Civil Disobedience In Martin Luther King's Letter From A Birmingham Jail

891 Words4 Pages
Civil disobedience is nothing new. People have been disobeying laws that they felt were wrong ever since laws were created. Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with laws as a way to peacefully protest politics. Everyone has a different opinion when it comes to this topic. Some people feel that it is never necessary and should never be done, no matter what. Others feel that civil disobedience is necessary for improvement. Truthfully, civil disobedience is only justified when it proves necessary for justice. Civil disobedience seems to be the most sure way of change, proven time and time again. On this topic though, there seems to be a confusion of morals between the definition of right and wrong. When people feel something is wrong,…show more content…
He was an American pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African American Civil Rights movement. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King explains the moral arguments for civil disobedience and differentiates between just and unjust laws. He declares that the laws against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as a gateway to freedom. One quote that gets Dr. King’s purpose across is, “I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends”.Dr. King tends to be a little more conservative (than Thoreau) when it comes to taking matters into one’s own hands. He advocates for more of a “change will come” attitude than Thoreau. Considering this still, Dr. King is still adamant about the concept of change. He is careful about making sure that the ‘means we use are as pure as the ends’. In other words he feels that the way in which change is approached should be non-threatening. Peace should always be at the forefront when trying to promote one’s ideas. You can get your point across effectively without any of destruction or…show more content…
People who support civil disobedience usually make it clear that they have a willingness to submit to punishment. A large amount of civil disobedience activists have willingly been arrested for enforcing their beliefs. This clarifies a general knowledge for presence of the law. In other words, believers in civil disobedience aren’t fugitives or criminals. They don’t run from the law, but simply make their voice heard. To clarify this point, we can use Malcolm X as an example of the opposite of civil disobedience. Malcolm X was a Muslim minister and a civil rights activist. He was known for his extreme viewpoint towards civil rights, saying things such as “the ballet or the bullet”. Even though he stood for the betterment of society, his values were the opposite of civil disobedience. Malcolm leaned toward a “black revolution” that he believed would develop African American society and ethical values. He rejected any type of white control, never yielding to
Open Document