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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…
its real heroes” (Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail). King and other Civil Rights advocates understood the implications of their actions and were willing to be detained in the pursuit of equality. Americans owe the end of segregation and the beginning of a new more tolerant South to the disobedient acts of the men and women of the civil rights movement. According to Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience, it is the public’s duty to refuse to support unjust laws.
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
freedom. Civil disobedience, though it does make a positive impact on society, is not always seen as a good thing. Some can only focus on the fact that the person or group are breaking the law and disrespecting the government. This is evident in the case of Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who has been protesting by refusing to stand during the National Anthem. He is doing this to draw attention to the racial issue currently happening in the United States. Kaepernick’s act, which hurts no one, is about to cost him his job because people view his civil disobedience as disrespectful to the government and the military. He isn’t trying to be disrespectful he just wants to see a positive change for African Americans. Another act of civil disobedience which upset many Americans was Muhammad Ali’s refusal to go to war in Vietnam. Ali didn’t believe in the war effort as he saw it as the murder of innocent people so he refused to fight in the war. He also didn’t want to fight for a country where his religious freedoms were being oppressed. He was not running away from the punishment that comes with ignoring the draft. He stayed and took his punishment he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was also banned from boxing for three years. Civil disobedience does not always get the approval of a society and always comes with a price, but in most cases they are for the betterment of people. Civil disobedience in most cases is in response to an injustice or wrongdoing of government in a society where legal actions might not have been as effective or available to provoke the desired change. Though these acts aren’t legal the are used to draw attention to their cause and derive from a place of necessity and in most case are for the betterment of a free society.
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.
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.
Overall in "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau used many literary techniques to support his beliefs. These included emotional appeal, a hyperbole, and a paradox. Henry Thoreau used numerous more, in "Civil Disobedience" but these three were very strong to back up his confidence in his story. Thoreau just wants people to stand up for themselves, and do what they believe in. Thoreau wants them to be their own person, and express their own opinions. Henry Thoreau believes every single person should have a say in everything. Thoreau's belief is still relevant today. One person can make a huge difference. There happen to be many people who express Thoreau's beliefs including Martin Luther King, Jr., and millions other citizens in our generation.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Civil disobedience is when one deliberately opposes a law believed to be unjust or unfair. Arguments have gone back and forth whether or not this is harmful or helpful to a society. Peaceful resistance to laws positively affects a free society, until it becomes destructive to the society it tries to help.
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.