Examples Of Martin Luther King Act Of Civil Disobedience

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Many Negro people were nothing but slaves from way longer ago than you can remember. They had no rights and had violent owners that abused them frequently. The Emancipation Proclamation was a proclamation written by Abraham Lincoln after the Civil War, which stated that all slaves are free. Many years later, the South still had slavery, but in a different manner because people were still abused. It became segregation, which was isolation of the races yet equality. The Negroes and the white people had separate bathrooms, water fountains, schools, lunch counters, etc. Many civil rights activists wanted a change and therefore they led demonstrations against segregation. One famous activist was Martin Luther King Jr. who had gone out of his way…show more content…
King is aware that he is not being disobedient because the demonstrations are only there so that Negroes can get their civil rights. King presents precedents to show that his demonstrations are not an act of civil disobedience. King states, “It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake.”(4) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had disobeyed the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, which is an act of civil disobedience. King and the Negroes are having demonstrations in public and are following the just laws; however they are not following the unjust laws because those laws are morally wrong. King also states, “In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.”(4) King brings up a precedent event that occurred, which also an immense action of civil disobedience was done by the citizens. Additionally, King amplifies the expression ‘civil disobedience’ to get his point through about how his demonstrations are not civil disobedient, although the precedent events or people were civil disobedient. Therefore, King and the Negroes are not being civil disobedient by having demonstrations for their…show more content…
The officials had been inextricably violent with the Negroes. King states, “Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence."I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.”(9) The officials were doing their best by protecting the people of the city and obeying the laws, yet they didn’t realize that they were at the same time brutally abusing people and disobeying the law of humanity. King reiterates ‘if you’ throughout this part so that the clergymen can see the violent actions of the same officials that they commended to. King is using Pathos to emotionally appeal to the clergymen by giving description of the violence towards humans like
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