “their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize …show more content…
This is how true reforms are made, Thoreau’s teachings inspired Martin Luther and other reformist like Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi led peaceful protests in India to gain independence from British rule. He did this by boycotting British goods and leading a Salt March, his acts, like King’s, led to his arrest. His incarceration did not stop his progress and he continued his work after his release. His civil disobedience lead to the British negotiating and eventually giving up political control of India. Gandhi’s work gave other’s in oppression the inspiration and conviction to stand up to their oppressors and fight for change without stooping down to their level with violence. His civil disobedience has altered the way political change occurs and has given the people of Indian more
Civil Disobedience, as stated in the prompt, is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Many people believe this has a negative impact on the free society because they believe civil disobedience can be dangerous or harmful. Civil disobedience does not negatively affect the free society in a dangerous manner because it is peaceful and once it becomes harmful to the free society then it is not civil disobedience. Thoreau believed civil disobedience is an effective way of changing laws that are unjust or changing things that as a society and to the people does not seem correct. This peaceful act of resistance positively impacts a free society. Some examples are Muhammad Ali peacefully denying the draft and getting arrested. These men believed that what they saw was wrong and they did something about it but they did it peacefully.
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr passed away from a sniper’s bullet. He gave us thirteen years of nonviolent protest during the civil rights movement of the 1950’s. Before I can give my opinion on the history of race relations in the United States since King’s assassination in 1968 strengthened or weakened his arguments on the necessity and value of civil disobedience? You should know the meaning of civil disobedience. The word civil has several definitions. “The one that is intended in this case is "relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state", and so civil disobedience means "disobedience to the state". Sometimes people assume that civil in this case means "observing accepted social forms; polite" which would make civil disobedience something like polite, orderly disobedience. Although this is an acceptable dictionary definition of the word civil, it is not what is intended here. This misinterpretation is one reason the essay (by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849) is sometimes considered to be an argument for pacifism or for exclusively nonviolent resistance”.
Civil Disobedience occurs when an individual or group of people are in violation of the law rather than a refusal of the system as a whole. There is evidence of civil disobedience dating back to the era after Jesus was born. Jesus followers broke the laws that went against their faith. An example of this is in Acts 4:19-20,”God told the church to preach the gospel, so they defied orders to keep quiet about Jesus,” In my opinion civil disobedience will always be needed in the world. The ability to identify with yourself and knowing right from wrong helps to explain my opinion. Often in society when civil
Henry David Thoreau was a brilliant transcendentalist writer, who not only influenced people of his time, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, but many great leaders in the past century. Civil Disobedience paved away for non-violent protests that were more effective in changing unjust laws. Martin Luther King Jr. followed many of Thoreau’s teachings and which made segregation no longer a problem in America. Two other great leaders that Thoreau influenced were Mohandas Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. Thoreau inspired reforms and the overturning of unjust laws and customs. If it weren’t for Henry David Thoreau and Civil Disobedience, many unjust laws might have been still in effect today.
In the Theory of Justice by John Rawls, he defines civil disobedience,” I shall begin by defining civil disobedience as a public, nonviolent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of the government”.
Civil Disobedience is a paradox. Civility and disobedience diametrically oppose one another; civility implies politeness or a regard to the status quo while disobedience is a refusal to submit to the standard. When these words are coupled together, however, they compliment one another. The purpose of Civil Disobedience is to disregard the obligation of observing a law with the intention of highlighting a need for change. Morality, Religion, and Ethics often play into the decision to willingly break a law which creates more depth behind the practical meaning phrase, because those three tend to emphasize a respect for authority and integrity. When people break the law in the name of civility, they often are asking questions like, “What must I
In the past in this country, Thoreau wrote an essay on Civil disobedience saying that people make the law and have a right to disobey unjust laws, to try and get those laws changed.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received a Nobel Prize and was honored by the President of the United States for his contributions to society. On the other hand, he was prosecuted, convicted, incarcerated, and had his sentence reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. These explanations seem rather contradictory. If what he did was noble, why was he jailed for his actions? When we take into account these manifestations of the government's attitude towards Martin Luther King, we can safely make the assumption that the government is not always justified in the laws that it creates. Our government's original purpose was to keep order and ensure freedom to its people. As history has shown us, as in the case of African Americans, the government will expand its role and take away liberties of the few. The individual is justified in acting out in civil disobedience when the government restricts the liberties of the individual.
From the onset of man fighting for freedom or his beliefs, the question has always been whether one person can make a difference using words rather than wars. Philosophically, the concept of civil disobedience would appear to be an ineffective weapon against political injustice; history however has proven it to repeatedly be one of the most powerful weapons of the common man. Martin Luther King Jr. looked at the way African Americans were treated in the United States and saw an inequality. By refusing to pay his taxes and subsequently being imprisoned for a night, Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his intolerance for the American government. Under British rule, India remained oppressed until Mohandas Gandhi, with his doctrine of non-violence lead the country to freedom.
By definition, civil disobedience means to actively refuse to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence (Wikipedia 2007). Many of the influential people in history have felt passionately about what they believe. These passions caused them to rebel against a government or authority. Many times they felt so strongly about what they believed and how they were being treated was wrong they became disobedient. They would take physical and verbal abuse for being disobedient but would never retaliate. They believed in what they thought was wrong and tried to change the way they were governed. Albert Einstein once said 'never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.' Albert Einstein's views seem to be reasonable. The claim by Albert Einstein is accurate because people should stand up for what they believe, they should know when they are right and their government is wrong, and they should trust in themselves and their own beliefs.
When one disobeys the law, there is naturally a consequence. What happens when people break the law because they consider it unjust? This is civil disobedience and it is questioned to be positively or negatively impacting our society. I believe this is positively impacting our society because it encourages Americans to exercise their freedoms. I believe that civil disobedience is also at times the only way to bring attention to a problem that needs resolution.
From the ancient kings of Greece to our modern democracy, order has consistently been maintained by means of laws. To incentivize compliance and to reduce violence within a society, these laws are enforced through penalties according to the crimes committed. However, an individual is not only tasked to abide by these laws but also to preserve justice and condemn unjust laws that contradict the laws of a higher power. To address this conflict between moral and government-made laws, we are compelled to civil disobedience in the case of unjust laws.
A prime example of the benefits of the positive effects of peaceful disobedience is the work of Martin Luther King Jr. His life work of peaceful, non-violent protest helped end segregation and prejudice in the United States. For instance, his organization of city-wide boycotts, protests, and diner sit-ins in Birmingham, Alabama were not harmful to society in any way, but disobeyed the segregation laws to draw attention to their injustice. Although MLK was arrested for this, his message of the injustice of segregation and his wish to end it was peacefully conveyed, without harm to society
I believe that civil disobedience has a positive impact on a free society. The opposition of controversial and possibly immoral laws provides a voice for the people and allows for change to occur. Civil disobedience makes us question the norms of our society in a critical analysis of our system. I also feel that those whom practice civil disobedience have a strong sense of self and social conscious. Civil disobedience has been a part of American history since the Revolutionary War. From the Civil Rights Movement, draft dodgers during the Vietnam War, protestors in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the Civil War. Civil disobedience has been a force of major change throughout our nation.